Because the morons setting things alight will also attack the fire engines and crews so the police won't let the fire brigade through until they can clear the area.

The Peckham building took about 15 minutes from watching the 'live' coverage to seeing the fire brigade spraying water. You could see the police marching down the street to the next junction to clear an area for the firefighters to work. You then saw the firefighters try to enter the back of the building to ensure there was no-one trapped.

Several of the TV stations though are continuing to show the earlier pictures (still with the LIVE alongside) of the fire before the brigade got there.

But your first point re Al Qaeda is very sadly true. I feel more nervous about going out and heading home tomorrow evening than I ever did post 7/7. Would really like to knock the heads together of some of these hooded muppets.