Congratulations to BBC News for their prolonged coverage of the memorial service from Oslo Cathedral this morning. It was sensitive, moving, and dignified.
The grief was raw and universal. More emotion was visible from the King and Queen of Norway than I have seen from our royal family in a lifetime. The tragedy is personally harrowing because I know many Norwegian Labour MPs and I have visited their country three times. I fear messages that the sons and daughters of friends have been slaughtered.
As a former young Socialist of a generation ago and cheerleader for young people in my party ever since, I empathize with my Norwegian comrades. Prime Minister Stoltenberg today was an eloquent healing presence. He knew many of the young people.
They were motivated by decent idealism and hopes for a better life. Contradicting the cynicism against politics is their ambition for a better sustainable world that I hear from the splendid young people in the Labour Party here. The destruction of one in seven of Norwegian young socialists is a crime against the future of Scandinavia. The Nordic countries have led the world in practical social democracy that has created good prosperous societies that fairly distribute wealth.
The scenes outside the Cathedral as parents hugged parents and the bereaved embraced the survivors were painfully touching. They expressed the anguish and tenderness of sudden bereavement.
There is little consolation in this awful tragedy. The close links between Labour Parties across Europe may provide some comfort with solidarity in death as certain as solidarity in life. New strength may be drawn to advance the resolve of the survivors. They can renew and rebuild society on the elevated hopes of the slain who have been cruelly taken from their families and country.
Prime Minister Stoltenberg said:
"In the middle of all this tragedy I am proud to live in a country that is able to stand together at such a critical moment. We shed tears together."
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