LONDON — Back in the 1970s a political idea became very fashionable in Western Europe, and especially in Britain. This was the concept of multiculturalism — the belief that different immigrant and ethnic groupings, who were then pouring into the region, should be left to their own devices and allowed, even encouraged, to develop their own cultures.
For example, Britain, it was proudly declared, was to become a multicultural society in which all the different faiths and customs would be fully respected, in the hope that in due course they would all grow harmoniously together in one happy, unified society. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the outcome has been a disaster. Instead of growing together the different communities have tended to grow apart — the Muslim communities in particular.
Instead of integration there has been segregation. Lacking a clear and confident articulation of higher national values and purposes too many of the ethnic groupings that have grown up inside Britain have increasingly turned inward, building up feelings of alienation, and even hostility, to the wider society around them and the country in which they reside.