The terrorist attacks in London on July 7 have succeeded in focused attention on why it is that some young “home-grown” British Muslims are so attracted to extreme religious radicalism that they are ­prepared to become suicide bombers in their own country.

What further complicates makes the question even trickier is the fact that there appears to be nothing in the London bombers’ pasts the London bombers appear to have been so normal: prior to their actions: there was nothing in particular about them to to suggest that they might would have act in such a way. As a result, the media has been full of talk about how radical Islam appeals to “the rootless”, the assumption being that young Muslims living, and often as not born, in the west Britain are socially and culturally alienated from the mainstream and hence susceptible to the violent message of extremists.