IT IS not pleasant seeing armed police patrolling our streets. That’s not how things are supposed to be, here. British bobbies are friendly, helpful people who shouldn’t be carrying guns.

The sight of them walking around York with semi-automatic rifles seems all wrong. It’s as though our streets have been taken away from us. They’re no longer the safe, cheerful places they should be.

The armed patrols underline yet again the horror of what happened on Monday night in Manchester. Not that we need reminding. The heartbreaking case of the two York girls orphaned when their parents, Marcin and Angelika Klis, were killed in the bomb blast, has brought this tragedy all-too-close to home. The sisters’ loss doesn’t bear thinking about.

Under the circumstances, attempting to prevent a repeat of the atrocity in Manchester must be a priority. The Government has raised the UK terror threat level to ‘critical’, meaning there is an imminent risk of another terrorist attack.

If the powers-that-be believe having more armed police - and even soldiers - on the streets is the best way to guard against suicide bombers such as Salman Abedi who, out of some twisted perversion of religion, believe that blowing up children is the way to heaven, then so be it. For now, at least.

But we mustn’t lose sight of the values that make Britain what it is. Ours is not a police state - and we mustn’t let the terrorists turn us into one. Increased security must, therefore, go hand-in-hand with other things - not least a determination to try to build better community relations, and to find some way of stopping young men like Abedi being manipulated by fanatics preaching a perverted form of ‘religion’ that has nothing to do with true Islam.