A WEEK ago we were celebrating the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, the brightest and best of her nation.

This week we are mourning the senseless slaughter of Pakistan’s children, murdered by the Taliban – extremist Muslims for whom no life is sacred, for whom no abomination is too great, for whom nothing is as terrifying as education, peace, laughter and freedom.

On the other side of the world they are also mourning the deaths of two brave Australians, who laid down their lives so that another fanatic would not have his day of glory, butchering a cafe full of folk who were looking forward to Christmas.

Following the Sydney attack there was the usual hand-wringing and soul-searching. Could this have been prevented?

The answer is yes. It could. Never mind whether Man Haron Monis was mad or bad – his behaviour gave the clearest indication of his take on life, as does that of a tiny section of the community over here.

The fact that Australians chose to hope for the best instead of deal with him immediately shows that it’s the mindset of right-thinking people that has to change, if we would rather be safe than be righteous about ‘not letting the terrorists win’.

We can’t do much about the Taliban in Pakistan. But we can certainly do something about those who profess its evil ways in this country.

We can stop agonising about ‘free speech’ and recognise pure hatred and cruelty for what it is and let those who indulge in that sort of thing – whatever their beliefs, whatever excuse they give – know that we won’t tolerate the kind of talk, behaviour or action that results in such barbarity.

No one’s life has been enhanced by extremism of any kind so it’s about time we stopped allowing it in any form and faced down the liberalists who complain that it’s ‘censorship’.

The fact that these atrocities have happened at a time when the majority of people in the Western world are preparing to celebrate Christmas heightens their appalling cruelty and futility.

I wanted to write this week’s column about Santa Claus and Christmas trees, and festive fun and frolics. But I can’t because for those of us who celebrate this festival of peace and joy, the sheer, utter wrongness of what we have witnessed this week defies words or explanation.

Christmas is a time of year for family togetherness, when we try and reach out to anyone who is less fortunate, when we exchange cards with our neighbours and friends and invite them round for a party.

It’s a time when we quietly give thanks for all that we have. For Christians it’s a time of symbolically passing from darkness into light, for Jewish people this time of year is one of celebration and for many Muslims it’s a time of family fun and festivity too.

I know we’ll continue to celebrate all that is good, even as our hearts break for those bereaved by extremist murderers, but what has happened this week has surely reminded everyone that so long as the kids are OK and everyone’s round the table at the end of the day, NOTHING else matters.