Even in a world where terrorist carnage seems a daily occurrence, yesterday stood out with terrorist attacks on three continents.

In Tunisia innocent holidaymakers, including many fellow Britons, were murdered by gunmen whose aim seems to be to wreck the economy of a country which is doing its best to emerge as a genuine Arab democracy. In Kuwait Shia Muslims at Friday prayers were slaughtered by a suicide bomber with the apparent motive of sparking sectarian hatred between Muslims. In France we saw a gruesome murder; fortunately the attempt to kill more people by setting off an explosion failed.

Our prayers are with the deceased and for their relatives and friends who have been so cruelly bereaved.

A common theme unites all three incidents. It is what our Prime Minister David Cameron in his recent speech in Bratislava called “Islamist extremist ideology”.

This is an ideology as evil and as destructive as Bolshevism and Fascism, albeit an ideology falsely wrapped in the language of the religion of Islam. It is an ideology that can and will be defeated, by people of goodwill coming together to reject it and to stand up for the shared human values that unite righteous people of all religions and none.