I have just got round to reading Richard Watson's "The Rise of the British Jihad", which appeared in Granta issue 103, last summer.
Watson focuses largely on the former al-Muhajiroun group, 7/7, and Operation Crevice, with some interesting diversions into Pakistan. There are problems - I suspect Watson has relied far more heavily on Hassan Butt as a source than he declares, and he drops a clanger by giving us a pen portrait of Butt that includes his May 2008 arrest by Greater Manchester Police, but not his admission to have been making up his supposed terrorist past. Nor does Watson appear to have grappled with Nafeez Ahmed's work on either 7/7 or Operation Crevice.
For those interested in 7/7 conspiracy theories, Watson's interview with Dr Mohammed Naseem is all too brief, but his experience of meeting mosque leaders and discussing Jihadi terrorism is fascinating. Whilst it is perhaps not surprising that many ignore the supposition that the 7/7 bombers did find religious inspiration and justification for their actions (a myopia that has also infected parts of the British left) the degree to which Watson encountered conspiracy theory is less surprising:
"And conspiracy theories abound: large numbers of people simply do not believe that Muslims are involved in terrorist plots; they prefer to see the various plots as being part of a wider global anti-Islamic conspiracy, usually involving the Jews."
Richard Watson "The One True God, Allah: The Rise of the British Jihad" p.82 (Granta 103, 2008)