The attacks which have left 50 people dead in London, and now more than 80 in Egypt are a crude reminder if we ever needed one: no one, nowhere, is safe from the threat of terrorism.

We must wake up to the startling knowledge (that has been bubbling in the pot since the mid-1990s) that there are a group of people in this world who are willing to massacre people to pursue their own perverted cause.

Of course, what is worse is that we have seen European British-born Muslims willingly sacrifice their own lives in their pursuit of radical Islam. The majority of Muslims will tell you that these people are following a perverted interpretation of a religion that preaches peace and many would agree that they are right to say so.

But the events in Sharm El Sheik this weekend are a terrible reminder that Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist groups do not even distinguish between fellow Muslims, Europeans or US citizens.

Many analysts have toned down the threat posed by Al-Qaeda affiliates by saying that they are copy-cat groups of the original terror mastermind groups. Yet if we look at the way the attacks are committed, one can see that they are very similar in modus operandi. What security experts should realise is that Al-Qaeda is, in fact, a series of groups that copy one another in the way they spread terror.

Malta should also be wary. Terror is getting ever closer to our country. It was easy to dismiss the New York attacks as not being a threat because it is so far away. London was close, Madrid even closer and now even Italy is bracing itself for terror attacks.

We should not panic of course, but at a time when the rest of the world is beefing up its security, we should too, especially in the light of the fact that we will be hosting the Commonwealth Heads of State (CHOGM) later this year. We have, of course, been reassured that security will be very tight. And certainly we have no reason to doubt that it will be. But we only have to look at the pain and despair on the bereaved living terror victims to see what to what lengths these indiscriminate people can go.

It is, of course, a supremely difficult task to control and predict terrorist movement. One only has to look at the blunder at the Stockwell tube station in London to see how easily mistakes can be made.

A young Brazilian, who had been followed from a terror suspect’s house to the Underground in London, was killed. He was told to stop by armed police, yet he did not. The police were faced with a two-way decision. Kill him, or risk more being killed if a bomb went off. Unfortunately for the victim, they chose the first option. Why could he not have stopped? This is what many people, from Tony Blair down to the victim’s family and many others worried about the backlash (and terrorist jubilation) will have been asking themselves.

London, and many other cities in Europe, including fortress Malta, suffered horrendous attacks during the last world war, yet they withstood everything thrown at them.

One hopes, however, that terror attacks on our continent will not destroy our social fabric and our sometimes questionable dedication towards diversity and tolerance. The only weapon that the whole world has in order to fight terrorism is security intelligence, our determination to go about our normal lives and – perhaps the most important weapon of all – tolerance in the face of rage.