THE truly unspeakable events of last week in Woolwich still dominate the national headlines. The images of the two alleged murderers talking to passers-by whilst waiting for the police to arrive will certainly be etched on my mind for some time.

Of course, terrorism is not new to the UK. Many people will be familiar with the bombings from the IRA in the 1970s and 80s and how it affected our neighbourhoods. Birmingham suffered, as did London and I remember being within earshot of both the Harrods bomb in the early 80s, as well as the Bishopsgate bomb in the later 80s.

But terrorism then was different in two key ways. Firstly, there was an identifiable cause that had an end of either re-unification or negotiated settlement.

Because of that, there was a sort of code that meant that there were telephone warnings of impending explosions or, if not, that the bombs were timed to go off at quieter times.

The terrorists had a more identifiable structure and so could be negotiated with: this recent bout of terrorism does not.

But the second key element was that the IRA terrorists wanted to escape and live to terrorise another day: this latest round is perpetrated by those who seek martyrdom.

It is because of these two elements that the security forces have such a challenging job. So- called ‘Lone Wolf’ activists deciding amongst a small and independent group what targets to hit, and with no thought of personal safety whatsoever, means that there is far less intelligence to go on.

An act of terrorism is far more unpredictable than it was. That in itself amplifies the terrorising element of terrorism.

Within hours of the atrocity in Woolwich, I had heard from the local police, letting me know what they are doing locally in response. It was an incredibly reassuring telephone call.

The reality is that we are incredibly well protected by not just the police, but by all our emergency services.

Collectively, they work together to make sure that we are as safe as is humanly possible; but if there is a problem, that it help comes as quickly as possible. Of course, we need to look at how we can help the police and other emergency services more.

Looking at the longer term, it is, of course, important to remember that extreme Islamism is extraordinarily rare in the UK. In exactly the same way that not everyone with an Irish accent in the 70s and 80s wanted to bomb us, the vast, vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving, hard-working members of our community. Their community is as appalled – if not more – as all of us at last week’s events.

Of course, all of our thoughts are with the family and colleagues and friends of Drummer Lee Rigby.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London