"AU NOM de Quoi?", a message in a Paris restaurant window.

It had to be translated for me and millions of others when it was broadcast.

But it poignantly pointed out the confusion and bewilderment over the devastating loss of life that plunged the beautiful city of light into darkness.

It simply said, in English and every other language: "In the name of what?"

When I saw the aftermath of this rancid reign of terror in Paris caused by IS (Islamic State) I thought I had woken up from a bad dream.

A living nightmare on our TV screens.

I saw panic-stricken images of people just like YOU and ME on a night out.

So many ordinary people never made it home from such simple pleasures as a day out at a football match or a pop concert or an after work drink – a street café meal.

Victims of what US Secretary of State John Kerry called "psychopathic monsters".

It was not military barracks being attacked here but innocent civilians.

"This is a war of a different kind," said one observer, because "we don't know who or where the enemy are".

What struck me was how eye-witnesses and shaken survivors faced with cameras and microphones coped with recounting the fateful Friday.

They articulated the inhumanity – the horror around them, allegedly perpetrated in the name of religion.

But like New York after 9/11 the world will see Paris turn its light on again.

Last night at a Wembley stadium bathed in red, white and blue 70,000 football fans from England and France sang La Marseillaise.

Millions throughout Europe sang along too – proof that this time we really are all in it together.

*

CLOSER to home. I pray that politicians across the country respond to the very real threat of terrorism in our towns and cities.

David Cameron yesterday announced £2 billion in aid for Special Forces.

Wirral Council and Merseyside Police work should together to ensure they keep irreplaceable Community Police Officers.

Society needs them more than ever.

The Paris tragedy has highlighted our vulnerability.

I recall my first visit to France seeing the Gendarme – and the Mounties when I went to Canada. Seeing a British Bobbie on the beat must be the same for visitors to the UK.

Our community bobbies are essential in the chain, like the late great PC David Phillips, especially, they are invaluable.

Real social security.

An elected government and the elected local councils should make security for our collective peace of minds an absolute priority.

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I WAS sorry to hear of the death of actor Warren Mitchell this week.

The 89-year-old star, who played bigot Alf Garnett, proved what a great actor he was with a wide range of roles from Shakespeare to the West End and sit-com classics.

Yet he will be best remembered for his role in Till Death Us Do Part and In Sickness and In Health, where he played the beer-swilling, right wing, racist, sexist, West Ham supporter and pub bore Alf.

In real life he spoke with the diction and clarity of Sirs Mckellen and Jacobi. Warren was actually a Labour supporter and Tottenham Hotspur fan.

He called Alf an "awful man".

Now that shows dedication to his art playing complete opposites while spouting out tirades with such catchphrases as "you silly moo".

Warren told me that writer Johnny Speight was simply highlighting the fact people like obnoxious Alf really did exist.

As I was leaving our interview he also showed his great sense of humour.

He shouted after me in Alf’s famous, ranting rasp, "Tara you Scouse Git".

The phrase he threw at his on-screen son played by Tony Booth.

Goodbye Warren.

Good riddance Alf.

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AND finally ... Have you ever wondered what the judges and presenter of The Great British Bake Off get up to while the contestants slave over hot ovens?

Sue Perkins revealed to a tabloid that Wirral's Paul Hollywood likes to watch Formula One and after chomping through cakes likes nothing better than having a post-filming sirloin, chips and lager.

Cue the next spin off series: The Great British Steak Off.

Peter Grant