In her speech in Washington DC today, Home Secretary Suella Braverman repeated what David Cameron declared at a 2011 security conference in Munich – that multiculturalism has failed. Despite the howls of indignation from her opponents, this is a perfectly reasonable position to reach, especially after last year’s large-scale public disorder in Leicester, primarily between Hindu and Muslim youths.
A string of post-industrial northern English towns continue to have issues with ethnic and religious segregation – from Blackburn in Lancashire to Dewsbury in Yorkshire. And more recently, race-based tribalism reared its ugly head in the south-east London district of Peckham. Following a physical altercation between an Asian-heritage business owner and a black woman accused of theft, racist messages were left on the establishment such as “go to hell Patel”.
