Andy Burnham, the new mayor of Manchester, who coped so gracefully with the aftermath of the terrible atrocity at the Manchester Arena, said that we must not blame or stigmatise Muslims for the evil deeds of extremists. He drew a comparison with not stigmatising Irish people in general for the bombing campaigns carried out by the IRA.
He is right, both morally and politically. The person who carries out a wicked deed is the person responsible – the guilt does not belong, collectively, to a wider group of co-religionists or compatriots.
