Birmingham evacuated: I'd completely forgotten about this

Back in July, only a couple of days after the London bombs, the centre of Birmingham was entirely evacuated for 24 hours - on quite an incredible scale when you view the map of the cordoned-off area.

Check it out:


In fact, if you look at the map, there's a large roundabout at the lower-left of the image, where the cordon comes to a point... if you head left, following the road off the map for about a mile, that's where I currently am at university (in Edgbaston). I also recognised everywhere in the video report accompanying the article... Scary stuff, and the message is as applicable as it was back in July last year - remain vigilant. I'm beginning to wonder if this latest row over 'the cartoons' is the touchpaper to a whole string of race-related tension, especially in such a racially-diverse place as here in Birmingham.

Oh well, I live in hope that common sense prevails, here's hoping that that's the case.

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