I can't believe as a Brit you don't understand the deep-seated liberal PC nonsense that goes on here.
We are soooooo worried about hurting (literally) OR "offending" any1 that it stifles law enforcement. I thought that was the case in GB too. It's almost a joke to have law enforcement at all, when at best they get to do "catch&release" of crooks. And are villified and "investigated" and even tried every single time they should actually shoot some scumbag homie drug dude w/a gun on the big-city street corner. Instead of applauding getting rid of pure scum, the local "citizens" cry out about "racist" "trigger-happy" cops (even when they're black) who shoot everything in site, and that they should be hung.
Top it off w/lawsuits every time something like this happens - never mind you can sue McDonald's for spilling coffee on yourself.
That's the attitude that pervades here, and we're crippled by it. Regardless of terror attacks; the attitude really hasn't changed.
Life is a pendulum. It has swung too far in the PC direction, but it will swing back.