Do churches and cricket clubs really need anti-terrorism training?

One problem clearly emerged after an Islamist fanatic blew himself up at a major pop concert in the Manchester Arena in 2017, killing 22 other people. This was that no one there had a clue about how to react to events of this sort. The government promised action. Action we now have, in the form of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill announced in the King’s speech.

Unfortunately, as with many well-intentioned ‘something must be done’ measures, this Bill, aimed at requiring a degree of terrorism preparedness at events like this, could well go too far the other way. If enacted as suggested, the cure could end up being worse than the disease.

We can just about live with what the Bill says about major venues – that is, any building or space with a capacity of more than 800.