Bombs could not shatter our cool resolve.

last updated 8 January 2015

United Kingdom

Magnus Linklater

The English haven’t gone soft one bit, says Magnus Linklater in the London Times. During World War II, Brits proved to be magnificent in crisis, as bombs rained down on London daily. We’ve done it again. The official report on the London transit bombings of last July, released last week, is filled with “story after story of calmness and courage, modesty and self-deprecating humor.” Wounded passengers trapped in the subways helped one another with courtesy and the kind of dry remarks that showed they knew how very English they were being. One commuter saved an injured stranger from lapsing into unconsciousness “by talking to him about England’s rugby team,” all the while apologizing “for choosing such a depressing subject.” Even those who weren’t so stoic managed to muster “a peculiarly British form of self-mockery,” like the girl who announced, “At least now I know I’m crap in a crisis.” What a contrast to New York on 9/11, “where survivors gave vent to their emotions in very public expressions of grief.” And how bracing to know that even when raised in a “cocoon” of safety and security, we Britons can still summon a “gritty, phlegmatic, diffident heroism.”