How are we going to integrate immigrants into British society, so that they participate fully in it,sharing andrespectingitsvalues? Thatquestionisevenmore pertinent today thanit was in1984, when ay Honeyford, who died last wee!, first raised it pu"licly#$mmigration from non%&' countries has increased enormously in the last () years# $t has "eenrunning at more than 1)),))) a year for a decade# But "y no means all of the new arrivals, manyof whom come from what are categorised as ethnic minorities, have found it easy to adopt Britishvalues#*a"our ministers, as they dismantled almost all immigration controls, imagined that there would"e no pro"lem a"outintegration# They thought the only issue would "e racism fromthe localpopulation# That was a mista!e# +ome of the arriving groups have deep commitments to religiousviews that place women in a su"ordinate position, and which lead them to thin! that practicessuch as homose,uality are an a"omination that should "e severely punished#-alues that most of us wouldthin! of as essential elements of "eingBritish.tolerance,recognising theimportanceof equality "efore thelaw, or even the primacy of democraticelections as the way of deciding who should govern . have not "een accepted "y a significantminority of immigrants# +ome even wish to cut themselves off from li"eraland tolerant Britaincompletely# They hope to perpetuate their own religious values "y having their own educationsystem#/oes it matter? The doctrine of 0multiculturalism1 says it does not# $n the 198)s, multiculturalism2shigh noon, Bradford city council adopted a policy that declared that every section of the0multicultural, multiracial city1 had 0an equal right to maintain its own identity, culture, language,religion and customs1# That was precisely what alarmed ay Honeyford# He saw it as creating adivided Britain, where different communities did not interact with each other and all sense of acommon identity was lost, replaced "y a Ba"el of languages and conflicting cultures#3lmost every serious politician now recognises that Honeyford was correct to maintain "oth thatmulticulturalism is a recipe for the segregation of communities and that it would wor! against thedevelopment of a single set of "asic values that could "ind mem"ers of British society together#But while multiculturalismmay have "een a"andoned as government policy, its legacy iseverywhere#$ts principaleffect has "een to harden dividing lines "etween ethnic groups# This is not 4ust amatter of whites living in different areas from non%whites, "ut also of 5for e,ample6 7a!istanisliving in one neigh"ourhood, Bangladeshis in another, +i!hs in a third, and so on#The highest levels of segregation recorded anywhere in the '8 are those "etween $ndians and7a!istanis in towns in the north of &ngland# Those towns also e,hi"it a mar!edly higher degree ofsegregation "etween "lac!s and 3sians than "etween whites and "lac!s# This suggests that thee,planation for the division is not white racism, "ut rather the lac! of a common culture that wouldallowdifferent groups to share anything significant# The isolation of communities helps toperpetuate "eliefs and practices that are opposed to British values#But ministers, 4udges, and officials arereluctant to insist that thefirst conditionof Britishciti9enshipfor anyimmigrant should"etoadopt Britishvalues.suchasspea!ing&nglish,acceptingall citi9ens2 equal rights, andrecognisingthat theonlyprocedurefor decidingonlegitimate political authority is free elections to 7arliament#3s we dither on this, multiculturalism continues its divisive wor!# 3nd it will soon "e too late to doanything a"out it: Britain will have permanently fractured into factions united "y nothing e,ceptmutual incomprehension and antipathy#