Archbishop: Give us day to mourn

Why Britain needs to feel united now in grief, defiance and hope

THE Archbishop of York has joined calls for a national day of mourning.

Dr John Sentamu said: “Our world is turned upside down. I want to encourage us all to be still, that we might remember what is past, have space to grieve in the present and have hope for the future. We need a day set apart as a nation where we can do this.”

THE Queen spoke for the whole country when she identified “a very sombre national mood” in her birthday message.

She spoke for us all when she said how moved she was by strangers who spontaneously stepped up to give whatever help they could to those in need.

From the cabbies who gave free lifts home to those caught up in the Manchester bomb, to residents who offered places to stay for those traumatised by the London Bridge attack.

Then there was the selfless generosity of those who cleared their wardrobes of clothes and their fridges of food to help the destitute victims of Grenfell Tower.

Britain is truly an extraordinary nation with seemingly bottomless reserves of kindness and compassion. But Britain is also a nation in despair.

We despair as terrorists strike at us with such apparent ease.

We despair of a country run in such a way that a whole tower block can be ignored because the families living in it are too poor to matter.

We despair that as a result they are allowed to perish in the most hideous of circumstances.

And we are shellshocked that terrorism and tragedy come at us now on an almost weekly basis.

We hoped that Khalid Masood’s Westminster murder spree in March was a one-off. We hoped in vain.

Parents across the land are having difficult conversations with their children who are rightly angry at the deaths of so many other children.

From the youngest to the oldest, from Queen to commoner, no one can be untouched by the horrors which have unfolded before our eyes.

This weekend the country is bathed in brilliant sunshine. It should be full of fun and laughter.

But it is hard to delight in simple pleasures when so many lives have been pitched into darkness.

That is why the Sunday Mirror is

calling for a National Day of Mourning. It’s not something we stiff upper-lipped Brits do very often.

Even the Saturday of Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 was not officially declared a day of mourning.

But the nation came to a standstill and mourned anyway.

Shops closed, sports events were postponed, theatre and cinema showings were cancelled.

If ever another such day were needed it is needed now. A minute’s silence is just not enough any more.

This would be a day for all faiths to come together. And for people of all faiths – and none – to unite.

It would be a day to remember our dead in church or mosque or temple or village hall or pub. It would be a day to reflect on those we have lost, and a day of defiance against those who would do us harm. It would be a day to come together as one united community in one United Kingdom.

And it would be day to show the rest of the world we Brits recognise that our small island is part of the bigger global village. After all, so many of the dead we would mourn were from all over the globe.

A period of national mourning was declared for Winston Churchill after his death in 1965.

It did not just mark the passing of one of our greatest statesmen. It was the end of an era and the beginning of another as we found a new place in the world. And some of Churchill’s wise words still have relevance to where we find ourselves today: “If you’re going through hell, keep going. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

If you’re going through hell, keep going

WINSTON CHURCHILL WHOSE DEATH LED TO LAST NATIONAL MOUR NING