Not at all sure about this...

...but I did write this piece as a follow on from 'The Talent Scout'. I had envisaged a slightly bizarre, surreal scene, where an interviewer (Alan Whicker or Mary Goldring) was attempting to confront a terrorist, who in the style of delusional nutters everywhere, drifted into a monologue. Do I think it works? No, the piece doesn't work the way I want it to (apart from the last line), mainly because I have been lazy, sloppy and otherwise distracted. However, I post it here in lieu of anything intelligent to say.

What inspired the piece? Current events, past events, future events. A veritable roll-call of the worst offenders including Idi Amin, Samuel Doe, Prince Johnson, Charles Taylor, Pinochet, Stroessner, Papa & 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, Caeusescu, Baader-Meinhof, Red Brigade, Al-Qaeda, Combat 18, etc, etc.

'Diplomacy by Other Means'

'It is too easy to kill. Fire and forget, point and shoot. Click goodbye. Over in the blink of an eye. You can only really kill one at a time - unless you have an army. But fear, that is something else. One person can make a nation cower. You provide the merest hint, suggestion, then sit back and watch each person generate their worst fear from within. Each person will succumb to me through human nature and consider themselves a target.

Puncture the air of tension with the occasional random act, and many will change their routines. They will become the living dead - a walking, talking, gesticulating reminder of my omnipresence. That is far more effective than the body counts we all tune out of hearing when watching the TV news.

When they feel the shockwaves of an explosion, they will think of me before they think of God.'