Presented by The History Press. Speaker: Simon Webb.
Join Simon Webb for a discussion of the history of terrorism in London, and the opportunist response from successive governments.
Terrorism has been a regular feature of life in Britain for at least a hundred and fifty years. The most deadly bombing in London before the 7/7 attacks of 2005 took place in Clerkenwell in 1867, when twelve people were killed. The first tube bombings were in the 1880s.
Successive governments in this country have used the threat of terrorism as an excuse to erode civil liberties. After the Clerkenwell bombing mentioned above, Disraeli claimed that tackling terrorism would require the suspension of Habeus Corpus and more recently we have seen attempts to introduce identity cards, detention without trial, eavesdropping on an industrial scale and secret trials; all in the name of fighting terrorism.
Simon Webb, the author of 'Dynamite, Treason and Plot; Terrorism in Victorian and Edwardian London', traces the history of terrorism in this country from Victoria’s reign and shows how governments seize eagerly upon the threat of terrorism in order to bring in illiberal and repressive laws.
