[Alex Chadwick:] Britain's Home Secretary Charles Clarke met in Brussels today with interior ministers from the other 24 European Union nations. They're discussing what new anti-terrorism measures might be needed to take on the threat of more bombings. Paul Rogers is a professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford, which is not far from Leeds, where the bombing investigation is focused now. Professor Rogers, welcome to DAY TO DAY.
[Professor Paul Rogers:] Hello.
[Alex Chadwick:] Do you know what sort of new anti-terrorism measures these ministers are talking about?
[Professor Paul Rogers:] Much of it is going to be concerned with trying to coordinate the work they do rather better in terms of maintaining records of suspects, in terms of being able to communicate in relation to electronic records. It's very much a feeling that across Europe some countries are better interconnected than others and there needs to be much more scope for closer coordination.
[Alex Chadwick:] Prime Minister Blair speaking in the House of Commons today said that it's going to be necessary to strengthen the process for excluding from the United Kingdom those who incite hatred. Is he talking about fundamentally changing the nature of Britain?
[Professor Paul Rogers:] I think that at the moment the government is rather reeling from the information that's come to light in the last 24 hours or so, that the people responsible for the atrocities last week are people who'd been brought up in Britain and were part of British communities. And there is, therefore, a feeling that while they may have been directly responsible, then there have been others from outside who, so to speak, masterminded the operation. I think it is those kinds of people that Prime Minister Blair is talking about. We don't have yet any detail about any changed legislation. So for the moment, I think this may be a kind of reaction to what has happened as much as anything to reassure people that further steps may be taken to keep out the kinds of people who would incite this kind of behavior.
[Alex Chadwick:] Police are now talking about the high quality of explosives that they've found linked to these bombers at locations in West Yorkshire and down in the south of England. Isn't this material very difficult to get in Britain, and does this suggest international involvement?
[Professor Paul Rogers:] It probably does suggest international involvement. Britain has very strong systems of control within civil industry. There are very strict licenses for acquiring such material, but across Europe, there are both gray and black markets in this kind of material, and a lot of it went almost astray towards the end of the Cold War 10 to 15 years ago. And that actually provides a kind of pool for people to work completely illicitly, but it certainly does mean as you suggest that there is very likely to be some sort of international connection.
[Alex Chadwick:] What do you expect to be happening in your country as you try to grapple with this investigation and with where this investigation has brought you now; that is, to the observation that these are Britons?
[Professor Paul Rogers:] One of the crucial things I think in Britain, particularly in the coming four or five days through the next weekend, will be whether it is possible to avoid major community problems. The city of Leeds, which is close to where I live, and the city of Bradford, more or less next door-they're twin cities-with an even larger Asian origin population, people have worked incredibly hard in the last four or five years to improve community relations. And I think people locally are hoping very much that things will hold together. There is a feeling at present that the few people responsible for the bombings were isolated individuals and that to an extent is at least helping the whole process of preventing violence against the communities from which they come.
[Alex Chadwick:] Paul Rogers is professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford in England. Professor Rogers, thank you for being with us.
[Professor Paul Rogers:] Thank you.