Star comment: We must all stand together

Three times in as many months – twice in two weeks – this country has felt the searing pain of terrorism rend a wound in its side, and has been left to mourn its loss.

These were not soldiers in the heat of battle, they were everyday men and women going about their lives in innocence.

Many of those who were mown down and attacked in London on Saturday night were simply enjoying an evening out.

There is nothing fair and nothing just about these actions, and nothing brave about those who perpetrated these terrible crimes.

The nation’s heart is awash with sorrow as it attempts to calculate the incalculable, to understand the incomprehensible, and to come to terms with its latest loss.

But time keeps passing. The hands of Big Ben do not stop in horror at the madness unfolding under its watch.

Just as those same people who were left aghast at the latest atrocities as they blinked in the morning sun, also clicked on their kettles, washed the pots, acted out their daily rituals.

And in Manchester last night, thousands gathered in a show of defiance at the One Love concert. The message was clear: We will not let terrorism win.

So it is in politics. The pause to campaigning yesterday was a mark of respect, but still the election swirls towards us in three days’ time.

There’s no case for delaying the vote. It’s right that even when we hold our heads in shock at the latest terrorist atrocity, that life in Britain goes on.

The democratic process is anathema to the acts of terrorism we have seen, and represents exactly what we seek to protect and preserve in our own society.

It would be wrong to scatter our democratic foundations to the wind because of these attacks, especially when it could leave our country with a greater sense of uncertainty and, by extension, unease.

The country will undoubtedly pull together and a sense of normality will return. People will be determined to carry on with their daily lives.

Life must go on for Britain, even though subconsciously we carry the weight of these acts.

Theresa May is right to say the Government must redouble its efforts to tackle these forms of extremism.

How that can be achieved, however, remains a more complex issue.

She is also right to talk about the spread of extremism on the internet, but achieving some kind of international consensus on how to police that more rigorously remains a hugely challenging objective.

This is an attack on our freedom and our democracy.

In a free society everybody wants to be able to go about their lives unhindered and without fear.

The balance our politicians must now strike is ensuring our safety while protecting the liberties that are so important to retrieving that normality in the day-to-day existence of the British people.