Terrorism is not new to Britain: its past is marked by IRA threats, riots and bombings. Nor does this problem belong to a remote past. Relatively recent attacks, for example the IRA’s failed attempt to kill PM Mrs Thatcher (a bomb at Brighton’s Grand Hotel during the Tory party conference in 1984) and also the 3,000lb IRA bomb-explosion in Manchester on 15 June 1996, which injured more than 200 people, are proof of that.
As the West’s war on terrorism is constantly expanded to take in more and more Islamic groups, activists and causes, the distinction between terrorism (as defined by the West) and jihad is become increasingly difficult to maintain.
