But it's even less possible to claim that the lack of severe punishment has increased terrorism, as cedws was saying.

Even when you exclude NI, terrorism is lower now than in the past yet punishments have not become notably more severe.

But even if you excluded the Troubles or anything even remotely related to them, you'd still end up more than three times as many deaths before as after.

Violence was, at best, counterproductive for all parties involved. It often led to further tit-for-tat killings and, more generally, piled up more layers of grievance that hardened attitudes and formed a barrier to de-escalation.

The cycle was instead brought to an end by a decade of trust-building and painful negotiation. Violence didn't help, and wasn't part of the solution.