Two weeks ago, the Manchester Arena was attacked by a suicide bomber. And now London has been struck once more. And at the same time, the security and intelligence agencies and police have disrupted 5 credible plots since the Westminster attack in March.
In terms of their planning and execution, the recent attacks are not connected. But we believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face, as terrorism breeds terrorism, and perpetrators are inspired to attack not only on the basis of carefully-constructed plots after years of planning and training — and not even as lone attackers radicalised online — but by copying one another and often using the crudest of means of attack.
We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are. Things need to change, and they need to change in 4 important ways. First, while the recent attacks are not connected by common networks, they are connected in one important sense. They are bound together by the single, evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism.
It is an ideology that claims our Western values of freedom, democracy and human rights are incompatible with the religion of Islam. It is an ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth. Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time.
But it cannot be defeated through military intervention alone. It will not be defeated through the maintenance of a permanent, defensive counter-terrorism operation, however skilful its leaders and practitioners. Second, we cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed.
Yet that is precisely what the internet — and the big companies that provide internet-based services — provide. We need to work with allied, democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremism and terrorist planning. And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online.
Third, while we need to deprive the extremists of their safe spaces online, we must not forget about the safe spaces that continue to exist in the real world.
But it also means taking action here at home. While we have made significant progress in recent years, there is — to be frank — far too much tolerance of extremism in our country. So we need to become far more robust in identifying it and stamping it out — across the public sector and across society. That will require some difficult and often embarrassing conversations, but the whole of our country needs to come together to take on this extremism — and we need to live our lives not in a series of separated, segregated communities but as one truly United Kingdom.
Fourth, we have a robust counter-terrorism strategy that has proved successful over many years. After the ballot closes, people will receive communications regarding which tickets they have been allocated at the end of August Any unsold tickets will be brought back onto general sale in September I hope it will inspire many of them to get into athletics and look forward to seeing many young people filling seats next summer.
I was one of many that started competing again as a result of the London Paralympic Games, so having the opportunity to continue my journey from where it started will be incredible.
I was one of 80, in the crowd at the Olympic Stadium cheering on the British team, and it will be a feeling like no other to have that support once again but this time as an athlete. We use necessary cookies to make our site work and provide the best experience possible. We'd also like to set analytics cookies to allow us to measure how you use our website and help us to make improvements.
These will be set only if you turn them on below. Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. We'd like to set Google cookies to allow us to collect information on how you use our website. I am looking forward to working with Ed Warner and the rest of the board to ensure we stage a successful summer of World Athletics.
This is a Board that can take strategic decisions in an atmosphere of collaboration behind the clear common goal of staging the best ever World Championships. This is another opportunity for the public to proudly get behind a great sporting spectacle and I look forward to supporting the team in making it a reality.
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