Songfacts®:

• This song refers to the media's reactions to terrorist attacks. It was controversially released as a single in the UK on July 9, 2007, two days after the second anniversary of the London bombings, which killed 52 commuters.
• Bloc Party's frontman Kele Okereke told Billboard magazine May 2, 2006: "The 30 bus in Hackney, which is just around the corner from where I live, was blown up. [That song was] written when I was just observing the reactions of the mainstream press in [the UK] and I was just amazed at how easy it'd been to whip them up into a fury. I guess the point about the song for me is post-September 11th, the media has really traded on fear and the use of fear in controlling people."
• The title is a reference to the Salem Witch Trials, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Women accused of practicing witchcraft were put to death, and the event continues to serve as a metaphor for overreaction and mindless judgment.