In the basement of this ground-breaking Swedish housing project, there was this amazing sewage treatment unit, doubtless designed by Ikea, that transformed the solids into fuel, the liquid into Perrier - still and sparkling - and the residents into happy campers. If I stared at it much longer, I'd probably regress to some traumatic period in my childhood and start shouting for my Indian ayah.Had they not been working so hard, I would have welcomed the opportunity to chat to my septic tank installers about the viability of reprocessing domestic waste in the same way that the green inhabitants of an eco-friendly block of flats in Sweden are apparently reprocessing theirs.It works, as far as I remember, in much the same way as power stations fuelled by methane gas from animal dung and chicken manure. But back in the old days, at lunchtime, these viewing areas would be packed with overweight pasty-looking men in suits watching lean, wiry builders with six packs hoisting pallets, grappling girders and operating cranes and bulldozers with the dexterity of flautists. Watching the long, yellow arm of a bulldozer rhythmically scooping soil into a pile has a trancelike effect on the viewer, I discovered. And, what's more, getting paid a great deal more, I dare say, than your average Spanish teacher or assistant curator at the British Museum.

Big city building sites always used to have public viewing platforms. I don't suppose they are allowed to any more due to new EU health and safety regulations. Ten cups of tea and 12 hours later, they left, having bulldozed, dug, smashed, scraped, infilled, levelled and landscaped, leaving me wondering vaguely why my two older sons went off to university to study Spanish and ancient history when they would clearly have been much happier working out of doors with big boys' toys. At half past seven last Wednesday morning, two young men and a bulldozer turned up at our cottage in Killinghurst to install a new septic tank. But that will take more than just condemnation.The writer is a London-based psychiatrist and film-maker. They are the "community of witnesses" to the glorious deaths of their brothers whom they yearn to join in paradise.

For them, it's too late - only the law can stop them now - but for others it's not We must bring the conveyor belt to a halt. In doing so, I followed their lead into political activism, writing and an eclectic social life.Most young people find a similar path and manage to avoid or escape extremism, but some don't, and a few go all the way. A network of mentors also needs to be established in university campuses, colleges and youth clubs around the country to channel young people into groups and activities they can identify with. These mentors would also offer counselling and support at times of greatest stress and dissonance. Finally, ways in which grievance and protest can be channelled need to be established.

Young people need to feel welcome to engage in the political process, particularly if their views oppose those of the government of the day rather than feeling excluded because of it.I overcame the chasm I experienced in adolescenceby identifying with, and learning from, the few older British Muslims I could find who had successfully managed to incorporate both Eastern and Western values and traditions into their lives. Imams, community leaders and authority figures need to teach parents the importance of social bonding and emotional intimacy with their children, as a key aspect of their moral and religious duty.A system of trainingand support for parents and community leaders is needed. What is needed is a searching of the soul of British Islam, paying particular attention to the parent-child dynamic within the culture. He has taken on the victim mentality in which he sees any injustice perpetrated against any body of Muslims as an injustice against him personally.Muslim leaders have been quick to condemn the atrocities in London, though I note how few of them have been young Muslims Much more is needed than condemnation. He pushes a version of Islam that is perfectly pitched to play on the cracks of a bruised ego. "Muslim humiliation will come to an end with the establishment of an Islamic state It will restore Muslim pride." For "Muslim" read "your".

The solution to all problems becomes the panacea Islamic state and the cause of all problems becomes the "evil" West.A phenomenon I often encounter in my psychiatric practice - selective abstraction - then starts to take place in which whole sections of the Koran begin to take on new meaning: "[2.190] And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the limits." Although this passage refers strictly to self-defence - and even then only in a limited way - the fledgling extremist believes it gives him licence to attack non-Muslims even though he may not have been attacked by anyone himself. An incident of racism or rejection can create a perception of sudden distance from Western culture and the resurfacing of the narcissism and insecurity of childhood.Enter the pedlar of extremist Islam. This is attributable not only to a generational and cultural gap but also to a formal, hierarchical, parent-child dynamic that is common in Eastern societies. This can sometimes precipitate feelings of abandonment.With adolescence, a degree of Westernisation invariably occurs.