THE government’s decision to hold a national minute’s silence on Friday to remember those murdered in the Tunisia terror attack is the right thing to do.

We hope everyone who shares a belief in freedom and tolerance, irrespective of their race or religion, takes a moment at noon on Friday to reflect on last week’s dreadful atrocity in Sousse.

It is now clear the vast majority of the 38 people killed by a gunman acting for the so-called Islamic State were tourists from this country.

Whether they were deliberately targeted remains unclear, but looks likely.

Eighteen of the dead - including care home worker Trudy Jones from Blackwood - have been confirmed as British, but this figure is expected to rise to 30 over the next few days.

It is the worst British loss of life due to an act of terrorism since the 7/7 London bombings almost ten years ago. It is right the nation stops for a moment to remember them.

It was also right that the prime minister, speaking in the Commons yesterday, emphasised that Britain is at war with terrorists but not with Islam.

A war between Islam and the West is precisely what the extremists want to provoke.

The best way to defeat them is for freedom-loving people of all creeds to stand shoulder to shoulder on Friday in silent defiance of the terrorists.