Thursday, 10 August, 2006

By Kirsty Wark
Presenter, BBC Newsnight

Presented by Kirsty Wark

Terror plot

"Put simply, this was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale." - Paul Stephenson, Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police.

Tonight we are devoting the programme to a comprehensive and analytical picture of today's momentous anti-terrorism operation, which we are being told has thwarted a number of mid-air plane explosions somewhere between the UK and North America.

We'll have the latest on the plot - the targets, the methods, the extent of the danger, the arrests of 21 people, the security measures and the impact on travellers around the world, and the way the authorities including the police and the airports responded.

Our diplomatic Editor Mark Urban assesses what we know about the intelligence that resulted in this morning's swoop and the security implications.

Tim Whewell has been to High Wycombe and East London, the site of two of the police raids to take the temperature of the local community.

Our political editor Martha Kearney is examining the political response , the public scepticism and asks what exactly is John Prescott's role in this crisis.

Justin Rowlatt assesses the impact on travellers and Paul Mason calculates the commercial fallout.

We'll also have the latest from the US - President Bush is due to talk later about the cross Atlantic co-operation.

In an extended programme we'll be debating our state of insecurity, and mistrust with leading Muslims, politicians and terror experts.