For as long as I can remember, there has been a distinct lack of humanity in the world. Never has this been more noticeable in my lifetime than in the past few weeks. Call me a terrorist sympathiser if you must. I like to think of myself as a human sympathiser.

397 ‘yes’ votes and 223 ‘no’ votes yesterday delivered the cruel death sentence that will take away the freedom and lives of countless more innocent people.

Of course, like every other citizen, I desire to live in a country that is safe. Whilst I appreciate there is no quick and easy solution that would banish IS, is violence really the right choice? Well, to put it bluntly, no. Here are some suggestions (I do not necessarily agree with them all, but it shows that there are alternatives):

Isolate IS financially Cut off IS’ supply of weapons and artillery Target IS leadership Build and strengthen regional opposition to IS Ensure that immigrant communities in Europe are integrated and do not feel alienated End world poverty

The ones that resonate with me the most are numbers 4, 5 and 6. Negotiating with groups such as the Kurds seems to be the best immediate option in my opinion. At the moment, rebel groups who oppose both Assad and IS are fighting each other. It is therefore imperative that these groups are united, and that the UK works closely with them to help them to find a solution, as opposed to pushing yet more unwanted ideologies onto them. Furthermore, an issue that is very close to my heart is ensuring that refugees and immigrants are not alienated from society (see my post on the refugee situation here). My local community is very ethnically diverse, and this is something of which I am immensely proud. Unfortunately, due to the recent events in Paris, there has been an increase in the number of incidents, involving racist abuse directed towards a variety of people, including children. This is totally unacceptable, and will only make the situation worse. In fact, alienation is exactly what IS wants because it will make more people vulnerable, and vulnerability breeds radicalisation. Lastly, the ideal agenda would be to end world poverty. It may sound ridiculous and far-fetched, but surely this has to be the end goal. It will not be easy. You know what? It will be damn hard. But we have to try. There is such a strong link between poverty and terrorism, it is getting harder and harder to ignore. So pull your socks up, David, and change the world.

A basic understanding of history will enable you to see that ill-thought-out, foreign military intervention almost always has dreadful consequences. From the Battle of the Somme in 1918, to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, to the Iraq War in 2003, bad planning, poor execution, and general incompetency have only generated disastrous results. Astonishingly, Tony Blair has admitted that his poor judgment regarding the invasion of Iraq led to the rise of IS. Now that should really make the point hit home. Even if I thought that carrying out airstrikes on Syria was a good idea, which I do not, I would still be questioning whether the Prime Minister actually has a long term plan. In reality, I do not think he does. And neither do any of the other countries who are joining in.

I will leave you with a quote from MP Paul Flynn: ‘This is a war of hearts and minds that cannot be won by bombs and bullets’.

As always, thank you very much for reading. All feedback is welcome, so make sure you comment!