WHAT DEFINES AN ACT OF TERRORISM?
There's been a lot of discussion lately about why some people are called terrorists, and others aren’t. What delineates an act of terrorism from other criminal acts such as homicide and mass murder?
Read MoreHas the head of MI5 just said they can't cope?
Seen in isolation, the head of MI5 giving unprecedented TV interviews might just be a new development in the way the British security services deal with the media. But when you put it into context with what else is happening in the UK and abroad right now, are we looking at an admission by MI5 that they are struggling to cope?
Read MoreExcuses, excuses, excuses...
Is the Manchester attack claimed by ISIS, a result of the West's failed War on Terror?
Read MoreTerror attack or just plain terrifying?
Another bad day for France.
Yesterday the words 'Terror' and 'Paris' occupied the headlines, again.
But was this really a terror attack, or just plain terrifying?
Read MoreAll change for terror targets: People not premises
As our security services and police became more proficient at spotting, in advance, those purchasing or acquiring the precursor materials for explosives - terror groups changed their approach.
Read MoreTHE FEAR FACADE
Terrorism is therefore defined by motive, and not method. Any act of violence, however small, could be a terrorist act if the motives of the attacker are political or ideological. Conversely, a large attack with purely criminal motivations is not terrorism.
Read MoreAfter Nice: Can We Protect Ourselves?
The assailant didn't use a firearm to kill and maim, and he didn't use explosives - he turned something that most of see and walk past every day, into a terrifyingly effective weapon.
Read MoreWhy didn’t they catch him sooner?
We rely on the police and the security services and we expect them to apprehend suspects of mass murder and terrorism quickly. So why did it take the police four months to find Salah Abdeslam?
Read MoreApple v FBI: The encryption dilemma
The FBI want to know what is inside Farook’s Apple iPhone for the same reason that we wanted to know what was inside the 2005 bombers' phones. Is that so wrong?
Read MoreHOW WRONG CAN YOU BE?
I'd been working on the burglary squad on my borough for nearly three years. We were the best performing burglary unit in London and as a fresh-faced police officer in my twenties, I was proud to be part of the team. There was nothing anyone could teach me. I'd been there, seen it, done it, and bought the T-shirt.
Read MoreThe police are there to help, but who helps the police?
Police officers are just normal people who sometimes find themselves in the middle of the most extraordinary of circumstances. They live in a culture where they are expected to 'get on with it'. I was no different.
Read MoreNEW YEAR’S EVE TERROR THREATS: Ignorance is bliss?
“I want to be ignorant of the threats. I can’t bear being plagued by the knowledge of what might happen any longer. It keeps me awake every single night.”
Read MoreNEVER TAKE ADVICE FROM A MURDERER
Ken Livingstone's idea that the lead 7/7 bomber, Mohammed Siddique Khan, was so upset by government policy that he felt the need to murder people is absurd.
We are talking about a mass murderer akin to Fred West, Dennis Nilsen and Charles Manson - a psychopathic lunatic. Does anyone talk about what political decisions might have motivated those people to kill and murder scores of victims?
Read MoreAfter Paris: How do you find a bomb factory?
With events in Paris still fresh in the memory, both the French police and security services will be trying to track down the exactly where the explosives were made. So, how do you find a bomb factory?
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