127 people murdered, 180 injured in terrorist attacks in Paris last night

I have to say this, but never will Malta’s fuss and palaver over the self-baptised “Valletta Summit” look more ridiculous, and the summit itself more pointless, that it does now.

Last night, all those of us still up and watching television were frozen with horror as live footage began coming in of simultaneous terrorist attacks at various points in Paris. The death toll began coming in: 90, 100, 120, 140, 150.

In those of us raised in the 1970s, when terrorist attacks were never out of the news – the IRA, the Brigate Rosse, the Baader Meinhof/Red Army Faction, Belfast, train station bombings, nightclub bombing, bombs in bars, bombs at concerts in parks, the Brighton hotel bombing, passenger planes hijacked, the Bologna train station bombing, the Italian prime minister kidnapped and murdered, his body found in a car-boot – it triggered the worst kind of response.

Please God, I found myself praying, don’t let it all start again. Because it looks like it is going to do so. Another frightening thought occurred to me immediately the news began coming in and the BBC newsroom commentators began referring to France’s history with Algerian terrorism. I think we should all be hoping fervently right now that whoever did this, whoever plotted it and organised it, the actual perpetrators, were not among the 7,000 Algerians who obtained a Schengen visa through the Maltese consulate in Algiers, flew to Malta International Airport, stayed in transit or spent just a night on the island, and promptly flew out again.