Londonistan Reviews

• Brilliantly written; must read

  
  By A3HVMEADHO50BC on 2006-05-15
  This is, in my opinion, the single most important book for Americans to read today. Phillips is a brilliant writer, and her book reads like a thriller, except that it most unfortunately contains nothing but shocking truth, not entertaining fiction.
  
  The recent events in the U.K. are almost incomprehensible. It appears that a strong and consistent but maddenly unspoken policy of appeasement has been put into place by the elites of the U.K. It appears that Labor now believes that although Muslim voters are still a minority, they are the critical or crucial swing voters that Labor thinks it needs to win. Combine this position of Labor with the well-organized and well-funded campaign for Islamicification of Britain and you have the disaster that is Britain today.
  
  Melanie Phillips deftly and with a surgeon's precision describes how this diabolical state of affairs came about.
  
  Americans date assume that they are immune from Islamification here in the U.S. It has begun to happen here from the collapse of noise control legislation in the face of Islamic demands for broadcasting the call to prayer 5 times a day, 7 days a week, to demands made for co-ed gyms to create separate exercise facilities for women, despite the fact that women only gyms already exist. This is how it started in the U.K. The slow and piecemeal establishment of sharia and the displacement of the local culture. It could happen here also. There certainly is plenty of Saudi money pumped into libraries, education and American mosques to see that it does just that.
  
  

• Can Great Britain be Saved from the Islamic Nihilists?

  
  By A2KG8WLR1AKO12 on 2006-05-03
  Melanie Phillips echoes the earlier released works of Bruce Bawer and Claire Berlinski. The Islamic nihilists are successfully manipulating the politically correct political structures of the European nations. Some pessimists like myself believe that countries like France are already doomed. Are the British Isles likely to endure a similar fate? Phillips points out the rising tide of anti-Semitism and excuse making for the violent rhetoric and misbehavior of the Muslim extremists. A definite double standard exist. The Islamic immigrants can continuously violate British laws with little fear of arrest and prosecution. White skinned and blue eyed individuals, of course, are not given such leeway. Reverse racism is now institutionalized. Isn't the majority of Great Britain's citizenry upset with these frightening developments? It really doesn't matter. The leftist elites run the country and one's choice at the ballot box is often nothing more than a waste of time. Is Great Britain today something of a left-wing dictatorship? Well, it sure seems that way.
  
  Should we Americans be complacent? Thankfully, our Muslim immigrants represent a mere fraction of out total population. Perhaps more importantly, the United States possesses the First Amendment. Yes, we have a number of arrogant leftist judges. But at the end of the day---American citizens can, for the most part, openly debate the issues. Last but not least, we also have a growing economy which provides numerous upward mobility opportunities for everyone. This is not possible in the socialist dominated economies of the European Union. Will Great Britain opt for a more capitalist economy? Islamic scholar Daniel Pipes in his review of Londonistan perspicaciously highlighted the following quote of the author: "Britain is currently locked into a spiral of decadence, self-loathing and sentimentality that is incapable of seeing that it is setting itself up for cultural immolation." No truer words were ever said. Will the United States be able to forevermore trust its British cousins? Is our special relationship in jeopardy? Unfortunately, things don't look very good at the moment. I also advise you to put Melanie Phillips' name into the Amazon.com A9 search engine. It will immediately lead you to her fabulous website. I personally visit it almost on a daily basis.
  
  David Thomson
  Flares into Darkness
  
  

• A warning for us all

  
  By A27EK1P0L7A1LA on 2006-08-31
  This is a very important book. It is also a very frightening book. Its thesis is that Britain has largely created a culture which breeds Islamic terrorism. British authorities have certainly done very little to discourage it, and in many ways have actually aided and abetted home-grown terrorism.
  
  Indeed, "London has become the epicentre of Islamic militancy in Europe". That is, it has "become the major European centre for the promotion, recruitment and financing of Islamic terror and extremism".
  
  This book examines how and why this has happened. Two broad reasons are given: First, Britain no longer believes in itself, no longer cherishes its founding values, and no longer thinks it has a role to play in the world.
  
  Second, British authorities have seriously misjudged the threat of Islamic terrorism. Therefore Britain is engaged in a policy of denial, appeasement, blaming itself, and hiding its head in the sand. These two major factors have led to London becoming the "hub of European terror networks".
  
  Says Phillips, "Britain is currently locked into such a spiral of decadence, self-loathing and sentimentality that it is incapable of seeing that it is setting itself up for a cultural immolation." A nation that helped give the world such values as freedom, democracy and rule of law is now in the process of routing those very values.
  
  In this volume well-documented chapters provide the evidence for this alarming situation. Phillips examines numerous factors that have contributed to the demoralisation of England. Large numbers of Muslim migrants, multiculturalism, rampant anti-Americanism, secularisation, the victim culture, and postcolonial guilt have all led to a loss of national self-belief. The Judeo-Christian heritage has largely been scuttled.
  
  Coupled with this national social suicide is the inability of British authorities to comprehend Islamic extremism, and how it flourishes in such an environment. Even after 9/11, they have largely failed to appreciate the threat that is among them. Indeed, al Qaeda was actually formed as a movement in Britain. Yet the leadership and intelligentsia of the nation refuse to acknowledge that what they are up against is a religious ideology.
  
  The ideology of holy war will not be appeased by turning Muslim immigrants into clients of the welfare state. In spite of tax-payer subsidised housing, health care and other social benefits, Muslim communities in Britain remain enclaves. Assimilation has been eschewed, while the maintenance of a separate identity, culture and lifestyle has been pursued.
  
  British values have been rejected, and many Muslims seek to implement Sharia law across the land. While perhaps most Muslims just want a peaceful life in a peaceful country, Islamists in Britain are quite specific about their goal: turning it into a Muslim nation.
  
  Phillips has very incisive chapters on some of the main culprits: the rights industry, multiculturalism, unchecked anti-Semitism, etc. Consider what she calls the human rights jihad. By denigrating the host nation, and granting every conceivable right to immigrants who often despise the British way of life, the rights ideology has contributed to the hollowing out of British society and has created conditions which breed Islamist extremism.
  
  Commonsense security measure and anti-terrorism laws have been dismantled, weakened, or prevented from proceeding in the name of human rights. In the hope of not offending the Muslim minority, Muslim groups are treated with kid gloves, even as victims, and fear of Islamophobia has become the main obsession amongst Britain's' elite.
  
  Phillips documents how the rise of judicial activism and the human rights culture has led to a diminution of British sovereignty, a self-loathing of British values and the collapse of national security. And concepts such as multiculturalism have simply compounded the problems. The reigning British thinking now is that all cultures and values are equal, and any attempt to impose the majority (host) culture and its values on the minorities is inherently `racist'.
  
  Assimilation has been renounced as chauvinistic, racist and oppressive. The education system, for example, teaches the value and worth of all non-Western cultures, while the achievements of the West are ignored or ridiculed.
  
  Anti-Semitism is indeed a big factor in all this, argues Phillips. The British have in the main swallowed the Arab/Muslim propaganda concerning Israel and the Jews. Instead of seeing Israel as the sole democracy in a part of the world filled with dictatorships and oppression, and the front line of defense in the war against the West, Israel is viewed as the enemy, the cause of the world's ills.
  
  Taken together, the effect of all this has been to "create a climate in Britain that has alarming echoes of Weimar in the 1930s. There is the same combination of amorality and appeasement, of decadence and denial."
  
  At bottom Britain in particular and the West in general are in a war against a fanatical religious ideology. The Islamist terrorists have a non-negotiable agenda: the destruction of Israel, America and the West. Until Britain and the West acknowledge and understand the ideological basis of the terrorism they face, they will never be able to successfully challenge it.
  
  Religious extremism cannot be ignored, denied or appeased. It must be confronted. But an anaemic Britain which has abandoned it heritage and embraced its enemies is in no condition to fight. Fear of Islamophobia and a loss of belief in itself has paralysed Britain, preventing it from taking the sensible and necessary steps to defend itself.
  
  Phillips concludes by offering some practical steps as to how Britain can turn things around. It is a nation at the crossroads. It can learn from its mistakes, regroup, and move on. Or is can continue down the past of appeasement and denial, and simply wither on the vine. A choice must be made, and a book like this helps us all to decide which way we will proceed.
  
  

• Londistan capitol of Eurabia

  
  By AHD101501WCN1 on 2006-05-23
  Author and journalist Melanie Phillips has written a searing exposure of the British political and educational establishment. In it she shows how a policy of appeasement has led to the growth of radical Islam within Great Britain itself. Her argument is that the Society as a whole has gone through a transformation of values in which the British deny their own national identity and traditional values and support a kind of multiculturalism which has fostered through benign neglect the growth of a kind of autonomous Islamic world within Britain.
  Phillips has written in the past on the educational and moral crisis of British Society, and her knowledge of British social structures is strong. She also provides historical background and traces the whole policy of appeasement as it has intensified through the years.
  This book is a warning cry like those of Baat- Yeor, Claire Berlinski, Bruce Bawer, Oriana Fallaci against the danger of an Islamic takeover of Europe. It is an effort to wake British society from its present slumber, and reenergize to defense of its own identity and culture.
  
  
  

• Dispatches From A Dying Nation

  
  By A21HKUKFEE4T72 on 2006-08-24
  As a young man I marched with the Anti-Nazi League in late 1970's England in opposition to organizations such as the National Front. Decades later and viewing my homeland from America it is quite apparent to me that a new plague of Nazis festers in Britain. These ones are Islamic, homicidal and they are gaining momentum with each passing day.
  Phillips' book is a grim tale of a nation flushing its native culture, its past and its future down the toilet in an orgy of appeasement and supplicate apology towards a community segment that celebrates its destruction.
  Many indigenous Britons neutered by white guilt and a steady diet of Neo-Liberalism in the popular culture persistently refuse to acknowledge the threat of Islam and many of its practitioners. British Muslim leaders and police officials assure them that Islamic terrorists are not real Muslims and that it is Islamophobic to say otherwise. It's the religion of peace after all right? Phillips points out how their ire is misdirected towards America, Israel and even Britain itself while home-grown Jihadis plan their next atrocity.
  The nightmare that is Islamonazism was borne out of British officialdom's decades-long ostrich head in the sand approach to immigration, asylum and Muslim extremism. This impotent policy can now be measured: A quarter of the UK's Muslims consider the scum that committed the 7/7 massacre to be martyrs (two thirds feel this way for Muslims under 25).
  I don't fully side with the author on several levels however. A revival of Christianity will not turn the tide nor will it necessarily encourage civility and decency. Americans regularly attend church in vast percentages, yet the US is addled with most of the same social ills, crimes and decadence that Phillips decries. She appears keen to present Britain, America and Israel as a type of triumvirate bulwark in the fight against global terrorism. I reject this notion. Though clearly detested by most Muslims Israel's border skirmishes and civil war with the Palestinians are essentially a localized issue, marginally connected to the efforts to crush international Islamo-fascism
  Melanie Phillips conclusions in the book on what must be done are somewhat tepid in my opinion. She does not call for, as I would, the removal from Britain's shores those who champion sedition and slaughter...and that's an awfully large number of Muslims as the book makes clear. I do not believe there will ever be general assimilation amongst those who view the Koran as the law and the infidel as eternal enemy and it is therefore imperative that they be firmly encouraged to relocate to Islamic nations. An extremist ideology requires extreme measures to counteract it. Until or unless that happens the madhouse that is Londonistan can only become more lunatic.
  Addendum: This review was posted for several days on the uk Amazon site before being pulled. When I enquired why, I received this response: "Please know that Amazon.co.uk is a retail site and we are happy to post legitimate book reviews that meet our guidelines. All customer reviews submitted are subject to posting at our discretion and all decisions are final." Which is exactly the type of censorship taking place in Britain against those who are deemed to have offended Muslims that Londonistan cataloges.
  
  
• A marvelous writer
  By A2LLTV9E3S8S5D on 2006-04-29
  Melanie Phillips is a marvelous writer with a lot of common sense and a particularly good insight into England's many woes. I've been following her writings at her website, melaniephillips dot com for about three years and have always appreciated what she has to say. As soon as I heard about this book, I put in a request for it at my local public library. I highly recommend it.
  
  --Mike Perry, editor of Dachau Liberated
  
  
• I cry for my country!
  By A1KZQ5M460RG9W on 2006-07-20
  I have recently emigrated here from the UK, I use to read Melanie Phillips columns in one of the UK daily tabloids and this book is as sharp as her columns,she would never back down from the Left wing academic bullies or the Islamic actvists and she hits the mark with her observations every time, I am 52 years old and I was born and bred in London and it absolutely broke my heart to leave the country of my birth, in truth we have given it to islam and they now totally dominate large areas of the inner cities and things are getting worse,I did not feel safe anymore and my wife who is originally from Colorado was afraid of the growing anti American sentiment being spewed out daily by the BBC,The Guardian and Independant Newspapers, I pray that America can see what is happening across Europe and will cut out the "Islamic Cancer" that has started to grow here before it becomes terminal.
  
  
• A hard nosed perspective on Islam untainted by the deceits of PC
  By A3IPSECQAUAT8V on 2006-08-16
  I came late to this book mistakenly believing that it pertained exclusively or mostly to England and more specifically London. And of course, while Melanie Phillips addresses the problems of the Islamic assault on Britain, her powerful resounding insights are applicable to all of Western Civilization. I've read 10 to 20 books dealing with Islam and its myriad of attendant problems for the West. This book was equal to, if not superior to, Oriana Fallaci's in the depth of its analysis and its nearly utter disregard for the pernicious deceits of political correctness. It was refreshing to read someone who nearly entirely disregards the sirens call of PC.
  
  Melanie Phillips' chapter "The Human Rights Jihad" and "Multicultural Paralysis" just may be the best flinty eyed analysis of Islam that I've yet read. In Melanie Phillips own words: "Since radical egalitarianism meant that all lifestyles were of equal value, the very notion of a majority culture or normative rules of behavior became suspect as innately exclusive, prejudiced or oppressive. Moral judgments between different lifestyles or behavior became discrimination; and prejudice, the term for discrimination between lifestyles became the sin that obviated the moral codes at the heart of Judaism and Christianity, which had formed the bedrock of Western civilization. . . . Democracy became effectively redefined from majority rule among equal citizens to power-sharing among ethnic and other interest groups. Multiculturalism became the orthodoxy of the day, along with nonjudgmentalism and lifestyle choice. The only taboo now was the expression of normative majority values such as monogamy, heterosexuality, Christianity or Britishness. . . .
  
  "A trend that has transformed the whole of British life during the past four decades - one which has drastically weakened it from within to the threat from without. That trend is multiculturalism, the doctrine that is the orthodoxy throughout all the institutions of British public life. Put at its simplest, it holds that Britain is now made up of many cultures that are all equal and therefore have to be treated in an identical fashion, and that any attempt to impose the majority culture over those of minorities is by definition racist. . . The expression of British majority values therefore became synonymous with racism. Multiculturalism and anti-racism were now the weapons with which minorities were equipped to beat the majority. . . .
  
  "Multiculturalism is said to promote equal treatment for all cultures. But this is not true. There is one culture that it does not treat equally at all, and that is the indigenous British culture. What purports to be an agenda of equality actually promotes the radical deconstruction of majority culture, the idea of the nation itself and the values of Western democracy - in particular its understanding of morality and truth. . .
  
  "In other words, "diversity" is a fig leaf. What is clearly not part of diversity, however is to put the Christian faith into practice. The "diversity" agenda is thus a cover for an attack on Christianity, on the illogical premise that it is divisive and exclusive whereas minority faiths are not. So as Christianity is eased out, all faiths and unfaith are being encouraged to fill the gap. . .
  
  "The consequences of this moral and cultural relativism is that people are increasingly unable to make moral distinctions based on behavior. Such moral equivalence rapidly mutates into moral inversion, in which those doing wrong are excused if they belong to a "victim" group while those at the receiving end of their behavior are blamed simply because they belong to the "oppressive" majority. Such a climate of moral inversion has turned Britain and Europe into fertile territory for manipulative propaganda by both terrorists and their ideological bedfellows. There is a tendency to equate and then invert the behavior of the perpetrators of violence and that of their victims, so that self-defense is misrepresented as aggression while the original violence is viewed sympathetically as understandable and even justified."
  
  Phillips' book is an extraordinarily insightful and powerful analysis of the forces enabling Islam in the West today. They say the first step in solving a problem is understanding that problem. Phillips' book is crucial in taking that first step. The tragedy is that many in the West today will reflexively reject her analysis leaving no hope whatsoever for ultimately solving the problems posed by Islam and its handmaiden the radicalized left to the very continued existence of Western civilization.
  
  
• A London You Didn't Know Existed
  By A3U4FCEAT75XLS on 2006-09-13
  England is in a whole lot of trouble. If you didn't already know that from watching the news, this book will make it abundantly clear.
  
  This book is not about the England we all know and love from travels earlier in our lives, romantic images of the Tower of London or London nightlife and theatre, or perhaps ideas of country gentry talking in funny but endearing accents. Get over those old images of the country of our forefathers' fathers. There is a new sharif in town.
  
  England today, according to this timely book, is a country with Islamic leaders pushing (successfully) for implementation of Sharia law rather than English law in their communities. Schools where NONE of the students speaks ANY English. Where extortionate threats of further terrorism are made by Islamists if the govt doesn't change its policies (domestic and foreign), and where al-Quaeda and numerous other terrorist groups have set up shop and thrive despite desperate pleas to shut them down from France, Scandinavian countries, and get this - Saudi Arabia too. Whole cities where police and English citizens just don't go. Communities so estranged from the culture and society that their young people stew in hatred and anger, until it bubbles up and explodes in brutal mass-murdering terrorism. Where hate groups espouse the view that the whole country must submit to Islam and Sharia law or be destroyed, and where the principal occupation of the police is to ensure that these groups have complete freedom to do so, in a misguided and extremely dangerous version of minority rights.
  
  Seriously, this is some bad stuff. But it is real. And Londonistan brings it to the surface and provides some clarity as to what's going on and why.
  
  As Londonistan patiently, soberly, and studiously explains, multicultural psychobabble and moral relativism have just sapped the strength of English society, leaving it without a moral compass, or a clear vision of what, if anything, in their own culture and history they should be trying to protect and preserve. According to the new multicultural ethic, their own history is that of oppression, domination and colonialism; all cultures and belief systems are equally valid; no one is "right"; minorities must always be coddled; mass-murdering killers must be "understood" and their self-described victimhood accepted; there is no "England" except for a land mass that enables different cultures to do their own thing in their own way.
  
  This lack or loss of moral direction has enabled the Islamist fanatics to move in and expand, as the universities, police, and government acquiesce in the Islamist takeover of this previously proud land. Sadly, it is probably too late to unwind this travesty, and despite the fact that the author concludes with 8 or 9 pages of suggestions, she herself observers that most likely none of them will be followed. It is the 9th inning for England and perhaps it is too late to turn this sorry situation around. Nonetheless, it is crucial to understand what is going on there, and how it happened, because it could happen in the US too, and perhaps it's underway already. The British have already lost their ability to call a spade a spade, and are deep in the vortex of their own appeasement and lack of cultural strength for this fight. As we in the US see our universities catering in halal food and putting up mosques while refusing to allow Christmas trees or religious clubs (other than Moslem, of course), as our own crop of nutballs fans out on TV every night to tell us that if we could just get to "root causes" it would all be OK, as some talk about "getting Osama" as if one guy is what this is all about, it's time to ask which path we are going to choose. This book can help understand what happens if let the multi-culti jibberish get into your bones and if you come to believe that there is nothing worth fighting for other than to just be left alone. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO LEAVE US ALONE. You will get that, very deeply, by the time you're done reading this book.
  
  
• An outstanding analysis of the radical Islamic threat
  By A680RUE1FDO8B on 2006-09-14
  There have been a spate of books recently about Islam in Europe. "While Europe Slept", "Menace In Europe" and now "Londistan" by Melanie Phillips. Of the three, this is by far the best. Not that the other two titles are lacking anything. But where Melanie Phillips provides astoundingly extensive and documented evidence of the nature of radical Islam's pernicious invasion of British society, the other two titles are more anecdotal.
  
  This is not a book to be skimmed. Phillips crams every chapter with one frightening fact after another. In "The Security Debacle", she examines how the British security establishment was caught unprepared for the radicalization of native born British boys who went on to explode bombs in London subways and buses. She goes on to detail how bureaucratic inertia, plain stupidity and multiculturalism blinded law enforcement and security agents to the threat growing before their very own blind eyes.
  
  Some of her strongest criticism comes in the chapter titled "The Multicultural Paralysis". The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) comes in for especial criticism because of his apparently strange views about Islam. The Prince claims, for example, that Islam is a solution to the problems of the "spiritual pcoery of the West". Phillips wryly notes that the late Princess Diana would have faced the death penalty under Sharia law for adultery. She goes on to recite examples of the see-no-evil multiculturalism that rules Britain and prevents effective response to radical Islam.
  
  Each of Phillips' chapters would serve as a stand-alone essay on the dangers of radical Islam and how Britain is failing to counter it in any meaningful way. This is not a happy book. It is a frightening book to anyone concerned with survival of Western culture and indeed the survival of the West.
  
  It may not be pleasant, but it is virtually a required read for every concerned citizen. It's happening in Britain and France and it can happen in the United States.
  
  Jerry
  
  
• A wake up call
  By A120M3UBRZ0CTR on 2006-06-11
  For those of us concerned about what is occurring in Europe today, one need look no further than this book. The author maintains that outrageous denial by the British authorities and a culture of unchecked multiculturalism have created a climate in which the allowance for Muslim extremism is fast growing.
  
  Rather than look at the source of the problem (religious fundamentalism), the Brits have instead omitted mention of religion from the debate, for fear of being branded "Islamophobes", racist, or losing the Muslim vote. While religious extremism was at the heart of the July terror attacks, the authorities remain in denial about this fact and therefore have clouded themselves as to what the real threat is. Unfortunately, the general masses and leaders in the Muslim communities have refused to take a real stand against terrorist activity. Some do speak out against it but most remain complicit in the face of it, which allows the negative trend to continue.
  
  All the while, what has ensued among the British establishment is a willingness to be taken hostage to Muslim demands in almost every sector of society. British Muslims are pushing and being allowed for their culture to be highly visible in the public sphere: separate prayer rooms and Halal meals are common in British institutions, requests for separation of men and women at sporting events, separate swimming pools for women, re-scheduling Friday classes at a University so that the prayer schedule could be accommodated, etc. Melanie Phillips rightly maintains that no other minority group in Britain has been afforded luxuries such as these, and if the trends continue, Sharia law may very well exist alongside secular law in the coming decades.
  
  Often a scathing critique, Melanie Phillips does however take care to mention exceptions. For all the readers below who were very quick to brand her a racist (clearly not having read the book), she does indeed mention a number of times that the majority of Muslims in the UK are law abiding citizens with no violent tendencies whatsoever. But if the British authorities do not keep in check the loud few who are hijacking the debate and counter accordingly, Britain could very well lose its liberty and democracy in the coming years.
  
  
  
• How Democracies Die
  By AZXGPM8EKSHE9 on 2006-08-21
  This book is a superior handling of a critical subject, by a woman of superior intellect and moral clarity.
  
  The British seem to have a very dilitantish and amateurish, irresponsible attitude toward the growing danger of Islamic terrorism in Britain. On the one hand, as Ms. Phillips has pointed out, they have hollowed out British culture and denegrated it as being racist and chauvanistic and "imperialistic" (as if the effects of British Empire on the world have been solely negative !). Into the culture void goes a mushy, "pluralistic" multi-culturalism, that no one can really admire (neither the Brits, nor ethnic minorities). Ethnic minorities are basically encouraged to develop seperate existences and ghettoize themselves. Subjectivity and relativism ("how can we judge ?") is the reigning ethos. Into that void comes a creed - Islam or Islamism, which doesn't have such relativism, but rather, a totalitarian medieval certainty and grim determination, along with a belief in violence and war and conflict, and a belief in expansion and world-domination as the ultimate goal (the ultimate goal is to Islamize the world, including Europe). [note: I don't mean to say here that we should lump all of Islam into one pot. But what I am talking about are the more radical interpretations of Islam that have been allowed to thrive in Britain, mainly coming in from Pakistan, which is supported by Wahhabist Saudi Arabia. In other words, the British have allowed a Wahhabist interpretation of Islam to be stamped as "moderate", which is a huge mistake].
  
  Faced with such a threat, the British have become appeasers and moral relativizers. The situation can be likened to 1930s Britain, in the attitude toward Hitler ("we have peace in our time !"), or in the 1980s, in the attitude of many in Britain toward the Soviet expansionist threat ("how can we judge; the USSR is basically the same morally as the USA", etc., "it is not the USSR that is threatening Europe, it is the USA !", "until the USA achieves full employment, they have no right to criticize the socialistic countries, where everyone has a job !", "Reagan [read: Bush] is the true war criminal !").
  
  Writers like Jean Francois Revel have written about "how democracies perish": faced with an expansionist, totalitarian threat, "soft" democracies, mired in subjectivity and relativism, have a very hard time rallying and defending themselves against totalitarian threats (indeed, without U.S. intervention, the British might not have survived in 1940, or later, in the 1980s versus the Soviets. But of course, the British forget this today, for the most part).
  
  The British, as Melanie Phillips writes, prefer to believe that the U.S. and Israel are the problem, not Islamic fascism that directly threatens them, in their subways, on on their trans-atlantic jets (Leftists in Britain refer to the U.S. as a "rogue nation"). This is of course wrong, and is based on a pseudo-Marxist reading of history (the weak and poor are always morally right, whereas the strong and rich are always morally wrong; the United States, as strong and rich, must, by definition, be wrong morally).
  
  Modern British culture is the most "politically correct" of cultures, and this ethos of Marxist rhetoric is very strong (if you doubt that, read The Guardian sometime, or listen to London mayor Ken Livingstone). And modern western European "progressive" Marxism is one of the least effective tools for fighting against jihad and a Third World totalitarianism. The reason is that jihad is a socio-religious-cultural movement, and has almost nothing to do with class and economics, whereas Marxist analysis concentrates on economics and class, and tends to ignore religion and culture.
  
  The Brits in the period 1990-2005 basically cut a "deal" with the terrorists: don't attack Britain, and in return, we won't look at what you are doing in your mosques and "Islamic centers" (where hatred of the West, of democracy, of gays, of Jews, and of full rights for women was being propagated). This cynical pact (and the concomitant patting themselves on the back for being so "tolerant") lasted until the 2005 bombings of Britain, committed by young Muslim British men, indoctrinated to jihad in Pakistani-allied mosques in Britain. France and various Arab countries had continuously warned the British about the growing danger in Britain, but the British turned a deaf ear to the pleas to control the terrorism. The British now claim that they are totally surprised at the fact that it is young British men who are threatening them.
  
  Instead of realizing the threat, the "progressive intelligensia" in Britain (the press, political elites, etc.) is mired in the most shrill type of anti-Americanism. This extends to members of parliament, who are sometimes referred to as "the Looney Left", and whose paranoid Marxist ideology is almost a pathology (the hatred of some British authors toward the U.S. really is almost pathological). The most extreme excesses are "tolerated" from the Islamic side, whereas imaginary problems and affronts are attributed to the U.S. and Israel (i.e, whereas Muslims cut the throats of innocent people and blow themselves up, the "crime" that the Americans have committed is to "set up and support the structures of oppression", etc..
  
  The way forward seems unclear. The best case scenario appears to me to be a kind of "sloppy tolerance" and increasing appeasement of Islamist fundamentalism, with constant security emergencies and arrests (increasingly, entire sections of British cities will be "Muslim zones" where Sharia law applies, at least between Muslims. The worst case scenario is mass exodus of those Brits who want to raise their children in a Western democracy (just as many people in Holland have left Holland due to Islamic fundamentalism since 2001), and a Balkanization of Britain, so that the country will increasingly look like Yugoslavia in the period before 1992. Increasingly, appeasement of "Muslim culture" will result in further loss of individual rights, for example, for gays and women.
  
  Or will the British recognize the danger in time, and apply traditional British common sense, and defend their culture, as they did in 1940 ? This book is an important first step (my only question is, will the British be able to buy it and read it in Britain ?).
  
  
• Britain is a weakening ally in the War on Terror because of its internal collapse from the clash of cultures
  By AUHG8KSHI529U on 2006-06-20
  This is a most intelligent and clearly written book on how the West (and specifically, Britain) has disarmed itself in our deadly war with militant Islam. It is a culture war, but it also helps to look more closely at the specific political, religious, economic, and, yes, military fronts of this broad generalization. While the author writes this about Britain and from a British perspective, it can help Americans see the issues in the War on Terror with greater clarity and depth because its similarity and differences provide a kind of stereoscopic effect.
  
  Melanie Phillips opens her book discussing the way Britain's loss of control of its immigration has put the broader culture at risk. Not only is the growing Muslim population having a powerful effect through its lack of assimilation, its insistence on special status and that the greater culture bend to their demands for accommodation that no other minority receives is quite shocking. The second chapter discusses how the pandering to a strange conception of human rights further disarms Britain and puts a sword in the hands of those who would destroy the larger culture by claiming rights they do not allow others when they obtain majority status. The author outlines how the legal system has been upended in this ridiculous approach to human rights.
  
  Chapter three describes the frightening security problems this lack of immigration control (sound familiar?) and lax legal enforcement has given home to terrorists who espouse open sedition to Britain and the overthrow of the West and its replacement by a Muslim form of law and government. I know it sounds ridiculous when you read a snippet about it, but it is not as far fetched as you think. There are places in Europe that are seriously considering Muslim claims for parallel legal systems so that Muslims can be ruled by Sharia law. It is both infuriating and appalling.
  
  Chapter four deals with the abdication of the education establishment to transmit British Culture and values to the rising generation, but also how it opening contradicts and despises the education that most parents want their children to receive and for which they pay taxes. All in the name of multiculturalism. Again, it makes one sick with frustration.
  
  Chapter five explains the true separation between Britain and much of the Muslim culture that resides within London and the rest of Britain. It is so disaffected that even the recent bombings have led some to deny that there was any religious context to those murderous events or that the bombers were even Muslim. That such statements would not bring extremely strong responses only proves how completely fear of being politically incorrect has disarmed Britain in this struggle.
  
  The anti-Jewish and anti-Israel undercurrent in Europe and its almost unspoken alliance with the Islamist cause via the Palestinians is discussed frankly in Chapters six and seven. This past and present history is quite disturbing, especially in its flow from the far left. The contortions of thinking they must use to support their positions is laid bare here.
  
  The abdication of protecting the established Church in Britain in favor of a leftist humanism is different than in form, but not in substance from what is going on in the leftist sects in the United States. However, in Britain the Church has support and authority from the government. Transforming itself into a protector of all faiths is not really the mission of the Christian church. Christ taught that his believers should go into all the world and preach his gospel. The author shows us how some Church authorities are now apologizing for having been faithful to that commission from the founder of their faith. It makes one dizzy. Chapter nine takes it a step further and shows how the political class itself is contributing to this mess by appeasing those who would prefer that the West simply disappear. Rather than standing and fighting, for all the reasons listed in the previous chapters, the politicians move like they have grease on their shoes and are standing on ice. The least pressure and they give in to the detriment of Britain, it history, traditional values, and its own self interest.
  
  The conclusion is an excellent essay showing how Britain is in denial about magnitude of the terrorist threat, Britain's current weakening situation, and the course of action that should be taken by Britain to not only manage the threat, but to turn it back and restore Britain to some semblance of its traditions.
  
  Again, while this book is about Britain and is most informative for Americans about the current state of its most significant ally, it is also a way to take a fresh look at this issue within our own borders and the current state of the War on Terror around the world.
  
  
• Surrender: Why the moral inversions of the politically correct will lead to disaster.
  By A3LT8H835EQ39U on 2006-06-25
  Melanie Phillips has an incisive intellect which cuts through the fugitive, limp-wristed, inverted Pollyanna pieties of the politically correct. This book is a wake-up call which we ignore at our peril. Read it and, as our political masters cower before an attack on the very predicates of our civilisation, pour yourself a very stiff drink - before it is proscribed by the Islamofascists.
  
  
• Not for those of a left-liberal disposition!
  By A17PP2HJ6H5NG on 2006-07-15
  It's ironic but not entirely surprising that nobody in Britain(istan) would publish this book and one prospective publisher allegedly said "I'd rather take ricin than publish this". This exemplifies the level of denial and obtuseness that permeates the British establishment and liberal media. They are like the 3 proverbial monkeys who believe that if they cover their ears, eyes and mouths the dangers will disappear.
  
  Melanie Phillips has been incredibly brave in publishing an extremely astute and at times frightening insight into the depths to which ordinary citizens are being deceived and debate stifled in order to mollify an aggressive and virulently hostile Islamist minority. It's the equivalent of what Winston Churchill called feeding the crocodile in the hope that this will stop it from eating you.
  
  The fact that Phillips has had to run a gamut of personal slurs and predictable accusations of racism and paranoia exemplifies how deeply the supposedly `peaceful' and 'objective' left feels threatened by her and perhaps her outing of a belief which, according to the popularity of her book in the UK, many ordinary citizens agree with.
  
  Highly recommended.
  
  
• Hard truths -- all properly documented
  By A21QZ2SV7QCNVI on 2006-09-28
  From reading recent news reports, the immigration situation in Britain has sounded ominous. Now I see why -- and Phillips shows it to be far worse than I imagined. The Brit press and government are apparently even more politically correct than those in the US. The UK's immigration authorities and police have frequently allowed obviously dangerous types (including criminals wanted for terrorist acts in other countries) into Britain and given them free rein to practice their trade organizing international terror or sedition.
  
  Melanie Phillips paints a very scary picture of the history and current state of the growth of Islamism in the UK and the oblivious and/or disbelieving reaction of authorities who are trying to appease the threat instead of control it. This is a Must Read for anyone who wishes to understand the central role of Britain in the international Islamist terror movement.
  
  A few whining reviewers who likely did not read the book complain that it's biased. Not. Absolutely not. They're the biased ones: read their other reviews and note the recurrent Israel-bashing attitude. Phillips conscientiously documents each of her assertions with footnote references when the subject calls for it -- and I'm an academic researcher accustomed to doing this myself and watching for documentation in the kind of nonfiction that requires references.
  
  
• Religious Imperialism vs complex -guilty West
  By A1AC9S8U66SNMU on 2007-06-16
  An author that tells it as it is, she doesn't mince words. What a courageous woman!
  
  All the people on the Left, anti-Christian, and anti-Israel should read this. Supposing that they were well-meaning, honest, and loving to their neighbors as they are to their pets, that won't keep them from being the targets of Islam. Islam hates them as much as they hate Jews and Christians. The sooner these well-meaning (and ill-meaning) people realize how foolishly they are acting the better. This book should do the job of opening the eyes of the well-meaning ones. It's a religious war, folks. A secular society can't fight a religious war; the secular has no values to stand for, nothing worth defending (as long as the agressors have been victimized), while Islam is mad as a rabid dog. Appeasement? Yeah, right. One thing is for certain: when the paradise-seeking Jihadist next door starts cutting throats in your neighborhood, they won't ignore you because you're pro-Palestinian or an atheist. Those, and other excuses, won't get you off the hook.
  
  If a whole civilization has nothing to stand for, and everything has the same value in this crazy multi-cultural society of ours, if we have no definitive values, no faith in God, no respect for our history, what is there left for us to defend? Well, somebody else's history, values and faith. The West has reached a point of no return.
  
  But this book is not about philisophy at all. This is a tremendous work of clear-sighted journalism. A wake-up call and a challenge for every lover of Freedom. The author will never get the honorable mentions she so much deserves, because those who ought to give them are the ones tightening the ropes around our necks, selling us cheap to the enemy.
  
  A cultural suicide is taking place in Europe. It is not new, we've been suffering it since the rich sons-of-mummy-and-daddy turned Left in the late 60's. The Left decided they had to buy their redemption from the guilt complex they carried by siding with their dads' historical victims. The enemy showed up, alright, in the person of Islam (=fascism turned pious, in an Arab fashion). This is not to say, as the author repeatedly mentions, that all muslims are fascists. Of course not. The problem is that all the fascists claim to be muslim.
  
  Melanie Phillips has shown a lot of courage by reporting the facts of this struggle in the UK. Describing the big picture as well as the small picures composed of the daily lives of the Brithish citizens. Fearless, straightforward, clear-minded, and right on target, she gives the names, quotes the public statements, and does an powerful analysis of the general political situation worldwide and the implications in our daily lives.
  
  This book is dynamite. If you don't wake up reading this, you're probably alive only physically, not morally, and not spiritually. This book was such a thrill to read, despite its pessimism, and is so well written, so direct, so powerful, that I can't remember one that impressed me so much since "The Gulag Archipelago", long ago. Its pessimism doesn't overpower. It has the quality of detachedness, of being able to see the trees through the thick wood, of not getting entangled fruitlessly in discussions.
  
  The hunger for power of the judges is exposed. The organised church, faithless, soulless, and politicised, is put to shame. The British political class are there: destroying the leftovers of what was a great country, for the votes of the mob & the irate (a lot of sound & fury). The media, but specially the BBC, is exposed for its biased policy against one religion and in favor of another (the BBC is an issue that deserves a separate book).
  
  And it all comes down to one issue: Israel. It is not even the US, or capitalism vs communism; it is not Bush; it is not even a clash of civilizations,as some intellectuals would like to say. The istmus test is Israel. Why is it so? Read, and find out for yourself. (the Bible has a lot to say about that too).
  
  
• The UK is unwell and very vulnerable
  By A1RJD10TTI568L on 2006-12-20
  Since 2001 a number of authors have been warning the West of the twin perils of civilizational suicide and Islamic extremism. These books include America Alone by Mark Steyn, Menace In Europe by Claire Berlinski, While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, The Force Of Reason by the late Oriana Fallaci and this one from the epicentre of the Jihad in Europe.
  
  Londonistan examines the state of the UK today from a political and cultural angle. It chronicles the almost unnoticed surrender of Britain's values as it is faced with a radical fifth column in its midst. Phillips shows how the prevailing mood in the UK today is similar to the 1930s and demonstrates how multiculturalism, relativism, political correctness and the spirit of appeasement are crippling the once proud nation.
  
  The author backs up her claims with verifiable facts as she unmasks prominent personalities considered to be mainstream, like Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of the UK. Propaganda from these sources has been granted legitimacy by the establishment. Even the British police suffer from the disease of political correctness while society in general does not want to know that a civilizational struggle is looming.
  
  Having encouraged the notion of victim culture, the British state is partly responsible for the moral inversion that takes place after acts of terrorism. The communities from which it emanates immediately claim victim status. Even more disconcerting is the fact that Leftists have rallied to the Islamist cause. The author calls this the red-black alliance, and it is also thoroughly explored, in the US context, in the book Unholy Alliance by David Horowitz. Thus the British media and intellectual elites, in a pathological display of denial, blame the victims Israel and the USA for the very existence of Islamic terrorism.
  
  Anti-Semitism in the Muslim world is ignored whilst the Left itself is becoming bolder in embracing this mental virus. The distinction between criticism of Israeli actions and blatant anti-Semitism is becoming blurry, with many a line having been crossed in the leftist media. Propagandistic reporting from the Middle East is increasing and whilst some of it has been exposed by intrepid bloggers, the attitude has become entrenched in media like for example the BBC, The Guardian and The Independent.
  
  The author proposes some remedies for the dangerous state the UK finds itself in, like stricter immigration controls, monitoring of clerics and organizations that propagate extremism, and the abandonment of multiculturalism for a return to British culture. Time will tell if the UK has the guts to meet the challenges but no one will be able to say that the country hasn't been warned. The same goes for the West as a whole: Phillips is one of many voices raising the alarm. One can only pray that the warnings will be heeded. The hour is late for deaf ears too.
  
  
• A must-read
  By A1OYW08VVPMP3Q on 2007-01-06
  This book shows the direction that Britain is taking towards becoming an Islamic Republic, not just due to the influx of Muslims who have no interest in assimilating into Western culture but, more importantly, because so many politicians and intellectuals have become apologists and facilitators of Islamofascism. What else can you say about people who want to introduce Sharia law into their own country, allowing it to trump SECULAR laws? What else can you say about people who betray Muslim moderates and converts in order to make a small but vocal group happy... which will not happen until Canterbury is renamed the Mosque of the Martyr.
  
  Wake up, everyone.
  
  
• A very inconvenient truth
  By AU7ND6NOCX9IA on 2006-07-01
  I just went out and bought a copy of this book. And a dozen oranges! I squeezed a few of the oranges, and gulped down the juice. It made me feel a little as though I were in Marrakech. And then I started reading. And, well, I wasn't in Marrakech any more.
  
  Yes, there is a very inconvenient truth that I feel I have to acknowledge. Namely, suppose I had to choose between living in a Britain ruled by traditional law, say in 1930, and a Britain where multiculturalism totally triumphed ... which would be better for me? And the sad truth is that while as a Pagan, I would face some discrimination in the former, I would be in far worse shape in the latter, even though multiculturalism is supposed to protect me, almost in particular. The reason is that the multicultural option is in the process of being hijacked by some extremely right-wing fanatics who do not abide Paganism at all.
  
  Melanie Phillips has brought this unpleasant state of affairs home to me.
  
  According to Phillips, there is "a major and systematic threat to the British state and its values." It includes murderous incitement, flagrant defiance of the rule of law, attacks on free speech, religious fanaticism, the emergence of British Muslims as a "distinct and hostile political entity," a supine response by the British establishment, and false claims of victimhood by the violent aggressors. British entry procedures have been some of the most lax in the world, permitting terrorists not only easy access to that nation, but also providing them with "a galaxy of welfare benefits, free education, and free health care, regardless of their behavior, beliefs, or circumstances." In addition, Britain has tended to disregard security threats in the hope that any terrorist acts committed by those it treated so well would occur outside Great Britain.
  
  Multiculturalism, instead of providing an honest view of a variety of cultures, instead has delved into questions of historical truth, and Phillips claims that the underlying message in the classroom is that there is no such thing as truth at all. That means that what has happened in the past is simply regarded as opinion. But once truth goes out the window, how are we supposed to weed out lies? In particular, what stops us from confusing a liberal supporter of human rights with a reactionary fascist foe of human rights?
  
  How are we, the author asks, to then tell the difference between "moderate" Muslims and immoderate ones? A poll shows that 26% of British Muslims feel no loyalty to Britain, 13% defend terrorism, and 1% either support terrorist activity or are actively engaged in it. Are these folks "moderates?"
  
  Phillips explains that the general view in Britain is that European Jews were simply given land belonging to a Special People, the Levantine Arabs. And that the Jews, unsatisfied with this huge Empire, insisted on taking all the rest of the Levantine Arab land as well, in 1967, totally depriving this Special and Innocent People of Everything. But this is total nonsense. The Arab Empire is over 500 times as large as Israel, even if one includes all of the West Bank and Gaza. The land of Israel was never the State of the Special Levantine Arabs. And the reason for the war over Israel is that some Arabs are determined to obliterate human rights for Jews in the Middle East, while many Jews want to defend at least some of their rights.
  
  How many British Muslims actually denounce such preposterous slanders against the Jews? How many denounce even wilder hate-fests against Jews? Not very many. I can only imagine how few would denounce hate-fests against Pagans. Phillips feels that the attitude towards suicide bombings is the litmus test of a moral response to terrorism, and I agree. And I feel that it is also my litmus test of whether one is willing to abandon any pretence of journalistic, academic, or moral standards in a misguided attempt to hurt a few Jews.
  
  Well, what is to be done? If Britain were not in such denial, it might consider expelling some of the more dangerous radicals. It might put a stop to funding terrorism through supposedly "charitable" organizations. It would actually ban some extremist organizations. It would deny Sheikh Qaradawi an entry visa. And much more. Not that it matters. Britain is not about to do any such thing. And that will threaten not merely Western civilization, but all human civilization.
  
  I highly recommend this book.
  
  
  
• Must read
  By A3NU1R8IVMCYMO on 2006-08-03
  The US penchant for being politically correct will have dire consequences if we don't wake up, as Ms. Phillips illustrates with the story of how London laid itself open for home-grown terrorists. If you think it's hard to discern who the terrorists are when they enter the country, just try to deal with them when they are born here and declare the jihad from within.
  Read this book!
  
  
• A powerful piece of first-class reporting by a prize-winning journalist
  By A1UWR964FG47AJ on 2007-03-16
  "Londonistan" is a factual report by a prize-winning reporter for London's Daily Mail. Described here are disturbing recent events in Great Britain. So wrenching is this report that it is both painful to read and impossible to put down. Unfortunately, America and Europe are not the hopeful counter-examples the author sometimes implies. But the actual events described here represent a real threat to our British cousins and in the end to all of us who care about liberal Western values. Self-destructive opinion has apparently become so entrenched in Great Britain that it may be too late for a wake-up call, but this is a most worth-while effort. It is also a very gripping read.
  
  
• ALARMING FACTS ABOUT THE WAR WITH ISLAM!
  By A1WQJ6LIIHMUDT on 2006-07-05
  iF ANYONE STILL DOUBTS WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISLAM OVER WHICH CIVILIZATION WILL RULE SUPREME...ISLAM OR WESTERN CIVILIZATION THEN THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE MINDS. THESE INCIDENTS AND DELIBERATE WIMPING OUT OF A WESTERN GOVERNMENT (IN THIS CASE THE BRITISH) ARE OCCURING THROUGHOUT WESTERN EUROPE AND SHOWS HOW IT IS ALL A PLAN. AN EYE OPENING BOOK. EVERY ADULT SHOULD READ THIS EXTREMELY WELL RESEARCHED BOOK. HER RESEARCH PROVES THERE ARE MANY WESTERN POLITICIANS IN LEAGUE WITH THE ISLAMICS. FOR WHATEVER REASON IS UP TO THE READER TO DECIDE.
  
  
• Melanie Phillips is Brilliant -- and Correct
  By A3H4BQPP4VUQUM on 2006-07-07
  A poll was just released in the UK (July 6, 2006) that indicates more than one in ten Muslims believe the 7/7 bombers should be considered as martyrs. The same poll also showed that Britain's Muslims are some of the most embittered in Europe. The UK has a problem and Melanie Phillips has done a brilliant job explaining what it is and its causes.
  
  
• Wake up call for America
  By A3HUGGM9CRBZDT on 2006-08-23
  The writer explains in detail the results of appeasement of militant Islam. The British Government, media and Church of England are determined to commit national suicide. The far left in America is talking the same game. If you feel the terrorists and Islamic fundamentalism are the real victim's you should read this book.
  
  
• Glad it's getting great reviews- just misses for me.
  By A3V7OXQ6QNOWIG on 2006-11-29
  I really am glad this book is doing well; clearly the West and maybe especially Great Britain need some spectacular books to reawaken them to the greatness they once knew. Unfortunately I don't this work accomplishes that goal.
  
  The title is clever, and the book jacket is powerful, however things went a bit downhill from there for me. It wasn't terrible, just not emotional, and very, very, very repetitive. Once or twice the same exact phrases reappeared from one chapter to the next. I guess you can't plagiarize yourself, but that was pretty close.
  
  The strengths were the research and factual information. I'm probably used to reading books with more "red meat" as they say, and would've liked some more individual stories of individual Britons emoting the process of why/how they turned against their own country, but there is no complaining about the research. Plenty of mosques named, quotes from mosque preachers, Muslim literature, and lots of ludicrous quotes from politicians that would've had them tarred and feathered and locked up as traitors in a more sensible age.
  
  As I stated, certainly not a bad book, and should be an excellent resource. It strikes me as the kind of book people might talk about more than actually read, since you get the idea just from the title.
  
  
• Londonistan
  By AWDG72ECHORUH on 2007-01-15
  I elected to read Londonistan to try and understand why acquaintances had left London and moved to New Zealand stating "they hated what London had become". Melanie Phillips does an exceptional job documenting the changes which have taken place over the three decades and reveals the network of Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers, the collapse of British self-confidence, the suppression of national identity and the resulting paralysis brought on by multiculturalism and appeasement. The result is schizophrenic environment where the English tolerate intolerance, Mosques are taken over by radicals where terrorists plan attacks on the USA and England and a once Great Nation seems incapable of dealing with the subversion. The book is very well written and well worth reading.
  
  
• A must read for any thinking person
  By AP85QMV9WIZ73 on 2007-01-22
  As pointed out by other reviewers Ms Phillips has written a masterful book that reads like fiction. Unfortunately it is not.
  
  The more I read it, the more it seemed that the author has it right. While the focus of the book is on Islamic militancy, the observations and lessons apply equally to society as a whole in the US and many other countries. Think for a moment about "politics" in the US and how it has become special-interest focused -- illegal immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, whites, brown - you name it. I left with two quotes that have sort of stuck in my mind.
  
  "Democracy became effectively redefined from majority rule among equal citizens to power-sharing among ethnic and other interest groups"
  
  "It is duty and obligation that forge a community; rights detached from obligations fragment a society into competing interest groups fighting each other for supremacy"
  
  If you are of an enquiring disposition I recommend reading it.
  
  
  
• An urgent warning
  By A1RJD10TTI568L on 2007-06-11
  Londonistan examines the state of the UK today from a political and cultural perspective. It chronicles the almost unnoticed surrender of British values as it is faced with a radical fifth column in its midst. Phillips shows how the prevailing mood in the UK today is similar to the 1930s and demonstrates how multiculturalism, relativism, political correctness and the spirit of appeasement are crippling the once proud nation.
  
  The author backs up her claims with verifiable facts as she unmasks prominent personalities considered to be mainstream, like Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of the UK. Propaganda from these sources has been granted legitimacy by the establishment. Even the British police suffer from the disease of political correctness while society in general refuses to face the fact that a civilizational struggle is looming.
  
  Having encouraged the notion of victim culture, the British state is partly responsible for the moral inversion that takes place after acts of terrorism. The communities from which it emanates immediately claim victim status. Even more disconcerting is the fact that Leftists have rallied to the Islamist cause. The author calls this the red-black alliance, and it is also thoroughly explored in What's Left? by Nick Cohen, and in the US context in the book Unholy Alliance by David Horowitz. Thus the British media and intellectual elites, in a pathological display of denial, blame the victims Israel and the USA for the very existence of Islamic terrorism.
  
  Anti-Semitism in the Muslim world is ignored whilst the Left itself is becoming bolder in embracing this mental virus. The distinction between criticism of Israeli actions and blatant anti-Semitism is becoming blurry, with many a line having been crossed in the leftist media. Propagandistic reporting from the Middle East is increasing and whilst some of it has been exposed by intrepid bloggers, the attitude has become entrenched in media like for example the BBC, The Guardian and The Independent. In this regard, please see Can We Trust the BBC? by Robin Aitken and The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy by Stephanie Gutmann.
  
  The author proposes some remedies for the dangerous state the UK finds itself in, like stricter immigration controls, monitoring of clerics and organizations that propagate extremism, and the abandonment of multiculturalism for a return to British culture. Time will tell if the UK has the guts to meet the challenges but no one will be able to say that the country hasn't been warned. The same goes for the West as a whole: Phillips is one of many voices raising the alarm. Other urgent warnings are The Force of Reason by Oriana Fallaci and the melancholy work The Last Days of Europe by the great historian Walter Laqueur. One can only pray that the warnings will be heeded.
  
  
• Racist nonsense
  By A27Y6YNDSON7XI on 2006-06-02
  What can I say? This book is racist claptrap - tabloid scare stories to frighten ignorant Americans.
  
  I have lived and worked in London for over thirty years and I can assure you that this, this.......object bears no realtion to reality whatsover.
  
  I'd give it minus stars if I could.
  
  

• While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within
• America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It
• The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
• Infidel
• Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America