What Elephant ?

Today's anniversary of the 7/7 bombings poses the BBC an interesting challenge - to provide wall-to-wall coverage without mentioning the "I-word" or the "M-word".

No one wants to hold an entire community responsible for the sins of an extreme minority. The reponsibility for 7/7 lies with the evil-doers who planned and executed it. But given that the bombings were explicitly carried out in the name of Islam, not to mention the fact seems perverse.

The Today programme devoted most of the half-hour between 7 and 7.30 to the anniversary. As Sarah Montague so perceptively pointed out, today is the day when "four British men blew themselves up" (an Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman and a Welshman ?), but it was 7.23 before the M- or I-words were mentioned - when Church of England Bishop Tony Robinson told us that the bombers 'weren't Muslims at all' !

It remains to be seen how the rest of the day's coverage will pan out - but the Today programme does like to think that it sets the agenda.