Kmflett's Blog

Not All Our Yesterdays: Remembering 9.11, 25 years on

It is the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, 11th September 2001.

Some will have lost friends and relatives in the attack, for the most part ordinary people quite unconnected to the US policies which provided the pretext for the attack.

Many others will be able to remember with more than usual clarity where they were on that day. I was at the TUC in Brighton. This was well before the days of instant access to the web via a smart phone.

It became clear in the hall that something had happened. That year’s TUC Chair Bill Morris made an announcement that a plane had hit the twin towers. At that stage the extent of devastation was unknown.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was due to address the gathering immediately after lunch. He appeared briefly said a speech would be inappropriate and hurried off to London. Business was suspended.

Delegates were stunned. Indeed so dazed was I that I recall shaking hands with the then General Secretary of my Union, not a normal event by any means in those now fairly far off days.

The attack on the twin towers was being shown on TV screens in the Brighton Centre. There was no other source of instant news then. I retreated to the Evening Star pub by Brighton station (still going strong I’m pleased to say, I was in there a few months back) and phoned my parents and partner. The enormity of what had happened was, I still recall, very difficult to process

The Speech Blair actually made at the TUC in Brighton on 11th September 2001

Tony Blair – 2001 Speech to TUC Conference (delivered speech) – UKPOL.CO.UK