For all our stoicism we Londoners had hoped that July 7 would be a one-off. A kind of fatalism led us to expect that our city would take its turn to be attacked after New York, Washington, Istanbul and Madrid, but we harboured an unfounded expectation that once it had happened, it would be over.

Living with continuing fear and suspicion is a harder proposition than merely moving on from a single horrific event. The killing of an innocent man by the police adds to the jitteriness that will be felt in London. Still, I think the city will cope as it has done in the past.

In the past two weeks Britain has been stunned to discover that there are people living here who have resisted integration and who loathe this country.

London’s resilience tells a more encouraging story. The capital’s population is extremely diverse. As proof of that, fewer than half the names of those killed on the 7th look Anglo-Saxon. Today’s Londoners come in all colours and from every cultural background. Yet they have inherited the city’s historic attitudes of nonchalance, bloody-mindedness and defiance from the generation that survived the blitz. Mass murder in London has not been greeted with wailing in the streets but with a determination to continue life as usual in this city of perpetual sirens.

Perhaps we take things almost too calmly. It is, to say the least, disappointing that our security services anticipated neither of the two recent attacks, even though some of the names had previously appeared on the intelligence radar. The shooting at Stockwell does not help public confidence.

The government has been poorly focused. Only now does it come forward with proposals to outlaw acts preparatory to terrorism and the “indirect” incitement of violence. Why not before? The prime minister now calls for phone-tap evidence to be used in proceedings against suspects, while the Conservatives have long urged that change. Four years after September 11 the Foreign Office at last discovers that it can get agreement from Jordan to take deportees from Britain with guarantees about their treatment.

We have wasted parliamentary time on identity cards. They will not help us to fight terror and they have distracted us from more effective measures. The government has also dissipated its energy defending its power to lock up suspects without charge on the say so of a minister.

It has now decided to create the new offences, which is better because the suspects will enjoy due process in the courts.

It is easy to explain how the Londonistan phenomenon (the concentration of Muslim political activists in the capital) has come about. For years foreign governments have complained that dissidents settled in Britain were using the fax and the internet to foment discontent in their countries. Our response has been dilatory. Under our asylum rules we have made no distinction between the innocent victims of persecution and others intent on bringing down states.

As democrats we feel some sympathy for those who voice opposition to autocratic regimes. Maybe our response has been coloured by memories of the brave French resistance sabotaging the Nazis under control from London. It has taken us a long time to accept that not all enemies of dictatorships are either democrats or patriots.

We can complain with justification that Pakistan has failed to close the training camps where young Britons have been coached in the techniques of massacre. But General Musharraf, its president, was right last week to say that Britain could have done more, too. The constraints on him are obvious, leading a Muslim country of extraordinary volatility. Britain’s tardy reaction to the growing threat is harder to explain. Yet Blair has escaped criticism. He attracts public sympathy as he wrestles with the dilemma of how a free society copes with such an evil enemy.

In our fight against Irish terrorists we made it a criminal offence merely to belong to certain organisations. Al-Muhajiroun must be a candidate for similar treatment, as an extremist body that refuses to condemn terrorism in Britain and celebrates the September 11 attacks on America. We have found few other ways to disrupt the middlemen who warp the minds of young people and make them ripe for recruitment to suicide missions. We can no longer tolerate mealy-mouthed attitudes from people in authority. Ken Livingstone should heartily regret sharing a platform with Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who once said that suicide bombings in Palestine were a legitimate form of self-defence.

To give her her due, Cherie Blair has already apologised for saying of the situation there: “As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress.” I do not see how anyone can “understand” the murder of passengers on a Jerusalem bus and still hope to carry conviction when denouncing terror on the Tube.

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