Bill Tupman, an expert on counter-terrorism from Exeter University, told BBC News: “The problem is trying to predict the mind of the al-Qaeda planner; there are so many things they might do.

“And it is also necessary to reassure the public that we are trying to outguess the al-Qaeda planner and we are in the process of protecting them from any threat.”

I know it’s quite common for people to be misquoted but I can’t see how it could have happened here. It’s good to see an expert that thinks we need protecting against every single threat. It’s almost the definition of terrorism.