ARE PERFECTLY INNOCENT TERRORIST ATTACKS BEING EXPLAINED AWAY AS SINISTER DOMESTIC ACCIDENTS?

Paris

Terrorism is "part and parcel" of life in a vibrant and enriched multicultural society. We have come to accept its rare outrages as a reasonable price to pay for ethnic cooking and not feeling too guilty about making life difficult for migrants. In fact, we would probably miss it if it was gone. 

However, it seems that there may now be a sinister plan under way to "repackage" these perfectly innocent terrorist attacks, often carried out for sincere Islamic reasons, as nasty domestic gas accidents. 

Here is the latest news from Paris:

Thirty-seven people have been injured, four of them seriously, after a large explosion in central Paris.

The blast took place in a building that housed a design school and the Catholic education system headquarters in Rue Saint-Jacques, in the fifth arrondissement of the French capital.

Emergency workers are searching through the wreckage of the building, with at least two thought to be missing.

Safe in the knowledge that terrorists had just struck, and that everything was now okay, I was getting ready to resume my life when I saw the next chilling line:

"According to witnesses, there was a strong smell of gas before the blast." 

I don't know about you, but as someone who uses gas, both in piped and cylindrical forms, I find this "explanation" deeply troubling. It means we are forced to worry about every single gas boiler and cylinder in existence -- and there are literally millions of them. Unlike Muslims, they are in almost every home.

Why oh why have the authorities chosen to create such a climate of terror and to spread hatred of gas appliances?