The Prevent strategy aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Many European countries run similar programmes, yet, arguably, none are as controversial as Prevent is in Great Britain. Critics say the policy fosters Islamophobia and stifles free debate and dissent; that the brand is so “toxic” that it has become counterproductive. But is Prevent as controversial as some campaigners would have us think? New results of a survey on how the public view Prevent would suggest that claims of racism and toxicity are overstated. The Home Office-commissioned research interviewed over 2,700 adults in England and Wales from five key...

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Over the weekend, CEG published a new report examining the terror threat Europe has faced over the fifteen-month period since ISIS relinquished control of the last part of its Caliphate in Syria in Iraq. The report, ‘Europe and the Fall of the Caliphate’, can be read here. Its findings were featured in this Sunday Telegraph story. The headline – ‘Jihadists attempted terror attacks every fortnight in Europe since ISIS fall, study finds’ – sums up one of the report’s key findings. Despite the fall of the Caliphate, Islamist plotting continues. For further proof of that, just at look at what has happened in Europe...

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On May 22, 2017, Salman Abedi carried out a suicide bombing at Manchester Arena that killed 22 and injured over 100 others. He was assisted by his younger brother, Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for 55 years for his involvement. The sentencing judge in that trial described the motivation behind the attack as “ to advance the ideological cause of Islamism”. This week, a public inquiry began investigating those deaths. The purpose of the inquiry is to determine what happened and to learn where mistakes were made to prevent it from happening again. As the chairman of the inquiry Sir...

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The Times today reports that Counter Terrorism Policing have been asked by advocacy group the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) to use alternative terminology when describing Islamist terrorism, in order that it does not “have a direct link to Islam and jihad”. Some context: this type of extremism continues to be the largest terrorist threat to the UK. Currently, Counter Terrorism Policing is working on 800 live investigations and attempting to monitor up to 43,000 current and historic ‘subjects of interest’ - the vast majority inspired by Islamism (approximately 80%). Yet this is not the first time that the notion...

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