Introduction: London, time, terror

On 2 July 2005 Pink Floyd reunited to perform together on stage for the first time in 24 years. They played at the ‘Live 8’ concert in Hyde Park, London, which was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign. This campaign, a coalition of more than 400 charities, unions and faith groups, formed to put pressure on world leaders’ commitment to halve global poverty by 2015. It was organized in anticipation of the G8 summit of world leaders (the leaders of the world’s eight richest countries) who met at the Gleneagles Hotel, near Edinburgh in Scotland, from 6 to 8 July. Top of the agenda were issues of trade, debt and aid and global climate change. The summit coincided with the meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Singapore on 6 July 2005, at which it was announced that London would host the 2012 Olympic Games, beating rival bids from Paris, Moscow, New York and Madrid. Tony Blair, then Prime Minister of the UK, and president of the G8 for that year, left the summit briefly to congratulate the city of London on its successful bid. As Blair exclaimed: ‘Many reckon [London] is the greatest capital city in the world and the Olympics will keep it that way’ (BBC News Online 2005a). The next day, 7 July, four suicide bombers targeted the London transport network killing themselves and 52 other people and injuring over 700. In the midst of such high profile and widespread discussions of global politics, justice and inequality, London experienced the worst single instance of loss of life in its recent history.