Thanks to the people who protect it, Parliament is a fortress

Today was a reminder of the professionalism and bravery of those who protect the Houses of Parliament. I heard an explosion and before I had moved the eight feet or so from my desk to the window to see what was going on, shots had rung out as the police dealt with the situation.

The attack today has taken human life, and that is a tragedy. One policeman has died protecting our Parliament and a woman has been killed outside it. But the fact that the terrorists drove a car into people before stabbing a policeman is a reminder that these attackers, who would take as many lives as they could, have not obtained the weaponry that would enable them to kill dozens and dozens of people in minutes. Our strict gun laws and the difficulty of smuggling weaponry across the Channel are offering us some protection, though that will obviously be scant consolation to those who lost loved ones in today’s attack. 

British democracy is a resilient thing.