Apparently two people have been apprehended so far and police are looking for an unknown number of fugitives. This will be a good test of the effectiveness of CCTV, which was fine for identifying the bombers last week, but will today show if it is of any use in catching people on the run. If it is, then perhaps the supporters of the panopticon society have a point. On the other hand, after 7/7 I hope London Transport has removed any of those bizzare Orwellian posters that proclaimed passengers were “Secure beneath the watchful eyes.”

One other interesting aspect of the CCTV cameras (which are everywhere, it seems) is that they have loudspeakers through which the police relay taped warnings about pickpockets and so on. It is rather disturbing to be lectured by a lamppost…