In Monty Python and the Holy Grail King Arthur confronts a black knight,
who challenges him to a duel. Arthur lops off one of his opponent's arms,
but the black knight keeps taunting him. "Snick!" There goes the other
arm, then one leg and then another, until the knight is reduced to a mere
trunk, with blood spurting in all directions. But still he doesn't give
up. "Come on then, you coward, do your worst!" he shouts. Funny thing,
defiance.

Any admiration for Londoners, though, was as nothing compared with the
adulation Londoners - egged on by the media - heaped on themselves.
Everything, from the spirit of the Blitz to the inherent strength of the
multicultural community, was trotted out, as if to suggest that, far from
a city being hit without warning by an invisible enemy we had actually
witnessed a major victory over the terrorists. "London 1 - Al Qaeda 0"
said one headline. What?

Prime Minister Tony Blair helped by telling us on the one hand that the
sole purpose of these evil men is to maim and kill (in the absence of a
serious political agenda) and, on the other, claiming that the terrorists
will never succeed.

For men who want to maim and kill - and nothing else - they'd just
succeeded remarkably well. Nor could the WTC, Bali and Madrid be
classified as dismal failures, from a maiming and killing point of view.

The Blairs and Bushes of this world are in a bit of a cleft stick over
terrorism. Unwilling to admit that there are political motives behind the
attacks (opposition to American world dominance, to its friendly
relations with undemocratic but oil-rich regimes in the Middle East, to
its unquestioning support of Israel and, more recently, to the wars
against Afghanistan and Iraq) they have no other explanation to offer
than the existence of groups of people who kill others - and frequently
themselves - for the sheer hell of it. Not very persuasive - and that's
why a new reason has been added to the mantra, "they hate our way of
life". Oh right.

So that's why I may in the near future be reduced to a mess on the
pavement: they hate my way of life. They've never in my 44 years hated my
way of life enough to blow me to bits, but now I'm told they do. Pull the
other one, it's a con, designed to keep your public on side. A political
motive behind terrorism would suggest that there is a political way to
deal with it.

This Bush and Blair are not prepared to do. Much better to give people
the idea that somehow not governments are the cause but the general
public, the men and women in the street themselves. We're guilty, because
of our way of life. There's nothing our leaders can or will do to protect
us, so we must take it on the chin and raise our fists in defiance. "Come
on you cowards! Do your worst! You won't get us down! We'll keep our way
of life!"

The train and bus bombers could be reduced to helplessness, with
laughter.

So now we wait to see whose way of life will next arouse the anger of
evil men. Could it be the Italians, whose taste for extravagant shirts
and artichokes alarms even non-Arabs? Or Denmark, where the Danish way of
life - including a diet rich in raw eggs - is now being protected by the
most Draconian immigration policy in Europe?

Or could it be the Netherlands, where our hateful predilections include
cannabis, free sex, gay marriage, euthanasia, and salt-cured herring with
onions and pickle? The same Netherlands where Islamic fundamentalism is
currently on trial in the person of Mohammed Bouyeri, the killer of Theo
van Gogh?

If the Dutch are due some punishment, they'll know it's their own fault,
not their leaders. With innocent blood running down the gutter there's
only one course of action. Be defiant, that'll teach these evil men.

Denmark, where the Danish way of
life - including a diet rich in raw eggs - is now being protected by the
most Draconian immigration policy in Europe