The case of Bristol's would-be suicide bomber, Isa Ibrahim, highlights how much we have to be thankful for, but also how much we have to be fearful of.

On Friday the former QEH and Colstons' schoolboy was sentenced to life for planning a terrorist attack in Broadmead.

Mercifully, the planning was as far as he got, but it was very close.

Too close.

That he didn't cause carnage and destroy innocent lives is purely down to a few astute worshippers from Bristol's Muslim community who tipped off police about Ibrahim's extreme views, erratic behaviour and suspicious injuries to his hands.

Injuries caused by experimenting with his home-made bomb mixture.

For their actions we must be eternally thankful.

What is worrying though is that counter terrorism units in the West, or anywhere else for that matter, didn't have a clue what he was up to.

We must also be thankful that he was a loner and not part of a Bristol-based terrorist cell.

But that fact in itself throws up another concern – the potentially evil influence of the internet on a disturbed and lonely mind.

Ibrahim spent hours online feeding his obsession with Islamic extremism.

He researched and listened to speeches by controversial preachers like Abu Hamza.

He watched the suicide video of Mohammed Siddique Khan, recorded shortly before the ring leader of the London bombers set off on his murderous mission.

On the internet every aspect of life is just a couple of clicks away.

Our children are becoming increasingly adept at accessing its dark corners and, as they do, the internet prowlers are out there ready to snare them with unchallenged propaganda or direct, electronic contact.

Skulking between every legitimate and useful website are the paedophiles, the cyber bullies and the political extremists – of which there are many.

Ibrahim was no child, but he had developed an obsessive personality and turned into a dangerous misfit.

He may even be the first example of someone who radicalised themselves directly via the internet.

It's a possibility worth thinking about the next time your youngster is sitting behind a closed door, in front of a PC for hours on end.

Of course it would be absurd to conclude that shunning a day with friends for the company of a flat screen is inevitably a first step to terrorism.

But you'd be very concerned if your teenager was all alone in a dangerous place when they weren't at home – so the same should apply if they're sitting just a few metres away, shouldn't it?

S O Freddie Flintoff is giving up Test cricket before his patched-up, hulk of a body falls apart.

He is however carrying on with the one-day game and Twenty20 cricket.

That's the incredibly lucrative one-day game and Twenty20 cricket.

I don't blame him one bit, but I do think his decision may well mark the much-heralded beginning of the end for Test cricket as we know it.

The West Indies captain Chris Gayle has already said he finds the five-day game a bit of a chore and I'm in no doubt that other big names will follow suit.

It is inevitable, but it is a real shame nevertheless.

The thought of being deprived of spectacles like the 2005 Ashes series and perhaps a repeat performance this summer is frankly quite depressing.