Mike Power poses an interesting question in his item Anything you say may be acted on without corroboration… For several days we have had news coverage of the full-scale raid in the search for a chemical weapon. The police went in, sirens blazing, news teams at the ready, several hundred officers equipped with special suits, forensic teams – you name it, they are on the scene. And so far, the ‘compelling intelligence’ they tell us they received has apparently turned up nothing except for an injured postman, a large number of angry locals and several orgasmic lawyers with their calculators to hand.

The question Mike raises is, why the full-scale publicity over this raid – which appears to be a travesty of failure – when at the same time the Met and the Home Office have been convincing us for months of all the terrorist plots they have foiled – without the cameras rolling – in softly, softly operations we know nothing about. Does it suggest that the long list of foiled plots are more an imaginative fiction? Either that or the Met has been seen to be duped big time. Whichever, you have to admit then when our boys in blue decide to be incompetent again – they do it with a lot of style.

In tandem, and as a consequence, of this raid, local Muslims are voicing their anger that the police are concentrating on their ethnic group. In all honesty, what the hell do they expect? When the IRA was having fun blowing up buildings and people in England did the police go looking for Welsh sympathisers? Did they seek IRA members amongst London’s Polish community? When one single religious or ethnic grouping is causing bloodshed and terrorism throughout the world then it is within that group that you look for the bad apples. Sorry – but get used to it. The more tired non-Muslims get of these continued outrages, the more your community will feel the pressure. Even better than getting used to it – do something constructive about it. Help and support the police a little more.

Muslim Council of Britain leader Muhammad Abdul Bari (pictured – the one without the silly hat), said yesterday that “The danger is the trust between the community and the police may be broken. The community feels very vulnerable.” Vulnerable? Like the people who get on a tube train every day?