FOR over 30 years Britain has learned to live with the constant fear of terrorist attacks.

The threat from the IRA may have abated, but the threat from international terrorists is now of the utmost concern.

The arrest of terrorist suspects in London and the discovery of a quantity of a deadly toxin demonstrate the potential disaster in our midst.

As September 11 and outrages in Bali and Kenya demonstrate, no nation can declare itself safe from terrorism.

The prospect of military intervention in Iraq and other regimes suspected of being sponsors of terrorist groups will not reduce the possibility of further attacks. It will increase it.

Britain's role, shoulder to shoulder with the United States, in the global war against terror, must make our country and our people obvious prime targets.

We are going to have to accept that international terrorism is a very real threat, one we are going to have to live with for the foreseeable future.

While the arrests in London give grave cause for concern, we should perhaps take some comfort from the vigilance of the police and the intelligence services in taking swift and appropriate action in this instance.

We will never be in a position to eliminate terrorism from our shores, but we are better equipped than most countries to tackle and contain the menace.

This latest incident underlines the wisdom of the Government's message in recent weeks for the public to be ever-vigilant.

We should be realistic about the terrorist threat we face, but we must not over-react. Where possible, we should go about our lives in as normal a way as possible.

We must resist the temptation for hysteria and panic. That will simply play into the hands of terrorists who are seeking to cause as much disruption and fear as possible.

The price of vanity

Why Leslie Ash, who was much more attractive as she was, should want to pay good money to have her lips abnormally swollen is anyone's guess.

But the evidence is that sooner or later, those who succumb to the temptation to have plastic surgery end up looking deformed - some worse than others.

Surely it's best just to grow old gracefully.