The terrorist's upbringing

Two extraordinary facts have emerged about Khalid Masood or Adrian Russell Ajao or whatever his other aliases are: he was brought up in Rye and went to school in Tunbridge Wells. For any of my blog readers overseas, let me explain why this is extraordinary. Rye is a quaint, very picturesque, very touristy town in East Sussex, a truly English countryside-type of place, lovely old houses, pubs and hotels, a location associated with all that is British, especially in the eyes of foreign visitors who flock there every year. Tunbridge Wells in Kent is the same, though larger. In fact, there's a very longstanding joke about Tunbridge Wells. When an irate letter appears in The Times or some other national newspaper complaining about train fares, rate rises, the price of avocados etc, it's very often written by an angry, retired colonel from Tunbridge Wells. Not all the residents of Tunbridge Wells are retired colonels, but there are a lot of them about in this elegant town. So how, I ask, is it possible for a man who has Rye and Tunbridge Wells in his blood to become a radical fanatic in his 50s who goes out on a killing spree and ends up dead in a pool of blood within the grounds of the historic Parliament building in Parliament Square? Could he have so hated his very English upbringing that he felt the need to turn against everything those two towns stood for and convert to a radical ideology that seems to have driven him to violence and murder? No wonder it's difficult to pinpoint a stereotype for the typical terrorist living in the UK. There isn't a stereotype. OK, he moved away from the Sussex and Kent countryside and ended up in Birmingham, home of a lot more Asian-origin people than in Rye or Tunbridge Wells, and clearly became radicalised by watching too many violent propaganda videos on dodgy websites. But it begs the question, if he had stayed living in Kent where he was educated, would he ever have even considered becoming a terrorist? Perhaps he might have led a respectable life, maybe who knows, have joined the British Army to do his bit for his country, and have ended up in 20 years time writing irate letters to the newspapers from Tunbridge Wells.