Summary
The fact that the Belgian authorities had been expecting an attack doesn't diminish the shock of yet another bombing with mass casualties in a European capital. Belgium's foreign minister said on Sunday that Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, could have been plotting more operations. Tragically, he was proved right. That Salah was able to hide in Brussels, under the noses of the Belgian police, for more than four months raises uncomfortable questions for them - and also for us. The UK government is still fighting to get its Investigatory Powers Bill onto the statute book. Its supporters believe it will enable the police and security services to fight terrorism and crime more effectively. Opponents say it will destroy our fundamental right to privacy and believe their arguments have been given more force by the revelations of Edward Snowdon about the extent of secret surveillance. The Brussels bombs came on the day that the FBI in America said they'd found a way to get round Apple's security and unlock the phone of an Islamist terrorist who killed 14 people in California last December. Apple had refused to co-operate, saying it would have security implications for millions of iPhone users all over the world. When we're faced with ruthless terrorists, intent on committing mass murder, how much privacy do we have a right to demand? And who should police it? These bombs were in the city that is the symbolic heart of the European Union and that has - for many - come to symbolise the hard-won freedoms and values we cherish in the West. What price do we place on those freedoms and values? And how much are we willing to compromise them to ensure our safety? How free do you want to be? Witnesses are Professor Anthony Glees, Mike Harris, Douglas Murray and Inayat Bunglawala.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a programme from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:04.1 | Good evening. You have to have been at a major terrorist bombing to know the reality behind the reflexive reporting of it. |
| 0:11.2 | The sounds, the smells, the damage, soft bodies suffer from hard, high-speed debris, |
| 0:15.9 | the awfulness that lies behind an official statement that says many of the dead have not yet been |
| 0:21.0 | identified. Homegrown jihadist maniacs were responsible for yesterday's Brussels' bombings, |
| 0:27.3 | but unkindly, though not necessarily unfairly, the Belgian authorities are being sideswiped |
| 0:32.6 | with some of the blame. A lack of political will to confront extremism, Muslim no-go areas and a weak and divided |
| 0:40.1 | security apparatus, it said, made Europe's administrative capital a soft target. It's a perception |
| 0:46.5 | that sharpens the dilemma for every liberal Western democracy that feels itself threatened by |
| 0:51.0 | this Islamist madness. Rights and values we've spent centuries working for, |
| 0:56.2 | we're now told, make us vulnerable. But here, the Investigatory Powers Bill, which would |
| 1:01.4 | give the security services greater access to our personal data, is struggling to get on the statute |
| 1:06.4 | book. Elsewhere, Apple and other internet giants are resisting demands that a dead terrorist's phone be unlocked |
| 1:12.8 | because they think it could theoretically open all our conversations to the authorities. |
| 1:18.2 | And nowhere does there seem any consensus on how to engage those of goodwill in our Muslim communities |
| 1:23.5 | and isolate those who wish us harm. |
| 1:26.4 | We left between this atrocity and the seemingly inevitable |
| 1:29.7 | next one with a big moral decision. How far should we compromise our freedoms and our values to |
| 1:35.0 | try to secure our safety? That's the moral maze tonight. Our panel, Melanie Phillips, social |
| 1:39.3 | commentator on the Times, Claire Fox from the Institute of Ideas and McKell Boy, senior editor on The Economist |
| 1:45.1 | and the Priest and Pellemesis just back from Iraq as it happens. Charles Fraser, has that |
| 1:49.9 | given you any new perspective, Charles? Yeah, I flew out and through Turkey and the bomb went off. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.