First off, I want to tell you that Kenan Malik is a great thinker and writer. AND he writes so easily, so fluidly, that he carries you along through tough subjects. Here I am posting a link to a post on his blog, which is called Pandaemonium, on politics and immigration in Europe, especially England. I didn't think much about the similarities between European and US attitudes until recently. They are not so different. Malik kind of comes out of left field with his ideas (or from outside the box?) Basically he feels that outsider parties gain strength because insider parties no longer speak to The People, left or right or neither, and that all parties make it hard not to be anti-immigrant. Please do take the time to read this compendium of several of his articles.
Images stolen from Google.
My grandparents (my father's parents) were immigrants in the early twentieth century. My mother's parents' families came from mostly England and Ireland (I think) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Just for your information. Therefore I am a mongrel, and it's interesting to be a mongrel.
PLEASE read the Malik article!