There is an interesting undercurrent in commentary here (I am spending the afternoon catching up on Brit newspapers & magazines) on the London bombings last month.

While of course no sensible person is justifying the suicide bombers, several respectable people — including a couple of Tory MPs — have said that it’s not hard to see the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism. British low culture — TV and pop music — are gross and bestial, and any thoughtful person of an ascetic temperament is naturally repelled by them. People from an Islamic background, and a few converts, are repelled all the way back into puritanism and putting their women behind veils. It’s not hard to see their point.

The puritan impulse is always present, in all times and places. It’s easy to forget this in a lax and hedonistic age like ours; but laxity and hedonism do not have universal appeal. Casual sex, oblivion-inducing drugs, and thumping moronic “music” just aren’t everybody’s cup of tea — and a good thing too.

When the common culture sinks particularly low — as I think it’s fair to say it has right now — recruiting idealistic young puritans is probably a piece of cake.