I wish I could unsee sickening attacks

MY mum usually ends our frequent phone calls by telling me to be careful on the Tube.

In recent years – with terror attacks increasingly regular around the world – she has also urged me to be careful at work.

I don’t know what she thinks I can do differently, but I appreciate the sentiment.

Because we all knew, especially in this age of the lone wolf, that London would be hit again at some point. It was a question of when, not if.

My usual response is to insist she shouldn’t worry, to remind her that the Palace of Westminster is one of the safest places in the city.

And – despite Wednesday’s horrific events which I wish I could unsee – I will continue to say the same thing.

Because the police officers who put their lives on the line every single day of their careers do an exceptional job.

As has been repeatedly said, when we run away, they run toward; they stand their ground; they confront; protecting all of us and, indeed, the values of our democracy itself.

It’s obviously frightening that Khalid Masood was able to breach parliament’s perimeter.

And I’m indescribably sad that brave constable Keith Palmer and other innocent victims were cut down in this senseless, incomprehensible act of terror.

But the attacker got only a matter of yards on to the parliamentary estate before being gunned to the ground.

Thanks to the courage of PC Palmer and his colleagues, he didn’t get anywhere near the building.

Conspicuously absent from the many messages of concern that flooded my phone was one from my mum. Backpacking around South America, my parents were blissfully ignorant of the news and so spared that blood-running-cold moment when you realise a loved one might be in danger.

Predictably, when we spoke she asked whether I’d be going to work the next day.

She hoped I would stay away, but I was determined to go in, not to be cowed.

In a powerful show of defiance, Thursday was as normal as Wednesday had been chaotic.

Yes, huge parts of Westminster remained cordoned off and forensic teams could be seen scouring the scene of the tragedy.

But rightly so, Parliament – and Londoners – carried on regardless.

Everything functioned as it should, the only unusual thing in the Commons being the lack of visitors in the public gallery.

And they will, of course, return as the security tape comes down, just as the tourists will return to Westminster Bridge for the unparalleled views.

Sources at the hotel where Masood is believed to have stayed said he told them London “wasn’t like what it used to be”.

Well, I say he’s wrong. London is and will continue to be a great city.

But I’ll leave the last words to Kamran, a Pakistani man I met at the Trafalgar Square vigil, who moved to London in 2004.

“It feels like home,” he said. “I love the hospitality, the different communities living together. We love and respect each other. This incident will not force us apart.”