In fairness, from what I've heard the police response was as close to exemplary as is humanly possible. Obviously Plan A is to pre-empt such an attack, but with anti-Semites now given free reign in pretty much every European town and certainly city, some will always slip between the cracks, especially those who don't have previous with that sort of thing (which I don't think Mr Jihad did). If that fails, Plan B is to contain the situation and neutralise the attacker asap, minimising casualties and ensuring there are no follow-up attacks.
In fact, it seems Manchester now has probably the best counter-terrorism response of any major UK city, and that is sadly a direct result of the widespread criticism in the wake of the Arena bombing. They pulled their socks up because they had no choice.
I shudder to think what would unfold if something like this happened here in London.
There'd probably be a swarm of police arresting the Jewish worshippers for provoking the attack by being visibly Jewish, meanwhile a traffic warden sticks a penalty notice on the windscreen of the car that just crashed through the Synagogue gates, and a 15-year old kid on a moped steals the journalist's camera.
