When I first thought of putting these comments in the margin, the idea was to explain the original news stories where they were unlikely to be remembered, or to explain local references to those who wouldn't know the local slang or the names of the local football teams. But it turns out that in a lot of cases I don't remember the original news stories myself, and what is even stranger is that I no longer feel so sure that they are that important. In fact, I'm pretty sure that here I was referring to the Kosovo uprising and the Palestinian intifadah, but you don't have to know that for the script to make sense and make its point.

For some time now, the TV news has been dominated by tales of two regions. The images often look similar, yet different people interpret them in very different ways. It clearly all depends on where you’re coming from.

Do we see a ‘peoples uprising’ overthrowing tyranny, or a rampaging mob intent on destroying the rule of law. Do we hear of unpopular rulers cowering in their bunkers or of innocent families retreating to bomb shelters? Is the similarity of what we see contradicted by what we say?

Here is a brutal regime that waged war on a people for no more than their religious persuasion, while there military technology is used only with restraint to quell public disorder, inevitably and unfortunately incurring casualties, which coincidentally are almost entirely on one side of a religious divide.

One regime with whom we associate the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’, and another that we conveniently forget first coined the phrase as a discreet way to describe their policies.

Images in the news are usually there to illustrate a commentary. So a bullet hole in a nursery window, can show the threat of an encircling mob, while the funeral of a child victim just the cynical use of communal grief to inflame hatred and destabilise the local politics.

Our views depend on our definition of who is ‘other’ and the degree to which we recognise their shared humanity.

When Muhammad first began to preach the Oneness of God amidst a population of idol-worshippers, one near neighbour was particularly abusive. She would throw decomposing offal over the wall into his cooking pot, and scatter thorns around his house each day to spear the feet of visitors.

But one day the thorns weren’t there, and while others rejoiced at her absence, Muhammad expressed concern that she might be sick, and sent friends to offer her assistance, an action that transformed her view and took away her enmity.

The Prophet fought for truth and justice, but never saw his enemies as less human. It is this perception that is the key to ending a war, not the winning of a battle.