From the London Telegraph:

...the next crop of terrorists are still at school, preparing for their GCSEs or A-levels. They are probably bright, politically interested and easily susceptible to the ideology of victimhood. They receive a daily diet of anti-western propaganda through TV stations and websites.

Almost certainly, they will be of Pakistani background, though some will be white converts to Islam. It is the Pakistan link that makes Britain so important to al-Qa'eda.

What has become increasingly clear to MI5 in recent months is that most of the plots are being run directly by al-Qa'eda leaders based in Pakistan. British Muslims whose families are from the area can travel to and fro to visit relatives without arousing any obvious suspicion.

It means potential jihadis can be identified and recruited in Pakistan or those who have already been radicalised can go to training camps there.

It also means that al-Qa'eda can use Britain as a springboard for attacks on America, as they allegedly tried to in the summer.

In short, Britain has become al-Qa'eda's most important western base and that explains the regularity of warnings about plots. It also explains why there is so much exhortation, resented though it is, of Muslim parents to keep a watch on their offspring for signs that they may have fallen into the clutches of the jihadists.

Mr Reid last month caused a huge fuss when said that ''fanatics are looking to groom and brainwash children, including your children, for suicide bombings".

Dame Eliza said young Muslims still at school were among those linked to terrorist conspiracies. The path from adolescent dreamer interested in cricket to radicalised jihadi ready to blow up himself and others can be frighteningly short.

I'm struck by the frankness here--and also by the matter-of-fact awareness that in Britain, terror often wears a throughly assimilated face. Unspoken, but underwriting this piece, is the question of what, if anything, British schools can or should be doing to detect and/or mitigate the threat described here. Comments are welcome.

We are truely in a Clash of Civilizations. There is little reason to assume Pakistanis and their children living in London will be less radical than their cousins back home.

Also, read Theodore Dalrymple on forced mariages in Britian.

There is a clash of cultures. But one culture has large contingents that do not believe their own culture is worth fighting for (and this contingent is over represented in education).