What went wrong

摘要

Part of Argyll Street, with its two-storey terraces, is currently cordoned off, as Lu-ton's police scour the house of Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly for evidence about his botched bombing in Stockholm on December 11th (see page 63). A few doors away lives the aunt of another well-known Lutonian, the founder of the anti-Islamist English Defence League (edl), Tommy Robinson. Abdulwahab's fate is a sad reminder of Luton's ongoing links to violent Islam; the edl plans a big rally in February which could cause violence of another sort. No wonder Luton, with its large Asian population and aggrieved whites, is on edge. Are these just typical post-industrial woes, or is this seemingly blighted town evidence that British multi-culturalism is in crisis?