When evil strikes
Just as with the Brighton Bomb, evil has found its way into a man's heart (and perhaps others) and allowed him to do unspeakable things in Norway yesterday.
We live in a political world and it will be hard for many to resist making political points, or even religious ones that are more based on their own agenda and opportunism than the facts of the events.
My advise to the Norwegians is this: treat this as a criminal act. Pursue those involved as you would criminals. Apply justice without fear or favour. ( Some of the great mistakes in the UK were made when we let our fury at these crimes overcome the implementation of proper justice - for example the Guildford four [ though as with many of these things the original victims of the pub bombings somehow get forgotten in the follow on court cases. I've drunk in one of the pubs concerned.] )
It is only by treating terrorism as a crime that sufficient disgust with the idea will become accepted by the far reaches of our societies were it can breed.
I've already heard the opposite approach on the BBC this morning and seen some individuals who have over stepped the mark this morning.
Lets stay focused and determined here.
Norway is one of my favourite countries, I've been there on holiday a number of times and can remember being shocked at how easy it was to walk up to key buildings in Oslo. I hope they can make the necessary changes without changing their wonderful character of their country.
There must be terrible grief in so many families today, and nothing I can say here will help them, but we can hold the line against political violence and help deter any future criminal acts.
We live in a political world and it will be hard for many to resist making political points, or even religious ones that are more based on their own agenda and opportunism than the facts of the events.
My advise to the Norwegians is this: treat this as a criminal act. Pursue those involved as you would criminals. Apply justice without fear or favour. ( Some of the great mistakes in the UK were made when we let our fury at these crimes overcome the implementation of proper justice - for example the Guildford four [ though as with many of these things the original victims of the pub bombings somehow get forgotten in the follow on court cases. I've drunk in one of the pubs concerned.] )
It is only by treating terrorism as a crime that sufficient disgust with the idea will become accepted by the far reaches of our societies were it can breed.
I've already heard the opposite approach on the BBC this morning and seen some individuals who have over stepped the mark this morning.
Lets stay focused and determined here.
Norway is one of my favourite countries, I've been there on holiday a number of times and can remember being shocked at how easy it was to walk up to key buildings in Oslo. I hope they can make the necessary changes without changing their wonderful character of their country.
There must be terrible grief in so many families today, and nothing I can say here will help them, but we can hold the line against political violence and help deter any future criminal acts.
1 comment:
My advise to the Norwegians is this: treat this as a criminal act. Pursue those involved as you would criminals.
The problem is that politicians will make capital out of it and bring in all sorts of legislation now which clearly is not needed.
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