THE Government's announcement that the UK's terror threat has been raised from substantial to severe was accompanied by news of plans to tighten laws to help prevent people travelling abroad if it is thought they may be involved in criminal activity.
The apparent arbitrariness of threat levels and the guarded nature of the security services do not lend themselves to openness which, given the circumstances, is understandable.
Home Secretary Theresa May explained that while an attack on the UK was "highly likely" there was no intelligence to suggest one was "imminent". The opaqueness of such pronouncements is problematic, especially when terror threats are being used to justify measures that would potentially restrict civil liberties.
However, the Government is acting on judgments of potential risks made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, independently of ministers.
There plainly is a serious concern about radicalised British citizens travelling to Syria and Iraq, apparently to fight with the forces of Islamic State, and what might happen when they return home.
The horrific beheading of journalist James Foley, allegedly by a London-based former rapper, was a clear indication that such concerns are real and substantial. Such citizens, potentially now trained and indoctrinated by individuals with an anti-West agenda, could easily bring a threat to home soil and their return could be hard to prevent.
The Government says UK citizens can expect to see little difference under the heightened threat level and the public are not being advised to make major changes to their behaviour. In that context it is hard to see what purpose the announcement serves other than to make people anxious. An increase in police presence and armed patrols may add to that anxiety.
Meanwhile, it is difficult to see what action the Government itself can take to prevent would-be radicals - 500 of whom have already travelled to fight in Syria, according to David Cameron - from going.
Stopping and screening people who are flying there is an obvious step, but what about those travelling to neighbouring countries, such as Turkey?
Mr Cameron warns Britain and other Western societies are threatened by "a poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism that is condemned by all faiths and by all faith leaders",
It is extremely important the last part of that comment is understood, especially in combination with the advice to the public to be vigilant.
Most of us have little way of spotting a genuine threat. Yet through ignorance, there is a danger that the threat from Islamic extremism is equated in the minds of some with a threat from Muslims in general.
Unjustified restrictions on the civil liberties of one religious minority, or indiscriminate suspicion of that minority, are not only unfair. They risk fanning resentments among those who should be our allies.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article