What sort of world is this?

Didn't need the link thank you jalima.

M0nica 2nd paragraph, spot on.

Megalomaniacs and psychopaths.

Actually, the solution might be to throw in our lot with Assad and Russia. Put him back in power and let him rein in the so-called Islamic State. Perhaps he would be the lesser evil.
jings it's a dilemma isn't it. Unfortunately, there is always what they call the 'collateral damage' as epitomised by that little boy the other day:
www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/18/boy-in-the-ambulance-image-emerges-syrian-child-aleppo-rubble
and his older brother has now died.

And who can forget the chemical attack on the Kurds by Saddam Hussein and them escaping, some barefoot, over the mountains.
And that f*** George Galloway, apologist for Saddam Hussein.

Very few wars are fought for religion. Most are given a religious veneer because the contenders happen to be of different religions.

Look at the similarities between whatisname al Baghdadi of Isis (supposedly muslim) and Pol Pot, atheist and communist. They are both psychopaths who get a thrill from killing people and seeing people die slowly and in ghastly ways. That has got nothing to do with religion, atheism or communism and all to do with what these people are, and their charismatic power over their followers. However in both cases the religious/atheist/communist ideologies they followed make an excellent cloak for their personal ambitions.

It is the same in Ireland, which |England has been trying to colonise, more or less successfully since Norman times. In one act of defiance the native Irish were successful. They refused to convert from catholicism to the conquerors religion, protestantism. The English then took over land, especially after the Flight of the Earls in 1607, cleared it of Irish and encouraged thousands of good protestant settlers, mostly Scottish to settle Ulster. How could the Irish recognise the incomers? By their names (Scottish not Irish) and their religion, protestant not catholic. The struggle against the English and their supporters became one of religion rather than native against incomer.

I am told the Boku Haram Islamist militant movement in Nigeria, rises as much from the way farming and towns, where many people are Christian, has encroached on the land previously used by pastoral graziers, almost entirely Muslim, as from religion As the land the cattle grazed on has become more limited and the pastoralist have difficulty finding sufficient grazing so Boko Haram has grown Boku Haram means ban the book ie reading because the usually illiterate herdsmen see education as being a town/agricultural/christian activity. It is like the rivalry between farmers and cowboys in 19th century America.

Oops.

All wars fought in the name of religion are obscene.

(IMO)

All wars fought in the name of religion are an obscenity.

(IMO)

I think France has a lot to answer for. If they said no way will you be allowed to go to the uk . You are here and must claim asylum here the I think it would solve a lot of problems . I am a Francophile with French grandchildren by the way. As to the child suicide bombers I was told that they were now picking Down's syndrome children as their suicide bomber of choice. Lovely people.

Yes its awful whats going on all over the world.But it has always been so.And i font see why it us, ie the uk who always hss toclean up everybodys else mess.We shd look to the probelms we have here which profound and many.

The people used as human bombs - especially children - are usually drugged

Actually, the solution might be to throw in our lot with Assad and Russia. Put him back in power and let him rein in the so-called Islamic State. Perhaps he would be the lesser evil. As Saddam Hussein was.

It is fine for Marcus Bridgestock to go to Calais and see the desperate plight of children there and say 'Something must be done' and if finding homes and asylum for the children currently in Calais was all that needed doing, then I am sure something would be done

But when we have solved the problems and provided aid and protection for all the children currently in Calais, their spaces in the jungle will soon be filled with more children, also living in appalling conditions, possibly even worse conditions because there would probably many more of them because of the chances they would feel they had of being fast tracked into the UK.

What we need to do is get together with France and other countries and try to find ways to control the entry of migrants through actions at the source of the problem.

I would be much in favour of granting refugees 5 year visas, on the understanding that after that time, unless the war continued they would have to go back to their home countries, no matter what ties they might establish in the UK. Many of the people fleeing war torn countries like Syria are the all important professionals, medical staff, engineers, IT experts etc etc. The people most needed to rebuild that war torn area.

Children's visas could extend until 21 or the end of their professional training and as part of our overseas aid we could educatethem, send them to university or help them train through apprentice ships so that when they return home they have a means of earning their living and also contributing to the reconstruction of their country.

France is allowing children to live in the Calais jungle! The lack of care concern by the French government is totally reprehensible. Surely they with us could come up with some comprehensive plan to help alleviate this problem? Is France, a civilised country unaware of these childrens plight, or just uncaring?

But many suicide bombers are older, while many are late teens, there abd their are any in their 20s. What many of the sacrificial terrorists do have in common, especially those committing outrages in Europe, are serious mental health and drugs problems.

Do not forget that the men behind groups like ISIS are power crazed psychopaths who use the cloak of religion to 'justify' their pleasure in the destruction of human life and seeing people in abject fear of them. They have nothing but contempt for the tools they use; people, who because they can be seen as life's failures; taking drugs, mentally ill or with other problems, who are entirely and justifiably expendable.

There is no answer. The wailing and gnashing of teeth will have to go on.

The only way to overthrow Assad is to send in many ground troops. And the western world, realising how costly in every way that would be, has got cold feet. Starting with Obama.

It would be the honourable solution. But no one wants to pay the price.

The youth of suicide bombers has always been a significant factor, I think, though this child was exceptionally young. It seems to me that adolescents and very young adults are the ones most likely to fall for the martyr storyline. We all know that, at that age, you are likely to be a mass of seething emotions and grandiose ideas. Add to that the anger of the situation and the influence of the adults egging you on to do something about it, to perform a "glorious deed" and die a hero...It must be a heady mixture for someone young and gullible.

If you were older and the bombing scenario was described to you, I think that, even if you were willing to plan a bomb, your first response might be, "Yeah...and how do I escape? What? I don't? Nope, not doing that."

Using a child as a human bomb must be one of the most evil things that anyone could do.

I agree with Rosina ...too many people are hand wringing and saying ;something must be done'....but WHAT ? until someone can come up with a workable solution I am afraid this carnage will go on .....the Western world has its own grave problems as well, and whilst the do gooders all cry 'bring all the children to the UK'...,,..what about when they get to the UK > then it will be 'bring in the children's families' ...and whilst it will not be the fault of the children, it would not be surprising if suddenly those children had a number of 'relatives' who had never seen them before claiming to be 'relatives' .....sad sad situation ....WHY have not the hand wringers, wailers and leaders of nations in Europe not got together to plan the overthrow of Assad ....BUT this time (unlike the overthrow of Saddam Hussein) with a PLAN as to what happens afterwards ....i.e. re building lives of the refugees, rebuilding their country,infrastructure, peoples lives, schools, etc etc with assistance (better assist with that than foreign aid going to India for a space programmes, and some other country to start theatre groups (??????)....but recent history has unfortunately shown that despite the cries to 'do something' there is, and as yet no sign of, any plan .....as usual ! even the BREXIT vote has shown that the UK (most of the 'government' (is there any ? ) of which is on holiday .........had no plans in the event of that outcome ! Makes you weep, doesn't it !

I don't think we are 'willing' to let children live in the Calais jungle, and I don't think we are responsible for their arrival there either... Marcus Brigstock was on the radio some weeks back getting very excited about the plight of children in war zones and saying we should bring them here, get them into decent schools, give them some proper food, and the audience was cheering and yelling agreement. You would have to be made of stone not to feel for their plight, but the one thing that the critics of Calais, and Marcus Brigstock, do not ever follow through with is - what are we to do with them when they get here? Our schools are already seriously overcrowded with some having 16 form intakes and portakabins covering almost every inch of the playground, the NHS is creaking under the strain, and who is going to take on thousands of children who will be traumatised, out of their depth with our language and culture, and probably in need of long term mental health care as a result of their sufferings? Yes, 'something' must be done to stop the evil men who are using children as weapons, yes, we must help those suffering at Calais, but a workable answer is yet to be found for these humanitarian disasters.

I agree with most of above but we have been involved in numerous bombings where hundreds of innocents have died - it's not better to do it from the air where we are not confronted with the bodies. We made it all worse and weakened the UN in the process.

Not just men I fear, there are women going out to Syria to support these evil men. I'm at a loss as to why?

I read that the bomb was detonated remotely. The cowardice of the perpetrators is beyond contempt.

Bloody men.

I agree , but ,let us not forget we are willing to allow children to live in the Calais jungle , they are suffering too

There is a picture online today of police removing a suicide belt from a boy who looks about 13.

In this case I really don't know what we can do to help.
These acts are beyond evil and it is hard to understand how humans can treat other humans, especially children, in such a way.