We have a sort of a verdict. One local, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, has been found guilty of the main conspiracy to commit terror at Woolwich Crown Court today, along with two men from out of the area. (If Nottingham Road Leyton, counts as out of the area - its the Waltham Forest home of Tanvir Hussain. Assad Sarwar was from High Wycombe). But while the jury agreed that these three had planned to murder "persons unknown" at Heathrow, they were, despite the surveillance evidence, unable to agree on exactly what the targets were, and failed to reach verdicts on charges which specified aeroplanes as the targets.

Twelve people were originally accused of this conspiracy, among several groups in the Muslim community around the UK who had their collars felt in August 2006.

The evidence in the trial alleged that during surveillance by the security services, the convicted men had looked into a number of possible targets, including airplanes, the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, nuclear power stations and oil terminals. The main accusation seems to have been that eight men were planning to carry liquid explosives on to planes at Heathrow bound for North America when they were arrested in August 2006.

Waheed Zaman of Queen's Road, was one of four defendants who managed to leave the jury unable to reach a verdict. Locals were surprised at his arrest. At that time people portrayed him as a "sociable, integrated kind of guy" with friends from Asian, white and black backgrounds, who loved fish and chips. He also supported Liverpool which made him something of a free thinker and a maverick round here, but not actually a terrorist; though serious questions could be asked about the nature his religious education. Ibrahim Savant, another who gave the jury pause for thought, from Folkstone Road, was described as a devout muslim convert previously known as Oliver, from 'a nice family'. Arafat Waheed Khan of Farnan Avenue, from Walthamstow, and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young of High Wycombe also managed to leave the jury unable to reach a verdict.

Seven out of the eight had also recorded videos denouncing Western foreign policy. They said they had only planned to make a political point and were not planning to kill anyone. Just be a bit of a public nuisance.

It should be noted that far from the area quaking in fear at the evil tentacles of the enemy within, life away from the town hall, the so-called 'community leaders' and the media, as ever, has moved on very much as normal. We are still in a flap about our safety in public spaces and the nuisance value of video images, but the focus is on youth gangs, three knife killings in six weeks and a giant tv screen in the Town Square. These are, after all, tangible events, the authorities haven't spared us from, in contrast to this actually victimless plot from which they have apparently saved the world.

Meanwhile, I expect more acres of very thoughtful pieces from both sides of the Atlantic about the collapse of civilisation as we know it. Some opinions will be hinting at how much better things can be if only we all did things the way the writer recommends. Others, on both sides of the debate, will be more strident,telling us how the chips are down, its time we all choose sides. The Mail, (shades of reds under the bed here) has claimed without much evidence, that one gang member is "at large" in the East End.

Sometimes, as Walthamstow showed during even greater onslaughts on our way of life than these recent ones, just getting on with life is the sanest response to violence and lunacy. Its always worth remembering, also, that as in America, not everyone pulled in has something to answer for.