I woke up a few moments ago and pulled up my bedroom blind. The sun’s shining boldly through a cloudy sky. Just as I was drifting off to sleep last night my phone bleeped with people checking that I was alright after another brutal attack in London.

Throughout the night I heard the sirens of emergency vehicles moving up and down outside the castle. Last night’s attack was in London Bridge, an area I know well. Until her recent maternity leave Fat Sister worked at Guy’s Hospital just moments from where many people were killed and injured.

As I listened to the sirens I thought a lot about her colleagues and the emergency teams managing the aftermath of such a sad and futile incident.

For the last few years many public services have been operating under immense financial and political pressure. I’ve seen at first hand the impact that managing difficult events on understaffed rotas can have on the professionals involved. It’s essential that the people and systems that support all our safety and wellbeing – the NHS, the Ambulance Service, the Police and the transport network – are properly invested in and have the resources they need to operate effectively when tragic situations arise.

While I’m horrified by this attack on my city, my most intense concern this morning is about the division and distrust it has the potential to stir up. London’s strength is in the diversity of its residents and how closely we all live together. We must continue to trust in each other and work together to make sure that hatred of any kind has no foothold in our communities .

As I was eventually drifting off to sleep my usual lamp-post tics took a kinder and more reflective tone:

“Lamp-posts, I love your light tonight”
“Lamp-posts working for the good of humanity.”
“Lamp-posts shining a light on London’s solidarity.”