Diversity is great. Under the right circumstances, exposure to a heterogeneous mixture of people, ideas and flavors from different cultures is very positive and edifying, even necessary. However, try restricting that free-breathing, globe-adorning mosaic of beauties and strengths inside the borders of a limited geographical area, and the results are mixed at best. For instance: Los Angeles. Or the Balkans. Or London.

The Daily Mail reported on November 13 that approximately one third of the British capital’s population consists of foreign-born immigrants, according to the Office for National Statistics (ons). Some independent researchers claim even that figure is on the low side.

The ons report found that of London’s estimated total population of 7.3 million, over 2.2 million are migrants. Even as immigration from Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Sri Lanka and the countries of the former Soviet Union has risen sharply in the past decade, the number of British-born Londoners has begun to decline, the report said.

Reporting on the same study, thisislondon.co.ukadded that the study indicates middle-class families, many of whom are British-born, are fleeing their capital due to increasingly negative social conditions.

Not only can liberal immigration policies dilute national culture and character gradually, but they can also have sudden, cataclysmic effects. It was only a year and a half ago that London experienced its own 9/11, the quadruple bombing of the capital’s transport system at the hands of first- and second-generation British immigrants. Perhaps more disturbing than their migrant status, however, is a report in the August 7 edition of the Scotsman showing that a quarter of British Muslims, many of them migrants, felt these bombings were justified. Half of those polled felt 9/11 was a conspiracy between the United States and Israel, and a third said they would rather live under Islamic law than British law.

In a Western culture that celebrates diversity in its schools and businesses, even its courts—almost to an illogical level—many in Britain and the United States have long turned a blind eye to the ballooning problem of unchecked immigration for the sake of political correctness. However, the ons report, added to recent disputes over illegal immigration in the United States, indicates that some are beginning to wake up to the present and future ramifications of foreign influence on the national character.

M.P. Jim Fitzpatrick said in the Daily Mail report, “We have to make sure that although we are tolerant and welcome, our Britishness is not diluted to the extent that it disappears.”

The reaction to that sentiment may be backlash at worst, and too-little-too-late at best. This may be one of the last things London sacrifices on the altar of “diversity”: being British.

For more definitive analysis on the effects of immigration, read “The Trouble With Immigration” series or view other immigration articles on theTrumpet.com.