THE REAL WORLD

Posted at 7:08 a.m. ET

We've tried to remind readers, and ourselves, that there's a world outside our election campaign, and that it's a pretty dangerous place.  Now Britain's Telegraph has a serious terror warning, articulated more clearly than anything we're hearing on our side of the pond:

A significant terror plot is being investigated by the security services. the counter-terrorism minister has warned.

Lord West, who advises the Prime Minister on security matters, told the House of Lords: "There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring this."

It's a strange thing, but I've noticed recently that some of our "soft" allies are actually getting tougher on terror than we've been.  Terror expert Michael A. Sheehan, whom I discuss in an audio clip, says that, when it comes to internal security, some of our friends, especially the French "do not play."  I wonder how much playing a President Obama would do.

"The threat is huge. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of 'severe'.

"There are large complex plots. We unravelled one, which caused damage to al-Qaeda and the plots faded slightly.

"However, another great plot is building up again, which we are monitoring.

"We have done a great deal to protect ourselves and to look after our water supplies, our resilience, underground trains, our preparedness and communications.

"We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building - the complex plots are building."

You'll notice that terrorism is almost entirely absent from our current political discussion.  America is daydreaming.

The Daily Telegraph reported two weeks ago that security sources believed terrorist activity was nearing "critical".

The threat level is at the "severe end of severe" according to sources who say the level of "ambient activity" among terrorist cells has increased in recent months and they are now operating at full stretch.

The source said: "We are not chasing shadows. These are potential threats to security and life. Police and the security network are operating at full capacity."

And...

Security officials are particularly worried by a growing threat from within the Algerian, Somali and Yemeni communities in Britain along with the established threat from young men returning from the al-Qaeda heartlands on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

It is not politically correct to say that.

Of course, some British officials immediately played down the threats.  As the cliché goes, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

October 15, 2008.