London at peace

Some pictures from the last few days in London.


Police stand guard close to a sealed off Tavistock Square, where a bus was blown up last Thursday morning killing at least 13 people.


A sign on a tree near Tavistock Square advertises a peace vigil organised by the Stop the War Coalition on Saturday evening at the peace garden of the nearby Friends Meeting House.


People pack into the peace garden for a minute's silence, after which a wide range of speakers addressed the crowd.


Overhead picture of peace vigil (me perched slightly precariously on high wall).


George Galloway MP addresses the crowd. He was followed by Jeremy Corbyn MP.

Some more good writing in the papers today:

Gary Younge in the Guardian produces an astonishingly good piece, perhaps the best he has ever written (I only say perhaps because I doubt I've read every one of his columns). A small sample:

It is no mystery why those who have backed the war in Iraq would refute this connection. With each and every setback, from the lack of UN endorsement right through to the continuing strength of the insurgency, they go ever deeper into denial. Their sophistry has now mutated into a form of political autism - their ability to engage with the world around them has been severely impaired by their adherence to a flawed and fatal project.

In the same paper Karen Armstrong discusses the terms we should use to describe terrorists.

More interesting letters in the Independent today, where a battle of ideas is clearly raging over the factors behind the London bombings.

Images from Thursday, selected by the Guardian's photo editor.