Just for appearances?

When the plane crashed on Lockerbie, there was no national minute's silence.
After the bomb in Warrington, no minute's silence.
After the Dunblane primary school massacre, no minute's silence.
Yet......after the Tunisian gunman went crazy and killed
30 British holidaymakers....we had a minute's silence.
Why?
Don't get me wrong, I have every sympathy for the families who have lost loved ones.  However, I might be being terribly cynical, but what is the government trying to distract our attention from?  If they have not deemed loss of multiple lives a reason for a minute's silence before, why now?
Just think about it.
No, I don't have any answers, but it smacks of distraction tactics to me.