Yesterday was the 14th of July, Bastille Day, a national holiday in France, remembering that date in 1789 when they stormed the Bastille prison and the French Revolution began.
Yesterday cities all over France had celebrations and fireworks. People were out on the streets, having fun with family and friends. Small children got to stay up late to see the fun.
So last night the Promenade des Anglais in Nice was full of people. The perfect situation for a crazy man in a lorry to drive into them and cause mayhem. And another lovely place is overlaid with memories of madness.
This is the third attack in France in a year. It makes our own bit of homegrown political chaos seem less important somehow.
Surely it must be time for us all to put any differences between us to one side and get together to find a solution to this craziness: a solution that does not involve bombing another country. That has been shown not to work. The people who drive lorries into crowds and gun down concertgoers are usually citizens (or at least they have the passport) of the country where they do the deed.
No, I don't know what the solution is. Maybe it is actually too late. Perhaps we let the mad genie out of the bottle when we responded to 9:11 with war instead of talks. Maybe there is no solution.
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