Terror has no place in our community

The latest terror attacks in London really are ‘enough already’. Senseless violence and the murder of civilians will never be acceptable, and it is difficult to imagine what causes the perpetrators of such terrible acts to even contemplate such actions.

Inevitably, the latest attacks have caused a political row over cuts to police numbers, and questions over police responses to tip-offs they had received about the three attackers prior to the outrage.

We can hope that a positive result of this is more precise attention being paid to the recruitment and radicalisation of urban terrorists, It’s hard to imagine these people are part of our communities, moving among us while plotting such terrible deeds. If it means our communities pay more attention to behaviour that raises red flags, that is a good thing too. If more attention is paid to the recruitment of terrorists, and their motivation for joining such a terrible cause, perhaps we can learn from that.

But it’s more than the war on terror.The challenge is also to celebrate the freedoms our democracy allows us, and to welcome the diversity of culture and religious belief that makes us the rich and varied society we are. There is strength in unity, and strength in diversity, and now more than ever it is something to celebrate.

If we give in to fear, hatred, and prejudice, the terrorists would have achieved their objectives, and a hostile, divided society would be easier to exploit for their dark purposes.