Earlier today an incident at Westminster has resulted in the deaths of four people, which number includes the attacker, a woman and a police officer. It appears that the police officer may have been stabbed. Around twenty other people have been injured in what the police are describing as a terror attack.

All Edinburgh MPs have used Twitter to advise that they are all okay, but shocked at the incident which the BBC report may also have involved gunshots and a 4×4 on Westminster Bridge which rammed pedestrians there.

 The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said : “My thoughts are with everyone caught up in the dreadful incident at Westminster today, including the emergency services who responded bravely to ensure the safety of the many people nearby.

“Following the incident the Scottish Government has been liaising closely with Police Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice has been briefed by the Chief Constable.

“This afternoon our officials held a Scottish Government resilience (SGoRR) meeting with Police Scotland, to ensure that any potential implications for Scotland are considered and I will convene a Ministerial SGoRR meeting later this evening.

“We have been in regular dialogue with the Parliament and I fully support the decision of the Presiding Officer to suspend proceedings this afternoon.  It should be made clear, however, that this was not because of any specific threat to the parliament or to Scotland

“We are liaising with our counterparts in the UK Government and the Scottish Government stands ready to support in any way we can.”

The Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh suspended the second day of the Independence Referendum debate at Holyrood and said: “Members of all parties represented in this Parliament will want to join me in expressing our heartfelt sympathy for all those affected by the tragic events at Westminster.

“As the true seriousness of the incident emerged, and as an expression of our support for our sister Parliament, parliamentary business at Holyrood was suspended this afternoon for the remainder of the day.

“No matter how significant our debate might be, to have continued further would not have been appropriate. It was incredibly apparent from the chair as reports emerged that the thoughts and concern of members lay elsewhere.”

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Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

6 COMMENTS

  1. clearly we need an education system that works . If a chap is seriously into mechanics we teach him to fix all cars ,not just one make . If a chap is into religion we ought to teach him to study all religions ,septs ,churches and all . who would listen to the philosopher who only knew the works of one philosophy ? Education is about inspiring ,then comparing . not bulldozing ahead with the limited field that you do know about . As i said Clearly we need an Education system that works .

    and i for one can only see crocodile tears of concern from our first minister regarding this terrorist attack when her last headline grab was praise for the works of the recently deceased IRISH terrorist leader . How can she expect to rebuild any credibility with no consistency in what she sais at all ?http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon/nicola-sturgeon-pays-tribute-to-brave-work-of-martin-mcguinness-1-4398921

  2. AS the world goes crazy looking for solutions to the IT crisis the inventor of the web publically denounced bad politicians and lazy governments about ,the glasgow herald alone has had 30 stories since Monday on this subject ,the Mail about the same and our first minister is not only blocking the LABOUR PARTY’S cyber report ,she is also blocking the POLICE FORCES REPORT. Who do you think sir tim is refering to when he criticises lazy govts or was it corrupt ,i forget ?
    Then instead of changing the topic of debate to Terrorism our lazy msp’s give themselves a half day Holiday in one of the few parliaments where the school bell rings in any case at 5 o’clock when most other parliaments on the planet do all nighters if something comes up .

    Is it just me or can no-one else see just how out of step Holyrood actually is ?

    I just loved the film clip of McGuinness meeting Her Maj and asking her how she was. Her reply: “I’m still alive” must go down as one of the best ironic statements from any monarch, expressing how she really felt about his involvement in the murder of her cousin without breaking protocol or giving overt offence.

    It reminded me of the Faulty Towers sketch when Basil had difficulty in dealing with German guests. When Sybil asked him if he’d mentioned the war, against her advice, he replied: “I only mentioned it once but I think I got away with it”.

    Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon/nicola-sturgeon-pays-tribute-to-brave-work-of-martin-mcguinness-1-4398921

  3. well done liz ,you have just identified the future rout all education systems and probably quite a few sects need to concentrate on if religions and churches/mosques/temples and other meeting rooms are to survive AT ALL.

  4. yes chris your faulty towers anecdote sums up the duplicity of the snp in how they are failing us but liz ,i’d make you world education secretary of UNESCO today if i could. You have reached the obvious conclusion and solution to our (the planets )educational weaknesses and a relatively obvious comparative solution which would GO ALONG WAY to clearing heads n focusing on what is good about systems of beliefs w/d

  5. liz if you and bernars lee can come up with perfect steps in the correct direction ,then why cant any of our overpaid politicians with the £ to our education systems in their hands .
    your solution wouldn’t cost anything ,just more inspired teachers required ,Have you actually read Sir Tims Letter where he sais he put his proposals forward ? He does not actually say to whom !https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/11/tim-berners-lee-online-political-advertising-regulation

    However who is being criticized is in No doubt . It also leaves in no doubt which country has cluttered up his sponsors legal department with more cases than the rest of europe put together .Why are our msp’s collecting the salary IF they have not done the work ?

    I suppose it is in the second half of mr Marlows judicious and poignant comment particularly the “drop of a hat” half day for all attitude pervading the holyrood above the law clique

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