Comment, 24 February, 2011
It cannot be said too often that terrorist atrocities1 are solely the responsibility of those who perpetrate2 them. To blame the invasion of Iraq, or the occupation of the West Bank, or poverty, or racism, or Western decadence, is both intellectually and morally wrong.
What is reasonable, however, is to ask why modern Britain is breeding so many anti-British fanatics. Muktar Said Ibrahim has lived here since he was 12, and in 2003 he applied for citizenship. Last week he attempted to blow up the No. 26 bus. Why?
Part of the answer has to do with how Britain sees itself. The ancestors of the Leeds bombers, who arrived here in the mid-20th century from countries which had prospered under colonial rule, were infected by the self-belief of the British Empire. They were content, as it were, to buy into3 a nation whose subjects were so obviously proud of it.
Many countries try to codify their values in law. Some oblige their citizens to speak the national language; others make it a criminal offence to show disrespect to the flag. But statutory patriotism is an intrinsically un-British notion4. We prefer simply to set out5, in general terms, the non-negotiable components of our identity – the qualities of the citizenship that Muktar Said Ibrahim applied for.
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