It’s not enough to trust unity and love to prevail — it’s time to take practical action to stop terrorism
OUR hearts go out to the victims of the Manchester atrocity, their friends and families. But it is not enough simply to mourn.
Nor merely to stand together and trust unity, diversity and love to prevail.
What do we do, practically, to stop our kids being massacred at pop concerts?
Some want all Isis suspects or sympathisers we know about “interned”, locked up without trial.
The Sun cannot justify that. It throws fuel on the fire.
But action must now be taken.
Countless plots have been foiled by the peerless work of GCHQ and MI5.
They were never going to stop them all, but we must give them more tools to try.
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Hundreds of Isis-trained terrorists are said to be on our streets and known to the intelligence community.
No expense must be spared to provide the extra manpower and resources to watch many more as closely as we can.
Next, the social media giants must be forced to wake up to their global responsibilities. They can no longer give terrorists a safe space to plot slaughter.
They MUST give our spooks access to encrypted messages and remove the extremist propaganda turning young hotheads into mass killers.
We firmly back the Tory plan to force their hand with new Technical Capability Notices.
The right of our children to live without fear of slaughter over-rides the hand-wringing privacy anxieties of Californian tech giants.
Meanwhile it is crucial to cut out Islamist ideology at its root.
Efforts to combat extremism in Muslim communities must be stepped up and better funded.
Donald Trump was right to call Isis “losers”.
They are dupes, wasting their lives and snuffing out others in the absurd belief Allah wants it that way.
Ultimately these servants of evil can inflict death and suffering and temporarily terrorise but they cannot defeat us.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE MANCHESTER ARENA ATTACK
Today we launch a Together With Manchester appeal – to raise money for families of the victims of the Arena bomb.
News UK, publisher of The Sun, has made a corporate donation of £100,000 to the appeal.
Here’s how you can show your support….
ONLINE:
TEXT: Text TWMC50 and amount to 70070 – eg TWMC50 £5
(you can donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10)
We are vastly stronger — and, as Theresa May said in her perfectly judged response: “Our values, our country and our way of life will always prevail.”
That strength is never more obvious than in adversity, as Manchester admirably showed.
The magnificent courage and dedication of the emergency services.
The generosity of strangers giving comfort, shelter and blood to survivors.
But we will also say this.
The election in two weeks is fundamental to our liberal democracy.
It is of course right to grieve for the dead, but the campaign must not be postponed for days on end.
It would admit to the terrorists that they CAN knock Britain off its stride.
We must not give them the satisfaction.