What to do in times of terror?

At times like these there are more important things to think about than cricket, but for England fans Mumbai is not just the venue of terrorist attacks, but the place we're planning to visit soon in order to watch our favourite game. So whilst our thoughts go out to the people of Mumbai and anyone affected by last night's tragic events, my immediate social circle all want to know what I'm planning to do about my impending trip and we expect the phones at Barmy Army towers to go a bit crazy today with similar questions.

And the answer is...we don't know. If the tour goes ahead then you'll probably find most people will take the plunge and visit. All of which begs the bigger question of whether, indeed, the tour should go ahead. Everyone's going to have an opinion on this, so I'm already bracing myself for being told what I'm about to say is nonsense, but here goes.

Evidently safety is paramount and advice needs to be taken both from the Indian authorities and British Government. But there's something nagging at the back of my brain that says we should continue if at all possible. There are three reasons for this: firstly, if we don't tour the terrorists have won. They've disrupted the world yet again. Also, for the people of Mumbai having to deal with the aftermath of these events they could probably do with something to look forward to. While they're going about their daily lives in the city it would be a shame if this was enough to put the rest of the word off visiting.

But the bit that keeps coming back to me is this. I live in London. Three years ago we had terror attacks of our own. Speaking to my friend in Mumbai there is a similar feeling over there right now as there was here on that terrible day in 2005. And where was I two weeks after those attacks? Sat at Lord's watching the first Test between England and Australia. Indeed, London hosted two ODIs and a Test in the two and a half weeks immediately after July 7.

I don't know enough about the situation in Mumbai now to make a decision, but I hope for our Indian friends' sake that we try everything we can to make it happen rather than simply walk away without trying to make it work. At the same time it’s worth remembering: it is only cricket.