Unity against extremism at home and abroad was a major theme for me in the week we remembered the 9/11 atrocity.
MPs from the North East and nationally joined forces in Parliament last week with footballers, union leaders and celebrities to watch the England v Wales match.
But before that we marked the 15th anniversary of the North East based charity, Show Racism the Red Card.
Many fans will recall when racist abuse and violence was common and made the beautiful game ugly.
The charity has done wonders in putting this into the past in most parts of the country. It has done this by working with professional footballers and other high profile role models through educational events at football clubs and in schools across the UK.
It was very significant that the meeting I organised attracted many MPs from Scotland where there is still a big problem of sectarianism at football matches which has resulted in injuries and a death of a young fan.
The hope is that a great initiative that began life in the North East can continue to do good work north of the border.
The basic point is to emphasise what people have in common and to overcome those who try to divide people and to deny us our common humanity.
This has also been the theme of much coverage of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in which 3,000 people were so cruelly killed in New York and Washington by Al Qaeda.
It also highlights the importance of a Muslim people that has been able to liberate itself, with the help of western countries, from a terrible dictator in Libya.
Based on my experience in Iraq and elsewhere I suggest that it won't be long before the Libyans ask civil society activists and parliamentarians to respectfully advise them on how to build new institutions.
Building such links with the new Libya can help them modernise their country and the wider Middle East. That in turn can reduce the tensions between people of different religions and make it more and more difficult for extremists to operate. We all gain from that.
Newcastle Chronicle and Journal
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