Amnesia an affront to victims of terrorism

BECAUSE of the cyclical nature of power in a democracy, the past is a far more active player in our present than we might always imagine or accept.

Because of that it seems wise to try to strike a good balance between remembering, forgetting and, when it is necessary, forgiving. It is always good, or nearly always, to turn a sword into a ploughshare but it would be foolish to forget who wielded the sword and why.

As you read this the barbarians of the Islamic State are probably razing the world heritage site at Palmyra, the ancient Roman city they have captured. If that indefensible destruction has not begun, it is because Islamic State have not finished murdering the local population, a summary slaughter of local men whose blood has already drenched the city’s streets. That Syria’s elite forces were unable, or unwilling, to hold the city suggests the grimmest future for the forlorn people of that blighted region.