As Gordon Brown attempts to mobilise world leaders to sort out the problem of Al-Qaeda training grounds in Yemen, and how to increase airport security, it seems increasingly strange that so little attention is being paid to the radicalisation of Abdulmutallab in London. This man attempted to blow up himself and airliner en route to Detroit from Amsterdam, and only his incompetence and the bravery of the passengers prevented a catastrophe. For a terrorist to be radicalised, trained and then to execute an atrocity, it is ironic that that only the latter two aspects are to be addressed. Of course, the Islamists in Yemen have to be tracked down and neutralised, although one suspects that any major assault in that country will only lead to their flight to Somalia, where there is very little that outside states can do. And while there is little doubt that airport security is making it ever harder for terrorists to evade detection, with some going to ever more impressive extremes such as planting suicide bombs ‘internally’ (as was the case for an attempt on the life of the head of Saudi anti-terrorist security), it is always going to be possible for a convinced bomber to cause massive carnage and mayhem – perhaps by detonating a bomb at the security check itself, possibly at a main-line station, or even in a major department store. But the initial fomenting of radicalisation remains a politically-challenging no-go area.

I trained at University College London (UCL) Medical School, and it is saddening to report that the current Vice-Chancellor seems to exculpate the university of any blame regarding the fact that Abdulmutallab was President of the Islamic Society there. It has been pointed out time and again that some of these societies are the cauldrons of fundamentalism, most notably by Ed Husain in his book The Islamist, where he emphasises the iniquitous role of the student Islamic societies at my current university, Queen Mary University of London. The impact of these societies was also emphasised by a Select Committee of the House of Commons some 3 years ago, but predictably this politically contentious issue was studiously ignored by the Government. Of course, Islamic Societies are welcome on every campus, allowing social solidarity to form for a religious minority, to provide social support and networking, and to debate in an open way political matters of interest to Moslems. However, the experience in the UK is that these same groupings can be hijacked to form training grounds for rampant ant-Western, and anti-semitic, ideologies that bear little relation to student welfare. Abdulmutallab was a wealthy student from a privileged background in Africa, thousands of miles removed from the conflicts in the Middle East. It is difficult to assert that radicalisation occurred outside of the UK, or was unrelated to his time at UCL. And it is of considerable concern that he had become President of the Islamic Society, presumably voted for and elected by his fellow students. However, it is difficult to ascertain whether his Islamist attitudes are characteristic of the Society per se, as the UCL Islamic Society has closed down its website

Some years ago another constituent college of the UCL group, the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), was subject to aggressive anti-Israel propaganda and attempts to block the invitation of Israeli speakers, but after a vigorous campaign the Principal was forced to step in and allow democratic freedom of speech. A virulent ant-semitic email from one of the members of the Student Council at SOAS was leaked, and led to his resignation. A robust stand can be made against extremism on the campus, but only if it is recognised. The current climate of political opinion in the UK suggests that this challenge is not being met.

Ashley Grossman FMedSci

Co-Chairman SPME (UK)

Professor of Neuroendocrinology

Barts and the London School of Medicine