Cartoons were recklessly provocative

The global condemnation in response to the recent terrorist killings in Paris is commendable.

The killings were, however, entirely predictable, given the puerile, reckless and openly provocative cartoons produced over the years by Charlie Hebdo, gratuitously depicting Mohamed in the most insulting and unsavoury manner.

History, even recent history, has shown that alienated and radicalised young Muslim men, boys and even young girls, are capable of the worst atrocities, particularly those crammed without hope or education into appalling ghettos in Paris and elsewhere.