Don't Look Back in Anger

People are reacting with anger to the recent terrorism on our streets. This is understandable, a natural gut-reaction to the horrific events. Phone-ins are busy with people spouting Theresa May’s latest tagline ‘enough is enough’, proposing solutions that include rounding up Muslims and locking them up. This shows how easy it is for perverted, extreme views to arise. For each terrorist that wishes us dead there’s seems to be someone wanting indiscriminate revenge.

It’s easy to shout down these distorted opinions, to call these people racist, but this is the wrong tactic. Don’t Look Back in Anger, the unofficial anthem of the people of Manchester, should be the adopted position. Anger is exactly what the terrorists want to elicit. And who doesn’t feel anger at the recent murders? It’s our anger, when turned towards Muslims, that exasperates the problem and helps create the next jihadi.

There are many calls for the Muslim community to act but it’s up to all of us to act, and that means responding in a way the terrorists hate to see - fighting hatred with love. This is not a natural or easy thing to do but nobody claims the war on terror is easy. I'm not suggesting we love the terrorists, but whenever we feel anger we must use it as a motivation to find reason. When we come across anti-Muslim rhetoric we must meet ignorance with understanding. When we see fear in a young man's eyes, we must meet it with acceptance and love. We are one. Only hate can divide us.

Allow me to a final point. What the terrorists don’t want to see is:

 

Our dancing policeman, PC Paul Taylor, in a group, having fun. More than business as usual. More united than before.

What the terrorists do want to see is:

A Conservative government. Aside from wiping £600 million off the police budget, cutting tens of thousands of police staff and reducing our number of police stations, Theresa May prefers to hold hands with Donald Trump than with the police. With May on Trump’s lap our involvement in the war on terror will get bloodier, fuelling more anger while our response on home soil will be insufficient to cope with the extra threat. The terrorists want a divided Britain. Enough is indeed enough. Don’t give the terrorists the result they want. Vote the Tories out on June the 8^th. Choose love instead.