BUGGERING THE TUBE AND MAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORT DANGEROUS? YOU THINK THAT WILL SCARE US?

As a slightly-more-considered response to the London bombings than Queen electing to make their gig a tribute to the emergency services, this Saturday there'll be a hastily-arranged festival to roll its eyes at the sort of person who thinks that blowing their faces up is the best way to carry out a political debate. (Because even if you win the argument, erm, you're in bits... how does that work, exactly?)

On the bill will be Billy Bragg, Suggs, possibly Jarvis Cocker and St Etienne and... well, more people, we expect. Though not Omarion.

Billy Bragg says “This free festival gives all Londoners an opportunity to come together to send a message of defiance to the bombers by celebrating the diversity they wish to destroy.” Of course, by his own admission he used to want to plant bombs at the Last Night of the Proms.

Ken Livingstone - former NME cover star (and how does it work that IPC were meant to be sacking mad when someone put Kinnock on page one and yet didn't bat an eye when Livingstone was given an expensive, region-specific cover? They didn't explain that on Inky Fingers, did they?) says: “The bombings that took place last week indiscriminately attacked Londoners irrespective of race, culture, religion or age. London is the future. This free gig will show that London stands firm and celebrates its status as a city of all races, faiths and cultures, the very thing the bombers hate.”

And - and we mean this genuinely - it's nice to hear London quickly back to its slightly over-inflated sense of its own importance, isn't it? If we had to choose between a future of the b-stream kids exploding themselves into an attempt to stop people from thinking freely, and the future being London, we'd prefer a future of overpriced restaurants, bored tourists and crowded escalators.

Oh... yes, this Saturday, Burgess Park

music london bombings jarvis cocker st etienne