On Tuesday’s Moncrieff Show, Sean talked to journalist Alex Perry about his latest book Once upon a Jihad, asking what drives young people to reject their lives in the name of radicalisation.

Published just after the Charlie Hobo massacre in Paris last month, Perry’s book follows a group of young British Muslims, vulnerable teenagers who became exploited and radicalised by jihadists they met online. His book catalogues the catastrophic journey that began by looking the part at home and ends in martyrdom in a far-off city.

According to Perry, the diverging positions taken by both jihadists and the western states from which they come create an unreachable gap, with both sides talking over each other. Engagement with the other is all but impossible, and as tragedies like Charlie Hebdo show, the consequences can be truly frightening. 

You can hear Séan's conversation with Luke Perry below: