I confess willingly that I have little time for those authors, historians etc (like Amis or Irving ) who use their 'authority' and access to the media to make public and provocative statements.

It may be necessary to present the concept of 'multiculturalism' in the UK context.....

The Institute of Race Relations states that.....

'Multiculturalism, a term generally accepted across the political spectrum for some three decades, has suddenly become a term to be scoffed at, rather like 'Political Correctness'
....
'To describe society as multicultural is just a statement of fact of what it is.......our society is indeed infinitely diverse and multicultural.
It reflects on a cultural level the many different ethnic groups that have settled in the UK.
And it reflects this, not just in the sense that each ethnic group can have access to its own customs and traditions but that all members of society can of society can partake in the cultural diversity that has been jointly created.

Multiculturalism as policy emanated from both central and local government as a conscious attempt to answer racial inequality ( and especially the resistance to it)

Critics of multiculturalism of the say that it has gone too far - been pushed to such lengths - that it is in hindering 'integration'

But, what the actually mean is that they are not happy with the weight being given to other cultures and customs . They essentially want British culture to be more traditional and/or Christianity to prevail over other faiths.'

While I am unwilling to enter into any so-called discussion on a statement of 'fact' like Amis's which is no more (or less) than a repetition of the bogus scare stories of 'banned' carols and Xmas decorations that were widely disseminated and discussed here last year; as a descendent of Jewish refugees, fleeing from the Russian progroms who felt obliged to abandon both faith and family name to fit into their host country, I would be happy to discuss the problem of 'assimilation' v. 'integration'