Death and the national identity - a shameful thing!

Played snooker with Paul on Wednesday and he told me about a text he had from his friend in Mumbai. "I know it's dangerous" the message read "but I've run out of cigarettes". Paul had replied "get two packs". I had to laugh if only because laughter will ease the pain and (perhaps more importantly) defy the odds. What has been almost as depressing as the actual carnage has been the recurring estimation about how many of the dead are British. Of course it will be the ordinary Indian people who have borne the brunt of the violence but the compulsion among most reports to identify the level of non-indian casualty provides an unpleasant echo of the gun-men's own desire to single out westerners in their initial onslaught.

This idea that some lives are of more value than others is what has prompted the invasion of countries and the leaving of bombs on buses. We should be careful what we wish for....