This blog is about the horrific suicide [homicide] bombing in Tel Aviv (Israel) yesterday. I’ve commented on suicide bombings in the past and the grief that it causes the people injured and the families of those killed. What I plan on doing is to write a seperate post about the mechanics of a terrorist suicide bomb, just to drive home how evil these people truely are. What I wanted to point you towards first is a couple of other blogs that I have read through Jo’s site as they really put the events of yesterday into perspective.The first is a blog called On the Face written by Lisa Goldman, an Israeli freelance journalist based in Tel Aviv. She was there and has blogged about it.
Today’s explosion was so loud and so strong that we thought it was just down the street. But it turned out to be at the old central bus station, a seedy area of cheap shops and food stands about 15 minutes’ walk away. It’s a place where poor people, junkies and foreign workers live. Incredibly, the bomber hit the exact same shawarma stand that another suicide bomber had exploded himself in just three months ago. That time, no one was killed. This time the bomb was a lot bigger – and it was packed with long nails.
I then followed a link on Lisa’s blog to a ’sober and intelligent take on today’s bombing’. It’s a blog by an Iranian called Arash Abadpour who is currently working on his doctorate at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
If those black sheets with the prophet’s name were not hanging behind him, I would be thinking he is reading an essay about the “beauty of the spring”. The sixteen-year-old boy kills eight people at the scene and wounds dozens more, some of which are reported to be in serious condition.
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I was thinking will the Islamic world give an appology for the prophet’s name used in a mission to kill people?
Both these blogs are very good and the photos are harrowing, but I would advise reading both of them.
Okay, okay, I know it’s a strange heading, but let me explain. It’s relating to two news stories that I have read over the past 24 hours that I felt were important enough to write about and share my feelings on them.
The first news item was relating to two year honours degrees that will be offered at five universities in England. Students at Staffordshire University, Derby University, Leeds Metropolitan University, University College Northampton and The Medway Partnership in Kent will pilot the fast-track courses from September with the aim to save time and money so that students can begin work sooner and with less debt. What really confuses me about this is that if these degrees are basically three year degrees ‘compressed’ into two years, then that would surely mean less holiday time, which would mean less time to be able to work to make money to be able to pay for their living costs whilst at university.
The second is about the imminent flooding that is occuring in Serbia. I have to admit that the headline for that article was my favourite headline of the day, it definately made me giggle:
Danube reaches peak in Balkans, dykes in danger
I know, it’s silly, but I actually saw the headline on my google homepage and only noticed the last two words out of the corner of my eye and thought it would be an article addressing lgbt issues. When I did read the article though, it got me pondering. I was in London for three days last week and was speaking with some family about the hosepipe ban. What made me think was that, for me up in Manchester, it’s been bloody soaking since I can remember, we cannot have a day of sunshine without there being two days of rain to follow. I cannot see how the south-east of the country can be suffering from a drought, when there are some people in the north starting to evolve webbed feet. What should be put in place around Europe is a system where, if a river is going to burst its banks and flood the surrounding area, then the excess water is pumped and piped to wherever in Europe it is needed. Whether that be to combat forest fires in Spain or France or to reduce a drought in England.