The next couple of years we had terror attacks in London (I lived in Ireland at that point and several colleagues had relatives in the UK) and Madrid, and one or two planned attacks that were avoided by security staff.

I think it all made us clear that terrorism and war are not a “far from our beds” show but that in this globalised world, we’re in the middle of it. Every big city in America and Europe can be the next victim, and the frustrating thing is: you cannot stop it. The moment people are crazy enough that they want to blow themselves up for what they believe is a good cause, every person could be a walking bomb ready to explode. Big cities on both sides of the Atlantic receive thousands and thousands of visitors daily by road, by rail, by air. We can only hope there’s not gonna be someone crazy enough amongst them to blow himself up in the middle of the street, taking innocent citizens with him into death. Back in the two world wars, guns and planes dropping bombs were the danger, it was relatively simple compared to the current situation where it’s no longer a cause of just people with guns.