The good news and the bad news...

It's pretty bad news that the London attacks were the work of suicide bombers.

It was good and bad news. The police are to be congratulated for establishing so quickly the origins of the bombers who attacked London last Thursday. For some days the public (and victims' families in particular) have been kept in the dark about the identity of the bodies at King's Cross, Aldgate East, Edgware Road and Tavistock Square. Now we understand why: the police were engaged in the gruesome task of "tissue matching", and in tracing the movements of the men who planted the bombs.

But the bad news is far worse. It seems likely that the attackers were suicide bombers, and British. They came from Yorkshire, and possibly Bedfordshire, to murder and maim their fellow citizens in the nation's capital.

This appalling development has a simple and serious implication. Police spokesmen yesterday spoke of the help they had received from "the communities". That British Muslims had volunteered information after the event is highly welcome. But it is inconceivable that, as four young men became sufficiently radicalised that they were prepared to immolate themselves and others, no one around them noticed. Someone - in a home, a mosque, a study group - must have had a suspicion of where things might be heading.