Everyone has been shocked by the discovery that Britain nurtured two suicide bombers of its own: Asif Hanif, who succeeded in blowing himself up in Israel, killing three others; and Omar Khan Sharif, who didn't - his bomb belt failed to explode - but who nevertheless evaded capture and is now on the run.

And yet, in truth, no one should have been shocked. Last week's incident is not even the first example of Britons being involved in attempted suicide attacks. On the basis of their interrogation of members of al-Qaeda, officers from India's Intelligence Service believe that there was a plot to hijack a British Airways plane on September 11 and crash it into the Houses of Parliament. That plot only failed because by the time the plane the terrorists had chosen to hijack was scheduled to take off (5.30pm), news of the destruction of the World Trade Center had echoed around the world, and airport authorities grounded all flights.[...]