Howard Jacobsen relentlessly dissects Cherie Blair's recent comment:

Which brings us to the assumption – almost an idée fixe now, in some quarters – that between hopelessness and murder there is no moral or behavioural transition worth talking about. "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up" etc etc. No hope but to – how trippingly off the tongue that comes. How trippingly off the tongue it has been coming since 11 September, when the world woke to many surprises, not the least of them being a whole new system of measuring longevity of suffering and patience. People were fed up. People had had enough. What do you expect? Of course they flew planes into the World Trade Centre, what else were they meant to do? Not nice, of course not nice, but... The new "but", hacking away at our every compunction. No hope but to.