Big mouth strikes again as world grapples with latest terror attack
MANCHESTER’S favourite musical son Morrissey hit out at politicians and the Queen last week, in outrage at their reaction to the horrific bombing at the Arena stadium which left 22 people dead and scores injured.
There was something so shocking, so barbaric, about what the killer Salman Ramadan Abedi, a Mancunian of Libyan descent, did, targeting children, who for many, was their first gig, was almost unbearable to think about as a parent. As the grisly details of what the bomb he carried in a cheap rucksack contained - nails, nuts, bolts, that he had picked up in his local hardware shop - emerged, simultaneous to ‘sad loser’ comments from Donald Trump and angry words from world leaders, it was all too much to take in. For Manchester is as close to where we are on the east coast, as Kerry, and the reverberations of the bomb and moreover, its aftermath, were felt piercingly here. The attack has made a radicalised young man famous and that is exactly what he wanted. Having fought in Libya, he was looking for a way to attack the west and somehow, he managed to evade security and police and set off a bomb at a concert for teenagers and children, the youngest victim being eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos. An Arklow teenager Adrienne Lester (née Cullen), who moved to the Manchester area with her family five years ago, was among the 20,000 plus crowd at the gig. She sent a message of love to her mother moments after the bomb erupted and thankfully escaped unharmed. But for the families of the 22 victims, and for those left with catastrophic injuries following the attack, life will never be the same again.
Each life, so full of potential and beauty, that was snuffed out is being remembered at vigils in Manchester, a city renowned for its passion and resilience down through the centuries - this week.
Thousands of Mancunians and people across the world have got worker bees - the symbol of the industrial city - tattooed on themselves in solidarity with the victims and with the city’s people.
The hate that led Salman Ramadan Abedi down this wicked, evil course has not spread like Isil and other radical groups would have hoped. Some people have used the attack to call for tougher immigration and have been abusive to Muslims in the UK, but for the most part, Manchester has never been more united and by holding its marathon and other major events last weekend, it has shown its grit and determination to get on with life. Morrissey emerged from the ether-web with a strongly worded message condemning the response to the attack. For a man who has written some of the most poignant, intelligent and emotive lyrics he seemed to rely on old lines of attack, instead of offering anything of real substance to the debate. Pointing his ire in the direction of Theresa May, he accused her of living in a bullet proof glass, ivory tower, far away from the morgues of Manchester.
He used the opportunity to take issue with her policies on immigration, which makes you question what his policies on immigration are. He also took exception to comments made by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who said ‘London is united with Manchester’. ‘But he does not condemn Islamic State - who have claimed responsibility for the bomb,’ before criticising the Queen, who held a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Maybe the man of the people who sang There Is a Light That Never Goes Out should have just held a free concert instead.