A Little More Context
For Americans and other aliens, here’s a couple of places where you can read what most people in England think of when they hear mention of the IRA:
- This article on the Birmingham Six (six people wrongfully imprisoned for the crime) has details on what was, at that point, the IRA’s worst bombing to date.
- The Manchester bombing in 1996 is one that I narrowly missed— I woke up late, so didn’t make it into the shopping centre as I’d planned, instead feeling the explosion through the floor of my student apartment in Salford, a couple of miles away.
- The Docklands Bombing, earlier in 1996, was the IRA’s response to not getting their own way in the talks with the British over the future government of Northern Ireland.
- The Omagh Bombing. A high street, packed with families and children. No more need be said, really.
None of these crimes caused a major crackdown on free movement. Mass panic was not spread by the media. Never was it suggested that ‘this could happen YOU!’. We simply mourned, cleaned up the mess, and went on with our lives.
