Last night people would have dropped their kids off at Manchester Arena for the Ariana Grande concert. The kids would have been so excited. In the normal course of events, they’d have come out afterwards completely buzzing about the whole thing and would have spent hours reliving it and singing the songs.
They will certainly never forget the awful events of last night.
It is utterly impossible to comprehend what goes through the mind of someone who targets children and young people in this way.
One of my friends wrote on Facebook that we should think about what the terrorists want us to do – and then do the exact opposite.
They want us to turn on each other and change our lives to pander to them or fear of them. We can’t let them diminish us like that.
And in fact, we can see from the acts of kindness and solidarity from the people of Manchester that the generous, open-hearted spirit of that wonderful city will prevail.
Our hearts go out to all those who have lost loved ones, or who are going through the raw anxiety of not being able to track someone down, or who are waiting for news of an injured friend or relative.
All of us need to think about what we can do to make the world kinder, more open and gentle – and then go and do it.
Senior Liberal Democrats have been reacting to last night’s attack. Tim Farron said:
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