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Terry Eagleton only confuses matters with his ignorant remarks about terrorism ("Terror - it's a truly bourgeois tradition", July 15).

He puffs Edmund Burke, who chose to ignore what Thomas Carlyle knew well, that the absolutist French state had used terror against its enemies for generations. Eagleton even employs the crude myth of a "clash of civilisations" to explain current conflicts ("The West needs to keep conjuring enemies into existence..."). Why can he not write simply that the barbaric bombing of Londoners on Thursday July 7 should be utterly condemned, without reservation?

The inhuman fascists who carried out, or connived in, these acts wish to push us into a dark age of unreason and fear. They will try to blame their inhumanity on others. But terrorists are responsible for their crimes and we must hold them to account. There can be no excuses. All of us must assist to unmask these mass murderers.

Will Podmore

London