Overcoming terrorism requires intelligence, in every sense of the word

The savage, tragic attack on people sitting in the sunshine in a park in Reading is an awful reminder that some of the issues that were uppermost in the nation’s mind before the coronavirus struck have not gone away. Terrorism – for this is now being regarded as a terrorist incident – has been a grave threat to all open, trusting societies across the world for many years. We must accept the unpalatable truth that it will

continue to be so.

Anger is an understandable human response. It will take some days for the full details to emerge but it is reported that the man being detained by police is a refugee from Libya. That someone who came to this country to escape from violence should themselves inflect it on the host nation makes the attack all the more repugnant.

But anger will not help us counter the threat. Instead we should follow the course the country has taken, with some success, in tackling terrorism in all its forms and protecting our people. There will inevitably be huge pressure on politicians and on the security services. But we know what to do, and what not to do.

We know that fighting terrorism requires great attention to detail. This means identifying potential terrorists, tracking them and their contacts, and acting before they can do harm. To carry this out successfully requires active cooperation from local communities. That in turn means mutual trust, order and decency. It also requires intelligence, in every sense of the word. None of this is easy, and many people will hark back to the days when it was not necessary to erect barriers around the Houses of Parliament to guard them from terrorist attacks. But we have to deal with these threats, and the security services and policymakers deserve considerable credit for their success in containing them.

We also know what not to do. There should be no knee-jerk oppressive reaction that would undermine trust between the police and the communities they serve. There should be no hostility to asylum seekers as such, or indeed to immigrants from the countries from which many asylum seekers come. That would be disgraceful.

Terrorism will remain a massive problem, not just for this country but for the whole of Europe and the rest of the world. But it is a problem that can only be tackled by rigour, patience and intelligence. Meanwhile, our hearts should go out to those whose lives have been torn apart by this senseless, savage action.