For 'Paris' we should also read 'London' and get on with our response accordingly

The horrendous atrocities that took place in Paris last night are clearly still emotionally raw for everyone and my heart goes out to all of the families that have been terribly affected by the mindless and completely unjustifiable violence that has been visited on that great city.

Others have commented much more eloquently than I ever could about the horror and sheer despair for humanity that has occurred. And I'm not going to add to that sentiment here although I feel it very keenly too of course.

But two things strike me about the event and its aftermath - two things that we will need to - indeed must - consider and face in the coming days and weeks in my opinion.

First is that we should not consider the Paris atrocity as a problem just for France. It is clearly a problem and a tragedy for us all in Europe (and 'The West).

An obvious thing to say but my point is much stronger than this platitude. We must respond, as a nation and as a people, as if last night's events had taken place on the streets of London.

Think about that for a moment. Had this happened in London I think our response and our mind-set would be different. There would now be much more urgency in the UK to address the problem of Radical Islam.

I think Paris should not be considered as an atrocity and a disaster for France, but for us all. And I think we should see it as a very clear starting point for us to get on with our response and to properly start to tackle the problem in the UK in a pro-active rather than reactive way.

Because as night follows day, this is coming to the UK sometime soon. And the danger, in my opinion, is that we will wait, hoping this massive problem will somehow go away before it reaches us here in the UK. Sadly I see absolutely no chance of this happening so instead of waiting for British lives to be lost to these mindless, brainwashed idiots, we should have a mind-set, now, as if this had happened in London.

It is our problem, it is immediate, clear and present, and whilst we should of course be offering our support to France, we should also be getting on with our response right here in the UK.

And that might mean rounding up potential radicals. It might mean embarking on a highly visible public process in which we interview all Muslims in the UK and find out, in no uncertain terms, whose side they're on and whether the Qu'ran, Sharia law, or UK laws and values take precedence in their lives.

In short, as I have blogged about several times, we will, in the end, need to establish that Moderate British Muslims do exist and are on our side, for our own peace of mind and for the Muslims themselves to be able to declare their allegiance in a public way, which will ensure their own safety and acceptance when and if the backlash begins.

It is not an easy option of course, but the alternative, in the end will be continuing and damaging distrust taking root in our society and almost certainly escalating into violence in the near future if the issue is not properly addressed.

[Update: I have been taken to task for the 'simplicity' of this suggestion and the prospect that radicals would just lie in this situation. (Taqiyya). That is potentially true of course but honour and 'face' is extremely important to these Muslim people, particularly to the young men, which is why I say that this must be highly public. It should be broadcast, filmed and held in a public environment with their peers, families and neighbours in attendance. So that everyone can see them commit to upholding UK laws over and above the Qu'ran. Those that were not able do this would be, by definition, a threat to us and we would then have to decide what action we would take to protect ourselves from said threat.]

The second issue is related to this but is another major item on the UK government's 'to do' list if we are to properly address this issue.

We need to have an open, independent and credible evaluation of Islam. One which makes it clear what the religion actually stands for and what its followers actually believe.

Because - and this is clearly a deliberate ploy by those who use Islam to justify their barbaric actions - the uncertainty of where Islam and the Qu'ran really stands and what it really teaches its followers about beliefs, behaviours and how this relates to non-believers and followers of other religions, is an issue that we really do now need to be able to understand.

Worst case scenario is that believers in Islam do follow a religion that justifies and indeed encourages violent actions against non-believers. And if this is the case we need to find a way of either updating and modernising the 'book' so that it actually does allow a modern approach to religious belief that is generous and tolerant towards its followers and non-followers alike so that Muslims can practise their beliefs in a way which does not pose a threat to the rest of us.

Or, if that is not possible, we will at least know that we have a real and major problem that can only really be solved by separating followers of Islam from non-followers, physically and geographically.

Best case scenario would be finding that Islam actually does teach peace and tolerance and that Moderate Muslims do therefore have a world-view that can be peaceful and can positively contribute to our modern society. At the moment we don't really know the answers to these questions and I think we really do need to know as we go forward.

My personal opinion is that most Muslims who flee to 'the West' are doing so to get away from the barbaric interpretation of the Qu'ran and are seeking a better, freer and fairer life in which their humanity can shine through. I think that when they get here, many find themselves in thrall to established radicals in their new 'home country' who make use of their religious beliefs, twisting the words of the Qu'ran to force them into doing things - or standing by while these things are perpetrated - in a way which they do not want or expect.

We need to free these people from this situation and we need, in my opinion, to do so in a clear, fair and above all credible and effective way. It's time we stopped shilly shallying on this issue. Time we got a proper grip on it and did something, once and for all that addresses the problem. And yes this process might offend many people, might stir up some anger and resentment, but the fact is that if we are to have peace of mind and the ability to share our country with Muslims, we need to know what the reality is and we need to know that we can trust them.

And if a few people are offended along the way, but the process saves the lives of British citizens, including British Muslims, so be it. We need to stop being embarrassed to ask these questions and actually get on with the process of asking them.

I think we would be prepared to do this if what happened in Paris last night had happened in London. My fear is that we will not do this, and will instead wait until a similar atrocity takes place on the streets of the UK before we actually get around to doing what we need to do and what we will have to do in the end. Why wait?

For 'Paris', read 'London', it's only a matter of time.

Thanks for reading.