Vigilance will be vital

Britain's far-right has a record carrying out violent attacks against minority communities here and of collaborating with other neonazis in Europe and north America.

That links continue is exemplified by the record of contacts between Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and far-right personnel in Britain.

It is also highlighted by the evidence of Jewish community representative Mike Whine, pointing out the previously unseen recourse to weaponry and biological agents enjoyed by 17 right-wing extremists currently serving prison sentences for acts of terrorism.

Britain's neonazi groups have a history of hiding their swastikas and jackboots under the bed and putting on suits and ties to persuade voters that they are politicians rather than violent extremists.

When the mask slips and the make-up smudges, as happened with the National Front in the 1970s and the BNP more recently, there is a tendency for small groups to return to attacking individuals and religious premises. Vigilance will be vital.

The security services have clearly increased their surveillance and infiltration of Islamist groups seduced by propaganda emanating from al-Qaida-influenced websites since the July 7 2005 London bombings.

The conviction of young men from Muslim communities in London, Cardiff and Stoke on charges of planning mass murder provides reassurance that intelligence on such groups is provided from within the communities themselves.

This should not be surprising since these groups' views are alien to the vast majority of Muslims who share a similar hostility to terrorism as the rest of the population.

Despite the determination of most Muslims to remain within the law and their own understanding of the tenets of their faith, western governments' conduct in north Africa and the Middle East has driven some recruits into the arms of extremists.

Airborne bombing raids on civilian targets in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Palestine, often graphically depicted on the internet, have been just as an effective recruiting sergeant for extremist groups as any amount of radical clerics.

British governments deride this argument, claiming that it provides a false justification for criminal behaviour.

That's not true. Indiscriminate bomb attacks on civilians can never be justified and that principle applies whether the bombs are detonated within haversacks on London Tube trains or courtesy of the supposed pinpoint accuracy of state-of-the-art artillery and warplanes.

There is always a difficulty with Establishment politicians taking it upon themselves to pronounce on concepts such as "British values," when too many include the tendency to launch illegal overseas wars within them.

Mainstream political parties have also, to a greater or lesser degree, played along with the xenophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric of much of the media, stoking up irrational hostility against people seeking only to earn a living and provide for their families.

The Prevent committee's decision to change its name to Engage could be very positive if it involves in reality a more supportive framework within which to engage with those at risk of radicalisation.

Communities will engage with politicians, police and security agencies to the extent that they feel respected and not subject to some form of guilt by association.

When Britain's minorities are seen as equals in every sense rather than as a potential enemy within, the days of violent extremism will be numbered.