Woolwich thoughts

The gruesome murder of Lee Rigby wasn't a 9/11 moment, but the impact on me is equally deep and profound.

A day on and I still feel slightly numb about it.

We don't know the full facts yet, that's true, but we know enough to feel nothing but revulsion to the sub-human vermin who killed this young father of a two year old child.

This young father of a two year old child.  The very thought of it

Something possessed these two men, and for all we know their accomplices, to kill someone, anyone, in the pursuit of I don't really understand what.

The islamification of the UK, maybe, or maybe they were just out and out nutters.  My guess is both.

The personal story will come out soon enough, of a family wrecked by the crazed actions of a fanatic in the name of his god.  A son who will grow up without a father.  But why?

Are muslims the problem?  No, I don't think so.

Many - most? - muslims seem to be decent enough people.  I oppose many of their practices such as the cruel killing of animals, the oppression of women (something they share with other religions), their anti-gay stance (something they share with other religions) and I don't really understand why anyone really believes in a supernatural dictator.

I think the problem is islam.

As I have said before, my newspaper is rarely without something about religion and when catholic priests aren't shagging young boys or attacking gays whilst at the same time secretly indulging in gay practices, that religion is usually islam.

My heart sank when I saw one of the alleged murderers ranting at a camera, his hands seemingly covered in the blood of his victim, apologising to the women who had witnessed his barbarity.

What?  He was apologising to that part of the population which his religion, and not just the extreme side, hates most of all: women.

It seems the killers didn't even try to escape.  They were happy to hang around and gloat at their own evil until the agents of the law laid them low and the paramedics saved their lives.

Yes, the paramedics saved their lives.

Plenty of people are saying their lives didn't deserve to be saved and in my heart I agree with that.

They struck at the heart of our country, killing someone whose job, probably his vocation, his destiny, was to keep the country safe.

You shouldn't kill anyone for no reason.  In fact, I don't think you should kill anyone for a reason either.

We're better than them.  We're civilised.  We show the true compassion that doesn't have to stem from scripture.

The British people were magnificent in their support and their restraint.

The odious EDL went out on the streets in some areas but the rest of us stayed strong.

Politicians read the mood of the country, none more so than Andy Burnham who, speaking as an opposition shadow secretary of state, praised the government for everything they were doing.

More details will emerge in the days to come and some will be gruesome.

The blame game will begin and doubtless the police and security services will get a kicking.  But let us not forget who the bad guys really are.

I'm still shocked and not a little upset by what happened but I do know that we have to stay strong in order to preserve what freedom we have and not be cowed by the agents of destruction.

We don't blame every single muslim either because most muslims will condemn what happened.

But it remains my view that we must strive to convince people that the true way forward, to sideline extreme religion, is to embrace secularism.

Everyone should be free to follow a religion or none at all but all of us should live by the same rules.

No special privileges, no opt outs.

I am certainly not advocating a situation whereby the faithful need to emigrate to Vatican City, Israel or Islamabad if they want to live by the word of their gods but if we are to end this awful religious conflict we need common ground, a common set of rules by which we all need to abide.

I fear that no politician will have the bottle to put the genie back in the bottle and sadly the genie has now grown too big anyway.

We need to change though, of that there is no doubt.

RIP Lee Rigby.