Tonight this blog can only be about bombs. Not a high smile quotient, then.

I was called mid morning by my daughter, Hannah, in London to tell me she was OK. Not having seen any news, I was nonplussed until she explained what had happened in the capital.

No one knows yet whether the bombs were intended for whichever city won the Olympics or were timed to coincide with the G8 summit in Britain but the probabilities must favour the latter.

Ironically, analysis in Spain’s media of the IOC’s voting patterns provided some evidence that Spain would have won if the spectre of ETA bombs hadn’t been raised by the Prince of Monaco. In doing so, he was seen to be doing a favour for France.

Having lived in Iran in the early 70s and Indonesia in the mid 80s, I know it’s possible to have a tolerant Muslim society. But we’ve moved on and today’s Islamic terrorists will never be defeated by the West; this has to be done by their co-religionists. Sadly, though, these show little sign of wanting to take on the task. Perhaps the world’s richest countries should do more to alleviate poverty and despotism in the Islamic world before moving on to Africa.

I guess it’s a good time to start reading my copy of Noah Feldman’s ‘After Jihad’. Perhaps he’s got some answers. But, even if he does, they’ll be no comfort to the bereaved. Either in New York, Madrid or now London.

En passant, there's a summary of the Koran on the Scribblings page of my web site - colindavies.net