I was concentrating on my work this morning when a friend sent me an IM, asking if I knew about the “explosions in London”. I didn’t at the time, but I soon found out: the co-ordinated bombings in London have been the only thing in the mainstream news today. However, I found Wikipedia’s coverage to be the best by far, in terms of currency and actually presenting the known facts in a clearly digestible manner.

Based on the known facts at this point, it’s the deadliest terrorist incident in the UK since Pan Am Flight 103 crashed at Lockerbie, killing 270. It is, of course, far from the 2,986 killed in New York in 2001. But it’s worth remembering some other lethal attacks in the past year: 90 killed in Russian aeroplanes on 2004-08-24; 344 at Beslan, also in Russia, between 2004-09-01 and 03; 32 in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel, on 2004-10-07; 125 Iraqis killed in Hilla on 2005-04-28; 20 in a mosque in Kandahar on 2005-06-01 . That’s not a comprehensive list, and I’ve listed only the number of dead; the number of people injured and affected is far greater.

So far, no one I know seems to have been injured or killed, for which I’m relieved.

I wonder how long it will take the politicians to start making political capital out of it. I hope that people won’t let them.