Evil in its most awful form came to Britain this week but it did not win.

Don’t get me wrong. The perverted human being who attacked innocent young children and teenagers in Manchester did win.

He succeeded in breaking hearts, destroying families and ending young lives with who knows what potential.

It was an act of complete barbarity and one that defies any reasonable explanation.

I don’t think any rational human being can understand how and why anyone could be so inhuman.

Is the promise of 72 virgins in paradise really enough to encourage someone to blow themselves up along with their innocent victims? If this is what motivates them they are sick people indeed.

So evil came and created carnage and heartbreak. But it did not win.

As in every terrorist attack throughout the world in recent years it appears to have simply strengthened people’s resolve not to give in.

More importantly – and totally opposite to what the terrorists wish to achieve – it brings people of all religions and cultures together.

I have been following all the media coverage of the tragedy.

On Wednesday the BBC was interviewing people and I was struck by the difference in the people who were standing together to speak out against this atrocity.

There were people in turbans, hijabs, kippahs and no head wear at all.

There were people who sounded as though they had never been out of Manchester and people who sounded like they were from all over the rest of the world.

There were black people and white peoples and every human hue.

There were leaders from every religion and every one of them was there for one reason – to condemn an evil that would condone the murder of children.

There has been disruption, of course. The railway station was closed, a significant part of the city was cordoned off.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if there were fewer work absences this week than normal.

That’s because people are determined that they will carry on as usual.

There will never be an “as usual” for some families, though.

Twenty-two lives were lost, among them an eight-year-old child excited at being at her first concert.

A Polish couple died as they waited for their children to come out of the concert. Those children went in as part of a family and came out as orphans.

Twenty-two families will never be able to hear an Ariana Grande song again without reliving the memory of the murder of a loved one.

And that is what it was – pure, unadulterated murder by a crazed, twisted individual representing an extremist cult.

The problem is, of course, that the leaders of this evil cult are not the ones who are blowing themselves up.

They remain safe while they send others to do their disgusting work for them.

One day they will meet their maker, though, and come face to face with the realisation of what they have done.

Evil came to Britain – to Manchester – this week and evil nearly won.

But, in the end, it is the human spirit and love that will prevail. It sounds trite, but we have seen it around the world and we have seen it in Manchester.

This week, though, it is small comfort to those who have lost loved ones. To them we send our heartfelt sorrow.

We can’t take your grief or even really share it. But a nation and even a world is holding you in their hearts and prayers.