The slaughter of ten journalists in Paris earlier this week, for the “crime” of insulting Islam, was truly horrifying but hardly unexpected. As we know only too well, terrorism, particularly radical Islamic terrorism is the scourge of the modern age. What happened in Paris will undoubtedly keep happening in the West until the threat is removed. But how can we remove or at least neutralise that threat?

The big problem with terrorism is that it is virtually impossible to identify a terrorist. What does he look like? Where does he live? The old military adage about needing to know your enemy before you can defeat him is undoubtedly true but we do not know this enemy. We know that he will be a Muslim but that is all. So what do we do, do we outlaw Islam and close down the mosques? Hardly.

Action has to be taken however and the West, as a whole, has to get an awful lot tougher. We’ve tried reason and we’ve tried tolerance but it hasn’t worked. I have no idea what the solution is but I only hope for all our sakes that somebody in a position of power has the answer.

Meanwhile, somewhat predictably, the reaction of Western media is to proclaim solidarity, make noble statements of our right to freedom of speech and display symbols of defiance on social networks. The terrorists will laugh at our naivety and any journalist who continues to poke fun at Islam whether by written word or cartoon is literally dicing with death.

It may be very noble and brave to defend freedom of speech and to continue to lampoon Islam but there is a thin line between bravery and recklessness. Why risk your life when neither you nor, more importantly, the State are able to protect that life? The pen may well be mightier than the sword but not against the sword of Islam as the events of this week have tragically proved.