Britain is a soft target for terrorism because we Britons are too nice. This isn’t a criticism: it’s what makes the country such a wonderful place to live. But we are culturally ill-equipped to deal with conspiracies and extremists. The problem is that the only way to beat terrorists is to change our way of life – but that is exactly what the buggers want. So, we do as little as possible. And being British, we regard doing as little as possible as a sort of victory.

Of course, we shouldn’t downplay what governments have done to fight jihadism. Since 2000 we’ve bombed the Middle East and averaged one new anti-terror law every two years.

But the first job of the state is to protect us, and the failure of the state is plain to see: five dead in Westminster, 22 dead in Manchester, seven dead in London Bridge. Worse: time after time after time it is discovered that the killers were known to the authorities. One of the London Bridge terrorists, Khuram Butt, appeared in a Channel 4 documentary about extremism; he prayed as a jihadi-style flag was unfurled in Regent’s Park.