The Blitz spirit that overrides politics

Pictures of bomb-damaged buildings and injured bystanders are again making the front pages. No-one can fail to be moved by the pain and suffering that has been caused as well as relieved that there were no fatalities, this time.

The unfortunate fact is that disaster planning now has to be put back on many agendas, both professional and personal.

When the City of London was devastated by the bomb in the Baltic Exchange in 1993, in common with other professional practices, law firms such as Norton Rose, Penningtons and the erstwhile Pinsent & Co were among the firms most badly affected.

The Lawyer reported at the time that the firms had been inundated with offers of office space from legal practices and other professions, such as accountants - so much so that one firm's spokesperson commented that the generosity of the offers could have rehoused it twice over.

Again, rather in the spirit of the Blitz, the law firms, barristers' chambers and other professional practices affected by the explosion in Manchester are pulling together and giving each other a helping hand.

This comes at a time when the Press has been reporting increased competition among law firms and growing pressure from both inside and outside the profession, as well as the increasing concern about the image of the profession and the sometimes unflattering coverage of this year's presidential elections.

So it is heartening to see that in times of adversity lawyers and other professionals are co-operating to overcome disaster.

This latest incident serves to remind the legal profession (and its observers) that in the wider scheme of things, what is seen as petty in-fighting is much less relevant. Politics and professional politicking are often too volatile a mix.