Dr Paul Allen

While terrorists shout "death to the infidel", this morning people of goodwill will likely cry "Vive la France!" That Paris, the City of Light should again be threatened with darkness serves as a reminder that, in an age of globalisation, our way of life, for all its comforts, is never as secure nor as guaranteed as we think. Having already weathered the Charlie Hebdo attack and its related atrocities, Paris now has to deal with a collection of even more deadly outrages, which President Hollande has rightly labelled an "abomination". More than 120 people have been killed in the latest brutality, which led the authorities to immediately close France's borders and declare a state of emergency. This morning, thankfully, reports on the ground suggest that although shaken, Parisians are for the most part getting on with life. Perhaps they see normality as the best form of defiance in the face of barbarism. In Europe as in many other parts of the d