London

Margaret, I did say the BBC and for me to hear people have been killed is enough , there is no need to see a body , this is not in the public interest but some of the public find seeing a dead body interesting. I did not mention the police only the BBC and their choice to fill their twenty four hours news by showing a corpse.

Fact people were killed , why is this horror not enough for some

Forgive me if this has already been said but would it be a good idea to have barriers on the edges of the pavements around Westminster?

I expect there will be now be more barriers surrounding important buildings and landmarks but where do you draw the line?

The car or van is such an easy weapon compared to a lorry where access can more easily be restricted.

grannypiper whilst I find any act of murderous violence abhorrent, as most human beings do, sadly there always have been, and will always be, individuals & groups who use violence to try to promote their ideas/policies, get their own way or because they are mentally ill. UK has been relatively violence free in the last 70 years compared to some parts of the world, torn apart by violent and bloody war. Continuing to live our lives as normal, doing a little act of kindness everyday, not allowing the hate to overtake the love is the strongest response ordinary people can do to fight back.

Mentally ill???

So this Khalid Masood has a history of petty criminal offences and was once investigated on suspicion of terrorism. The latter can mean just about anything or nothing. In his case, the police seem to have considered that it was nothing. He seems to have been someone with a somewhat unstable personality. He was British born but, presumably, with foreign ancestry – something that applies to many of us.

I understand why the top terrorism policeman immediately responded to this attack with the assumption of terrorism, but it remains to be seen whether that is genuinely the case. Arrests in other parts of England may yield further information but, equally, may simply be misleading leads (as it were).

While the UK is an obvious terrorist target as a result of its interference in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is a political tendency to keep pushing the buttons to keep everyone scared. Here is New Zealand, they have just justified random spying on citizens on the basis of the "terror danger". I am not sure what the situation on this is in the UK now, but if it hasn't happened already, it will soon.

Let us not jump to conclusions too readily. This may have been part of a planned terrorist attack. It may have been a one-man terrorist show. It may have been the action of disturbed person.

Sorry but this was an act of terrorism.

People are not being 'kept scared'.
If they were no-one would have gone to work in London today, visited the capital today or attended the huge vigil this evening in Trafalgar Square.

However, the security services need to be constantly vigilant and I am thankful for that.

I watched most of the proceedings at the HoC this morning and I thought that Theresa May spoke very well as did MPs of all parties. Their condemnation of terrorism, compassion for the victims, and emphasis on the need to stand up for British values and our tolerant democratic way of life made me feel proud to be a citizen of the United Kingdom. This is not something I have felt much in recent years and it gave me some hope.

I agree with you varian. Two Conservative MPs particularly moved me. Tobias Ellwood didn't run away, but tried to save the stabbed policeman. James Cleverly had known him personally and spoke in the HoC to ask that he should be honoured in some way. I was reminded of Andrew Mitchell's moving speech about Jo Cox.

Normally, I would probably disagree with these MPs, but perhaps it was a reminder that they are all human. It's probably no coincidence that all three were soldiers in a former life.

Staff from the local hospitals ran out to the scene with equipment to do what they could. Maybe it's time to have more respect for public services, for which we should all be enormously grateful. I sometimes think people forget how lucky they are to have been born and live in the UK.

Nobody can assume the motivation of this latest murderer, but it seems at first glance that he and Jo Cox's murderer are ideological mirror images of each other. Something in their warped minds justified their actions to themselves. They seem to thrive on promoting aggressive conflict while, themselves, being victims of it.

I agree with varian that we must stand firm and support tolerant, democratic values, just as Paris and Berlin have done. To me, that's what the "people's will" is all about. I think it's time tolerant liberals took back the nationalist narrative from extremists.

PS. I had one little chuckle after Farage tried to exploit the situation by posting a hate-filled Tweet about immigrants. It's now known that the murderer was born in Kent and was in his 50s, so people on Twitter responded by posting suggestions that all Kent-born men in their 50s with extremist views should be deported or a wall could be built round Kent to keep them out of the rest of the country. Farage deleted his Tweet.

Looks like this deranged bloke, whatever his reason for wanting to kill, has done something we desperately needed. He has, more than anything else of late, brought the country together. Reminded us all that being British is a good thing. It's terrible the way we're falling apart as a nation. From Scotland to Cornwall we're defragmenting. I hate it. We've stood together as Little Britain for several hundreds of years. Squabbling among ourselves, but united. Hopefully he's reminded the media that being British isn't so bad and they'll stop encouraging our demise and think and talk positively for a while.

What a terrible thing to happen, although it was just a matter of time before it happened again. My thoughts go out to the families of the dead and injured.
One thing, among many others, that I was wondering is why the PC protecting Parliament was not wearing a stab vest and why he was unarmed. What a brave man he was.

Of course being British is a good thing. Extremists must not be given the oxygen to spew their bile and destroy what we have. Patriotism must be reclaimed from the nasty nationalists, who claim to be the custodians of British values. They really are not. The UK's strength has been a tolerance and openness, which we're at risk of losing.

Extremists, whether they're called Nigel or Adrian (Elms), must not be allowed to win - especially if they were born in 1964 in Kent .

Katie whatserface and Tommy Robinson tried to score points yesterday and it was heart-warming to see the reaction on social media. They, Farage and Fox News were put down with typically British irony, humour and politeness.

Refreshing to see wasn't it. Althougn I only read it reported second hand. Don't bother with any of them as they'll all just attention seekers.

This man was British too, in fact it appears his name was actually Adrian Elms and he wasn't born Muslim.

This is a hoax, but raised a smile.

Exactly Anya. His birth was actually registered in 1964 in Bromley - the same as Nigel Farage. That's why Farage's call to stop immigrants backfired, especially as he (Farage) also has immigrant ancestry.

What kind of mother would have thought that 52 years later, her British-born baby would turn into a murderer? It's been reported that the mother was a British-born single mother.

I think it pretty much sums it up Daphne!

I saw that DD and it raised a smile

Too bad the tube information board is a hoax...but in this case, it does sum up the British spirit, nonetheless. dd and varian, you express my feelings exactly.

I wonder what is going on in the mind of someone (from any nationality) who can carry out an act of evil such as this? There must be something spurring them on to do it and why does the "save, protect, nurture" button not kick in? I will never understand.

Made me smile too DD.
I was so proud of the way the police, emergency services and the public reacted to this act of terrorism. So many individual acts of bravery and assistance given. I can only hope I would be able to do the same if necessary.

A group called Muslims United for London has raised nearly £20,000 in a day for the victims of the attack.

www.launchgood.com/project/muslims_united_for_london#/

I'm with Merlotgran, I think it was terrorism, although it seems very likely that he was acting alone, but I guess we'll have to wait a while longer for the final official verdict from the police. It seems they've seized a lot of IT equipment to trawl through.
Daphnedill thanks for the picture of the Information Board, made me laugh. However, it is so true.
I feel proud of all the people who helped, and showed bravery, whoever they were, whatever their background. I felt proud of Britain, but hugely saddened by the actions of one deranged man. I don't care really whether he was British or not, or what his background was, I simply feel utter contempt for him. Anyone who can take human life in such a way is beneath contempt.

He tried to induce terror in the population therefore he was a terrorist.