Rehabilitation of ex-terrorists is a noble aim but security is paramount
sir – How could the perpetrator have a large knife plus a fake suicide vest while attending a session on the rehabilitation of criminals?
We should attempt to deradicalise and rehabilitate terrorists, rather than lock them up for life. I admire those undertaking this work. But common sense dictates a search at the entrance to the building for such a gathering.
We all submit to security checks under certain circumstances, for the safety of the public. I do not see that those at the event at Fishmongers’ Hall would have had their sensibilities offended by such a procedure.
Ex-terrorists may express remorse and tick the right boxes while secretly holding on to their original beliefs. This is a question to which there is no easy answer, but while such individuals are at large, one would have thought that basic security procedures should be in place.
Ann Gibbons
Lerryn, Cornwall
sir – There is immense sadness at the loss of young lives from the London Bridge attack. Dealing with constant threats to personal security is complex, needing joined-up thinking.
People with strong beliefs will not be deradicalised if they have support from others who think in the same way. We live in a society that accepts plural views, but if some don’t respect other people’s values, there will always be extremists taking violent means to justify and assert their authority.
Blaming austerity and lack of security services is naive when other countries with fewer resources attain better standards overall through consistent preventative strategies.
We need an integrated approach to our security and well-being which will demand a tougher strategy overall.
Professor Rosemary Sage
West Haddon, Northamptonshire
sir – I would suggest that most people approve of the potential rehabilitation of criminals, circumstances permitting. Terrorists should be treated differently and simply locked up for life. They are prepared to take human lives randomly; loss of liberty is the very least they should expect.
Peter Boxall
Merton, Oxfordshire
sir – At the time of writing, it appears that the brave members of the public who took on this terrorist were men. This is only as we would expect and what most men would want.
But is this what some regard as “toxic masculinity”? Of course men commit many of society’s wrongs, but it would be nice to see some balance from today’s woke community.
John Clezy
Flims, Graubünden, Switzerland
sir – It seems to me that, following the London Bridge knifing, it was the media that attacked Boris Johnson by asking how he could have allowed this to happen. He answered, and is now accused of politicising the atrocity. What a hopeless situation we are in.
Quentin Skinner
Lower Zeals, Wiltshire