Ideology. Grateful to @JamesKhalil1 for flagging @holbrook_dd and @Drjohnhorgan article https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/binaries/content/assets/customsites/perspectives-on-terrorism/2019/issue-6/01-holbrook-and-horgan.pdf. 1/

As they say, whether truly ideological component makes practical difference to selection of counter-terrorism powers (or not) and prosecution for bespoke terrorism offences such as preparing terrorist acts (s5 Terrorism Act 2000): basically conspiracy without co-conspirator. 2/

As for ideology as “social fabric”, the authors rightly point to online aspect. This raises the question which merits further consideration: is ideology picked up by a loner online really shared or collective? 4/

Certainly, cannot depend on audit of how profound or coherent the ideology is. As authors points out, ideology may be superficial or only recently acquired 3/

Finally, may not be right to distinguish too heavily between pre-existing ideology and violent act: the fact that a person willing to commit act of symbolic violence may be best evidence of ideology, whether shared or not. A stimulating article.