Likelihood of Success

Bruce McQuain writes, regarding Tony Blair’s recent j’accuse regarding the role of the black subculture in spiraling crime in England:

Unlike the French, who prefer to pretend by using the general term “youths” for a very specific group of young men who seem to delight in torching cars, Blair has decided to name names – specifically.

It’s a good point. Blair is a centrist, frequently out-Clintoning Clinton in what the cynics call, perhaps justifiably, triangulation. Like Clinton, he frequently frustrates and is, at the end of the day, a soft centrist. But at critical moments, and far more than Clinton ever did, Blair has taken principled stands and, of course regarding Iraq, spent political capital in a way that would have been utterly unthinkable in the ultra-left-wing Labor party that preceded him.

But I demur regarding the comparison to the French. They may pussyfoot around when it comes to nomenclature, but it was they who outlawed the hijab and stuck to it, despite the howls of many Muslims and others (the law would certainly be unconstitutional here, where religious freedom and lack of state and endorsement — not only the separation of church and state — are the rule). That would be unthinkable in England, home of “Londonistan.” In fact, researching this piece, I found that the redoubtable Daniel Pipes agreed with me before I even said anything — four years ago:

The British government won itself the reputation for being tough because it joined with the U.S.-led effort in Iraq, quite in contrast to France. But when it comes to domestic counterterrorism, the French are far ahead of the hapless, head-in-the-sand Londonistanis – as I have noted earlier. Indeed, one can handsomely fill a blog with evidence of British multicultural lassitude and counterterrorist ineptitude.

It’s all the more credit to Blair, then, who is in his swan song as British Prime Minister, for at least saying it. Yet it’s hard to imagine what could be better down the road, given what’s become of that once-great country — much of which happened during, and because of, the extended Blair Era.

Whereas regarding France, well, what all was there to decline from, exactly?

UPDATE: More lassitude — the kind multiculturalism usually ends up descending on — from Meryl Yourish.