I stopped reading this book in the middle because it becomes just another piece of pro-Israel propaganda.

The author has taken an interesting subject and a large number of facinating, well-researched facts and managed to turn out the most boring, tediously written book on the subject that I have read so far. Think of your worst college history professor, droning on and on in that "Ferris Bueller teacher" voice until you want to jump out of your skin and you will have a good idea of the tone of this book. Maybe I'm picky about readability since I've been an editor for 20 years but I would recommend "While Europe Slept" or "America Alone" instead. However, if you've read all the other books, AND you are a glutton for punishment, this does provide a lot of information that could be interesting in the hands of a more talented writer.

Phillips' book is a clarion call for Europe and America. Islamo-facism is a threat and we must confront it head on if Western Civilization is to survive.

She points out how far-left multicultural extremists in the U.K. ignore the threat if radical Islam and preach multiculturalism. British politicians and clergymen kiss up to Islamic radicals while blaming terrorism on Israel and the U.S.

Hopefully her book will wake up those who are sleepwalking into the arms of bin Laden and his ilk.

I haven't read this book. I'm not going to. I've heard an interview with the author, I think I know what she believes and beyond that I really don't care.

What IS interesting is the way "Was this review helpful to you?" is being used to barrack for this book on political grounds. Apparently people who agree with the author's views have been voting "up" positive reviews and voting "down" negative ones. Don't believe me? Go have a look at the numbers. The more effective the review, the more attention it gets - but other than that, the correlation is astonishing.

Now I have to go find some "lefty" books to see if they're doing it as well. I wonder if this is just natural behavior, or if someone's organizing it as a deliberate campaign?

The British are coming! The British are coming!

Only a little 21st century update in this telex courtesy of One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Three if by 747 jet into the skyscraper near you: they aren't wearing powdered wigs, don't have redcoats, and don't fire muskets.

Nor do these rock and rollers hail from Liverpool, and while they don't want to hold your hand, they may be inclined to cut it off. They do pray five times to Mecca! They do blow jetliners out of the air faster than you can say Jehovah! And don't even get `em started about Teddy Bears named Mohammed.

That's right, in the space of just slightly over 30 years, an armed camp of 1.6 million people inimical to the mores, culture, history, religion, customs, and laws of the United Kingdom have carved out a separate society within the larger British nation, outbreeding the Anglo-Saxon/Norman aborigines and hankering for a little more liebensraum. And they don't seem to care much about fitting in.

Or as the chief skald & songster of an older British invasion might have sung it---Help!

Melanie Phillip's alarming little book "Londonistan" chronicles the New British Invasion, and suggests that if the Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance then the Price of Tolerance may be---Zero Tolerance.

Melanie Phillips has carved together a fascinating first-hand account of how societies die: it is alarming, dire, engagingly written and utterly absorbing. While depressing---Britain is too far gone down Dinosaur trail to save, much less mourn---it's at least a real-life laboratory lesson in the consequences of lax assimilation, weak immigration policy, and the weird, evidently intractable death waddle Europe's socialist elite have joined with the dark continent's restive, fecund, and feral Muslim immigrants.

What has a hissing witches brew of PC, multi-culturalism, and unrestricted immigration wrought in Great Britain, you ask? Phillips has answers:

1)There are now 1.6 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom, clustered primarily in largely Muslim neighborhoods in urban areas.

2)While the Caucasian English population is not replacing itself, the Muslim population boasts the highest birth rate in Europe.

3)Thus officially multicultural "Cool Britannia", its elites accustomed not to judge, is being outbred by monocultural Islam (call them "Kill Britannia"), which is all too happy to judge. Combine that intransigent, vocal, and growing Muslim minority of 1.6MM that breeds like rabbits versus the less than rabidly fecund white Brits, and prop it up by the exodus of nearly 200K brits a year, and you've got a recipe for a future Karachi-on-the-Thames where even Osama bin Laden might have a fair shake for a knighthood!

Upside: you can finally get a great curry dish in Sheffield! Awesome!

Downside: Hot babes getting stoned and crushing a [CENSORED!*] out take on a totally new meaning! London bridge really is falling down! Bummer!

But don't worry, it's all about the Religion of Peace, or pieces, or chordite, semtex, AK-47s and box-cutters, or whatever. Who are we to judge? But it's a British invasion, alright! Only instead of mop-tops the new British Invaders offer no-tops! Instead of beetle boots, they offer burkhas! Instead of the the Liverpool rocker club The Cave, they offer---um---real caves! Instead of a nice cut of beef wellington and a pint of stout it's gonna be a nice cut off your head and a pint of blood, you infidel dog! Allahu Akbhar, mate, Cor Blimey!

It's a real recipe for a different kind of British Red, from Cape to Cairo! "Come Together", said the Beatles---and the Muslims have, they have!

The problem is that they're not only going to come together, they're going to stay, they're going to convert. In the end, though, I don't really think the Muslim tide is a bad thing. Tides happen in history; red tides of Death and displacement even more frequently. Cultures die: first of their own internal sickness and degeneracy, then by the coup de grace brought by a foreign invader's sword, scimitar, axe, or muzzle loading rifle.

In this regard, Phillip's account of the decline and fall of the modern British civilization is a little like having Tacitus or Suetonius relating the darkening state of events in the final days of the Roman Empire: it's a brisk, deeply researched, cautionary little fable of liberalism gone mad. And, in the End, it's really a lot like a Beatle's song: Live and Let Die.

JSG

I would not recommend this book to anyone. I feel that it only contributes to the fear and unjustified acts of discrimination against an already unjustifiably feared population. This book is dangerous in that it is completely one sided. Phillips (who is Jewish) only states her argument, with no true objectivity or the ability to stand back and look at the situation logically. Her "facts" are skewed at best, and out right lies at worst (please remember that by her own statistics, she is writing about less than .0025% of the population). Her bias and prejudice shows on every page. I felt dirty after reading it; as if I had been contaminated by hatred and propaganda.
Phillips is agreeing that there are slights and that Muslims are disadvantaged. She then says that Muslims perceive themselves to be under siege everywhere. Is that true? Well, I can certainly see as an objective bystander how Muslims would think that they are. There is war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine/Israel. There are threats of war against Iran. There is major unrest in Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and a majority of nation states that have Muslim populations. Muslims have become suspect in most all nations, especially the United States.
The United States has repeatedly vetoed resolutions that would condemn Israel for war crimes, one of latest coming in 2006 (UN SC/8775). There have been cries for an end to the Israeli subhuman treatment of the Palestinians and Lebanese for years, and very few people in power seem to care. Is it any wonder that they feel their religion and their very lives are in danger? I tend to think that there is a territorial problem at work. Not just "hatred of the Jewish."

I would not recommend this book to anyone. I feel that it only contributes to the fear and unjustified acts of discrimination against an already unjustifiably feared population. This book is dangerous in that it is completely one sided. Phillips (who is Jewish) only states her argument, with no true objectivity or the ability to stand back and look at the situation logically. Her "facts" are skewed at best, and out right lies at worst (please remember that by her own statistics, she is writing about less than .0025% of the population). Her bias and prejudice shows on every page. I felt dirty after reading it; as if I had been contaminated by hatred and propaganda.
Phillips is agreeing that there are slights and that Muslims are disadvantaged. She then says that Muslims perceive themselves to be under siege everywhere. Is that true? Well, I can certainly see as an objective bystander how Muslims would think that they are. There is war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine/Israel. There are threats of war against Iran. There is major unrest in Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and a majority of nation states that have Muslim populations. Muslims have become suspect in most all nations, especially the United States.
The United States has repeatedly vetoed resolutions that would condemn Israel for war crimes, one of latest coming in 2006 (UN SC/8775). There have been cries for an end to the Israeli subhuman treatment of the Palestinians and Lebanese for years, and very few people in power seem to care. Is it any wonder that they feel their religion and their very lives are in danger? I tend to think that there is a territorial problem at work. Not just "hatred of the Jewish."

Its simple, if you actually believe anything you see on CNN or BBC or an other "free" media, the time to wake up is now.
This book is easy to read and shows you what is really happening in the world, not what certain interest would have you believe.
In todays world, you must be aware of reality; this book can help you wake up!

Melanie Phillips in Londonistan describes the depressing situation of the United Kingdom. It's a troubled society. Melanie Phillips realizes that British society has multiple problems from "A soft government on Terrorism" to "Lack of counter-offensive outlets to Terror in British society". This book is a must read for every Canadian! Hopefully we won't have the problems Brits do but we must be careful!

Melanie Phillips in Londonistan describes the depressing situation of the United Kingdom. It's a troubled society. Melanie Phillips realizes that British society has multiple problems from "A soft government on Terrorism" to "Lack of counter-offensive outlets to Terror in British society". This book is a must read for every Canadian! Hopefully we won't have the problems Brits do but we must be careful!

The sub-title to Londoninstan is possibly the most revealing, and certainly the most significant. It reads `How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within'; the significance being with `creating' rather than `created'. Certainly, as Melanie Philips scrupulously documents, the British Government has created the danger that Britain now finds itself in through ignoring past warnings and turning a blind-eye to Islamic fanaticism, believing there to be more important issues to worry over. However, the lames of the problem are being fanned most vigorously today when the Government, rather than choose to address a problem it has been forced to face up to, has decided to skirt it and seek to find false solutions in an attempt to appease our angry, would-be assailants. On this issue, Mrs. Philips is quite right to bring the Government to task, and urge people to recognise that there is a serious threat in our midst that cannot simply be put down to anger over `discrimination' or public displays of the Christian religion. This is backed by an ocean of references to prominent Jihadists and Home Office figures detailing the numbers and excuses given for those sympathetic to Islamic murder.

However, Mrs. Philips cannot be let off the hook for letting her own political bias colour her judgement, which appears to give her self-justification for repeating the tired-neoconservative platitude that Muslims simply `hate our freedom'. Much of the book is devoted to Muslim dislike of Zionism and attempted dismissal of any role in Middle-Eastern politics in relation to Islamic hatred of the West. The facts are simply not with Mrs. Philips on this issue as it should be instantly clear to any fair-minded investigator that the occupation of Palestine is of high importance to Muslims, and is the main ideological tool for recruitment by Jihdadists. Her contention that Zionism is a positive movement also allows her to dismiss anyone who views Israel's practices as brutal and inhumane as a dangerous `Islamist' or useful idiot towards an Islamic theocracy. Clearly, Mrs. Philips is not merely viewing Islam as a danger, based on what she observes in the United Kingdom, but as a powerful opposition to her beloved Israel.

Overall, a worthwhile read which should alert people to dangers of the destruction of our national and religious identity, which will quickly be filled by an unwelcome power. However, one must also resist the temptation to paint Islam as a perpetual poisonous bogeyman that seeks only our annihilation, as well as attempt to fear-monger for an unrelated cause.

I would happily agree with much of what Phillips writes about the dangers inherent in a Muslim community that chooses to change English society rather than integrate with it. I have an abiding love of England and English culture, and the assaults on reason and tradition and western values she describes made me very angry. Unfortunately, the more I read of her book, the more I began to wonder if its purpose weren't more to beat the drums for Israel. For a book that's supposed to be about England, she devotes inordinate space to propagandizing on behalf of Israel and trying to bind the U.S. and Israel tightly together, as if they were one country. Although she talks endlessly about the straits Israelis face, there isn't a single negative comment about Israel's behavior in the whole book. Anyone who doesn't toe the line of the Israel lobby is branded as antisemitic. Her intemperate and one-sided treatment of this corollary topic seriously calls into question the fairness and accuracy of what she says about her putative main subject.

This is a vigorous and incisive analysis of what has gone frighteningly wrong in London and Britain as a whole, especially in response to the existential Islamist threat. Political correctness, multiculturalism, victimization, the nanny state, and other left wing bromides are running amuck and destroying the national identity of the country that gave us our notions of individual freedom and represenative democracy. It is an object lesson of the consequences when the left totally dominates the media, the bureaucracy, the educational system, and even the clerical establishment.

So, how to explain the alliance between the secular, "progressive" left and a politicized, violent theology that oppresses women and gays? As Ms. Phillips' states: "Despite their obvious differences, the far left and the Islamists have become a marriage made in hell. They have swallowed their profound differences to use each other to fight the West."

She also conclusively demonstrates that of which many on the left are in denial--the root of terrorism is not poverty, lack of education, oppression, discrimnation, or the West's foreign policy. Terrorism is rooted in theology and the theology is Islam. By denying that and adopting anti-assimilation policies encouraging Islamic victimhood, Britain is effectively thwarting those elements within Islam that decry violence and seek reformation of the religion.

While the situations in America and Britian are very different (demographically America is in no danger of Islamification), the security threat is very much the same and the American left has much in common with their counterparts in Britain. Many on the left want American defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq, are indifferent to a nuclear Iran, and oppose virtually every security measure since 9/11, including the Patriot Act, electronic intercepts involving suspected terrorists, and detention and aggressive interrogation of unlawful combatants.

While Ms. Phillips offers possible solutions for the Islamist stake at the heart of Western liberalism, it's hard to be optimistic. Personally, I'm convinced it will take another 9/11 or worse before the leftists finally realize what they are up against.

This is a vigorous and incisive analysis of what has gone frighteningly wrong in London and Britain as a whole, especially in response to the existential Islamist threat. Political correctness, multiculturalism, victimization, the nanny state, and other left wing bromides are running amuck and destroying the national identity of the country that gave us our notions of individual liberty and freedom and represenative democracy. It is an object lesson of the consequences when the left totally dominates the media, the bureaucracy, the educational system, and even the clerical establishment.

So, how to explain the alliance between the secular, "progressive" left and a politicized, violent theology that oppresses women and gays? As Ms. Phillips' states: "Despite their obvious differences, the far left and the Islamists have become a marriage made in hell. They have swallowed their profound differences to use each other to fight the West."

She also conclusively demonstrates that of which many on the left are in denial--the root of terrorism is not poverty, lack of education, oppression, discrimnation, or the West's foreign policy. Terrorism is rooted in theology and the theology is Islam. By denying that and adopting anti-assimilation policies encouraging Islamic victimhood, Britain is effectively thwarting those elements within Islam that decry violence and seek reformation of the religion.

While the situations in America and Britian are very different (demographically America is in no danger of Islamification), the security threat is very much the same and the American left has much in common with their counterparts in Britain. Many on the left want American defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq, are indifferent to a nuclear Iran, and oppose virtually every security measure since 9/11, including the Patriot Act, electronic intercepts involving suspected terrorists, and detention and aggressive interrogation of unlawful combatants.

While Ms. Phillips offers possible solutions for the Islamist stake at the heart of Western liberalism, it's hard to be optimistic. Personally, I'm convinced it will take another 9/11 or worse before the leftists finally realize what they are up against.

This is a vigorous and incisive analysis of what has gone frighteningly wrong in London and Britain as a whole, especially in response to the existential Islamist threat. Political correctness, multiculturalism, victimization, the nanny state, and other left wing bromides are running amuck and destroying the national identity of the country that gave us our notions of individual liberty and freedom and represenative democracy. It is an object lesson of the consequences when the left totally dominates the media, the bureaucracy, the educational system, and even the clerical establishment.

So, how to explain the alliance between the secular, "progressive" left and a politicized, violent theology that oppresses women and gays? As Ms. Phillips' states: "Despite their obvious differences, the far left and the Islamists have become a marriage made in hell. They have swallowed their profound differences to use each other to fight the West."

She also conclusively demonstrates that of which many on the left are in denial--the root of terrorism is not poverty, lack of education, oppression or discrimnation. It's theological and the theology is Islam. By denying that and adopting policies feeding Islamic victimhood, Britain is effectively thwarting those elements within Islam that decry violence and seek reformation of the religion.

While the situations in America and Britian are very different (demographically America is in no danger of Islamification), the security threat is very much the same and the American left has much in common with their counterparts in Britain. Many on the left want American defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq, are indifferent to a nuclear Iran, and oppose virtually every security measure since 9/11, including the Patriot Act, electronic intercepts involving suspected terrorists, and detention and aggressive interrogation of unlawful combatants.

While Ms. Phillips offers possible solutions for the Islamist stake at the heart of Western liberalism, it's hard to be optimistic. Personally, I'm convinced it will take another 9/11 or worse before the leftists finally realize what they are up against.

As is predicted with reviews of Melanie Phillps, Douglas Murray or Michael Gove's books, the authors are trashed, smeared and misrepresented beyond belief. This is no tabloid rant but a thoughtful, thorough and sensitive book.

`Londonistan' is the name the French Intelligence agencies gave our capital city in the 90's because of the scandalous policy of the liberal British Establishment (including our security services) of allowing Islamic radicals preachers, terrorists and inciters have a safe-haven from which to incubate and inculcate their fundamentalist filth.

Melanie Phillips (as Christopher Hitchens has already done) has pointed to the Salman Rushdie affair as a microcosm of our curent predicament and an instance when radical Islamists clashed with Western civilization, and the multiculturalist Left lined up on the wrong side (as did many conservatives) with the forces of reaction.

Phillips painstakingly lists the Islamist terrorist exiles who "started turning up in London in large numbers" during the 1990s. Abu Qatada, Rashid Ghannouchi, Yasser al-Siri and Omar Bakri. Why did this happen? The culture of human rights championed in the late 1990s, the values of what Phillips calls the "dominant culture" was replaced by the mantra of "self-designated victim groups". Majority rule was now triumphed by `minority rights'. It became impossible, thanks to activist judges and human-rights legislation to detain terror suspects. Phillips brilliantly attacks the contemptible figure of Lord Hoffman, who ruled that "the real threat to the life of the nation ... comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these". She says of this, "The real danger was not a terrorist movement whose aim was to defeat Western democracy and re-institute a seventh-century Islamic empire that stretched halfway across the globe, but the measures that a free society had devised to protect itself from such a threat." Absolute madness, but this the prevailing orthodoxy.

It was very easy for liberal intellectuals and a cowardly establishment to blame Bush, Blair, foreign policy etc, on the radical totalitarian threat, and use Israel as convenient punching bag too. Phillips lucidly explains how anti-Semitism (or its diluted form, extreme anti-Zionism) is used in response to these problems, especially from the far Left and the extremist Islamists themselves. Even the governments own task-force into Islamic terrorism was led by self-appointed spokesmen from the Muslim community - MCB etc - who support attacks on Israel, promote conspiracy theories about Jews, smear people with the ridiculous charges of Islamaphobia and who are mysoginistic, homophobic and extremist bigots themselves.

The fad of multiculturalism has further enhanced the radicals' cause and has produced disastrous consequences. We need assimilation and integration - not separation, segregation and `all cultures are equal'. The toxic mix of a radical ideology and the desire to appease rather than stop radicalization has had serious consequences. Phillips believes that "a nation can fight to defend itself only if it knows what it is fighting for, if it is secure in its own values".

The British government and the British people, whatever their faith, should listen to her urgent message.

"LONDONISTAN" by Melaine Phillips trumpets apocalyptical notes that echo into the valley of decadence and ruin. Although this book deserves to be read from cover to cover, I skipped in and around but, learned more than I wanted to, or...whatI knew and didn't want to admit.

Melaine Phillips brings to mind the old Bob Dylan song: "The Times They Are A Changing." One verse states: "...there's a battle outside and it's raging. It will soon shake your window and rattle your walls...for the times they are a changing."

Ms. Phillips' superb insight and truthfulness will hit the reader like a upper-cut from "Joe Paluka"! Her accumulated research will open up your eyes and allow you to see the future better than any crystal ball.

She admonishes the British Government for it's overly liberal ideas, apathy, and over-extended legal reigns that seem to protect the civil rights of individuals who are more proned to destroying the standing Governemnt than working within it's statutory laws (Gee, that sounds familiar).

Ms. Philips makes the reader look directly into the "eye of the hurricane" and admit, no matter how calm it seems around us...the storm is raging just outside of our view and will eventually envelope us all if, we don't admit that "something" is terribly wrong!

Despite the English and American jurisprudence systems and it's need to champion individual civil rights, that same champion can easily become a "wolf in sheeps clothing."

Human rights are important. They are the cornerstone of our Constitution and the veneer of our Governmental system. However, if applied too thickly, the veneer will only crack and ultimately destroy what it was intended to initially protect.

Melaine Phillips believes that "Jolly old England" has lost it's identity and become fused with it's enormous pool of Muslim immigrants. She's right about one thing..."England is no longer ...Jolly."

Ms. Phillips warns that the same fate "may" await the United States if, we continue to "sleep-walk" down the hallway. I believe Ms. Phillips already knows where our fate lies.

This book is an indepth study of the subject matter and should be considered a "must-read" for all students of Political Science, History, and or, Law.

Warning: Reading this book may cause you to Wake UP!

Melanie Phillips' "Londonistan" (2006 213 page hardback) is a shocking and sad commentary on the demise of a once great nation. This study is well documented and referenced with 14-pages of endnotes and a 7-page index.

Beginning with the premise of British national demise due to late 20th century secular humanism, Phillips makes convincing arguments for the extremist Islam conquest of Britain. She tells a frightening documented story of government inadequacy in the face of this jihadist Muslim takeover. She convinces that British authorities choose to "turn a blind eye" to this surrender. Phillips cites events, places, and personalities in this contemporary real life drama.

British moral decadence, unrestrained progressivism, European law's outside influence on the British judicatory, lax immigration policy, and extreme Islamism are presented as the perpetrators for Londonistan (the terrorist Islamization of Britain). Britain's full Muslimization, beginning with youth culture recruitment, is currently underway, according to Phillips, resulting in troubling affect for British Jewry, Western democracy advocates, and British culture.

Phillips details events into the summer of 2006. Her documentary is a call to rescue her homeland from militant Islam's violation and conquest. Does this book have prophetical implications for America? This book is recommended to everyone.

Happy Columbus Day!

What has happened to London may happen to many large cities in the U.S. The author gives a frank appraisal of how London became a haven for radical muslims and the adverse results thereof.

Excellent coverage of events taking place since the seventies until now. Looks at the impact of social and legal policies on the security of Britain and the western world in general.

Londonistan should be required reading by all elected officials. It provides clear and compelling evidence that appeasement, as practiced by the U.S. Britain and Europe over the past few decades, is no less dangerous than the appeasement which led to WWII. The insidious and self-destructive political correctness that permeates Western policy, when dealing with Islamic extremists and so called "moderate" Islamist apologists, is exposed for the sham it is in this highly readable and well referenced work. Outstanding!

This book made me both scared and angry and wanting to distribute it to every member of Congress. It is a must read for every American who does not take the terrorist situation seriously. We must learn from history. Really opened my eyes as to how easily we can be overcome and in fact are doing so at the present time. Great read!

Joan Murphins

To those who say there isn't enough 'research' or facts to back up Ms. Phillips' assertions.
I was in England in the mid to late 1980s. Half my neighborhood of thirty duplexes were Arab/Muslim, all on one side. And the day after Saddam invaded Kuwait, every single one of their houses had an Iraq flag flying from it. When I would go out to walk the dog or push my son in his stroller, or just walk to the markets, if any of the men were outside, they would yell at me saying I was a brazen woman, among other things I won't repeat here. When my then husband or one of our neighbors would tell them to leave me alone, they would respond that they spoke according to their religious beliefs and no one had the right to tell them otherwise. The dog did not like any of them and would bark like crazy whenever she saw them. And this was not in London.
With relatives still in England, I've heard that this has gotten worse in the last twenty years.

Ms. Phillips' book is spot on and should be required reading for every policy maker and journalist in the 'West'.

I bought this book hoping to get an honest assesment into what's gone wrong in Britain and why but finished it sorely disappointed. To be fair, the author does offer some interesting points and the book is not without its merits. On the other hand, it borders on being a diatribe against the left and blames all that has gone wrong on "weak-kneed bleeding heart liberals". Nary a word is mentioned regarding neo-cons who've pushed an oil based agenda in the Middle East, who've helped mastermind coups and assasinations of foreign governments, while helping to prop up dictators who've suited our needs, to name but a few of the sins that have brought us to where we are today. The author blames the lack of religion in Britain as one of the causes for the situation being what it is today and yet the States is one of the most religious countries in the world and suffered some of the worst terrorist attacks. That there haven't been more can likely be ascribed to better policing than the Brits and just plain luck. She talks about the religious right in the States with near veneration, neglecting to mention that there are hundreds of thousands of followers of prosperity theology among that religious right and countless right-wing preachers and politicians who've fallen victim to drug and sex scandals. I've no problem with her placing the blame where it lies but one would go away from this book hard pressed to know exactly where the right has gone wrong since her argument is so one-sided. p. 141 of the hardcover copy -- "The fact that Christianity had brought civilization to these remote parts of the world, for the very good reason that it was superior to traditional practices in those parts, was not acknowledged." Now I understand the arguement against cultural relativism but this quote and much of what she's written is simply arrogance and nothing more. Because of the bias and predictability of her arguements I found the book to be quite a chore and would not recommend it to anyone unless you borrow it from the library and don't have to pay anything.

Phillips' work was recommended to me by a close friend who works for a Washington dc think tank. He argued that this book was a clarion call for those with an interest in preserving the values providing American greatness. I have to say, he was right. There are many main points to be taken away from this work. The one I would emphasize here, for you, is the fact Muslims are increasingly trying to have their lifestyle validated to a greater degree than other faiths. In Minneapolis we have Muslim cashiers refusing to check out pork products at target and taxi-cab drivers refusing to give rides to those with seeing-eye dogs. In both instances, these people claimed such acts violated their faith. Why? Because it says so in the Koran? No, doesn't say that at all. Maybe they feel marginalized by mainstream America? Maybe, but probably not since they do so after people go out of their way to respect their beliefs. If Phillips is to be believed, it is because these Muslims want to gain a special acceptance for their faith in American society. Could this be? Yes, because these protests are not explicitly supported by the Koran. In this book, we see that a similar pattern was executed in London. The result? Doctors and the less educated trying to blow up parts of England. This is the result of failing to require that minority groups respect the majority views held by society. This could be the result in America if we don't speak out against Muslims trying to gain special attention for their faith.

Two quotes from the book should give you a good idea of what this book is about:

"Multiculturalism has become the driving force of British life, ruthlessly policed by a state financed army of local and national bureaucrats enforcing a doctrine of state mandated virtue to promote racial, ethnic and cultural differences and stamp out majority values."

"The emergence of Londonistan should be of the greatest concern to America, for which it poses acute dangers. Clearly, the fact that Britain has become Europe's Islamic terror factory presents immediate and obvious risks to America's physical security."

The march of the book goes back and forth between those who would be freedom fighters and those that are terrorists.

Londonistan is an interesting book that strongly makes the case for Britain to return to democracy where the majority rules and all others either learn to fit in or leave.

England...WAKE UP!!!! PLEASE WAKE UP!!!!! Everybody in the UK should read this book. Must read for the UK!!!!

The author shows just how much damage multiculturalism, PC government, and a policy of appeasement toward minorities can do in a society.

Not the easiest read and I would like to check some of the reference material for details, but I think she's pretty much hit the nail on the head.

When the minorities don't assimilate to the majority culture, there are bound to be problems. And when it is ideological/religious and supportive of violence and terrorism, then it's just that much worse.

Highly recommended.

On the whole, the book's argument is true---that Britain's pc-multi-culturalism is perhaps the Islamists' best weapon. That said, it also appears that the author has a couple of her own agendas. For example, she frequently descries how Islamists accuse anyone who is critical of Islam of being "Islamophobic." Fair enough. In fact, that is one of their tactics and it's tiresome. But then the author herself, who is Jewish, constantly goes out of her own way to accuse everyone in her book (both Muslim and non-Muslim) who is critical of Jews or Israel of being "anti-Semetic." Such an approach is inconsistent, to say the least. Also, while the author makes it a point to accuse the British church of losing its faith and becoming too secular(which I agree with), when it comes to the issue of Jews, she retracts and portrays the church as having a "theological" prejudice (i.e. "anti-Semitism," once again) against Jews. But if the church has become so secular and aspiritual, how could it have a "theologically" based hatred for Jews as "Christ-killers"? Only an ultra-conservative, "radical" church could possibly have such a perspective, which is definitely not what the author portrays the church of England as being. Basically, a decent book---good reading for utopians and all the naive of the world; but beware of the glaring Jewish agenda.

This review that is.

I don't know if many American readers are acquainted with Phillips as a journalist but in general her rantings represent the worst of the Daily Mail. She approximates Ann Coulter in beliefs

I bought this book having forgotten her name (honestly!) and bought it on the strength of the reviews on the back cover, the (brief) reviews from a variety of newspapers across the political spectrum gave me some hope and the first few chapters on Islamic terrorists gave hope.
However Phillips shrill rantings on majority and minority rights began to sound familiar and my interest turned to disquiet with some of the sentiments and mispresentations

I am currently half way through the book (I only got it 2 days ago) and my jury is out on the book. While Phillips raiss some sensible points (the counter-terrorism activities of the French will doubtless be news to anybody weaned on a diet if FAUX NOISE) she attempts to hijack this topic to do her usual job of misrepresenting any recognition of minority rights as a case of a tail wagging the dog and minorities being treated as more important than majorities.

I must admit I am enjoying the delicious irony of hearing a writer lament the supposed inability of people to criticise anything Islamic for fear of having a charge of Islamophobia levelled at them when that selfsame writer's method of attempting to silence any criticism of Israel is to label anybody who would dare to do so as an anti-semite.

Clearly Phiilips is someone completely lacking in self-awareness and a sense of irony.

Finally, someone who is not afraid to call a spade a spade. Melanie Phillips should be commended for her courage and tenacity in tackling head on an ideology that is seldom confronted out of fear of being labeled "intolerant." Ideologies of hate simply cannot coexist with freedom. "Londonistan" shows the front lines of a culture war that has been brewing for centuries and is nearing its critical mass. This book should sound as a warning for every American, highlighting the consequences of appeasement and the philosophy of moral and cultural relativism. Prepare to walk away angry and shocked.

Finally, someone who is not afraid to call a spade a spade. Melanie Phillips should be commended for her courage and tenacity in tackling head on an ideology that is seldom confronted out of fear of being labeled "intolerant." Ideologies of hate simply cannot coexist with freedom. "Londonistan" shows the front lines of a culture war that has been brewing for centuries and is nearing its critical mass. This book should sound as a warning for every American, highlighting the consequences of appeasement and the philosophy of moral and cultural relativism. Prepare to walk away angry and shocked.

Ms Phillips rants and raves and ultimately doesn't prove her point through what the rest of us call RESEARCH - what should be the backbone of a book of this type.

I am more than willing to believe in the main thesis of Ms Phillips - that Radical Islamists have found a safe environment to work from in the UK and that the current political climate has nurtured the very force trying to destroy it. Unfortunately, Ms Phillips does not prove that in her book and I would advise others to avoid this and look for a book prepared by someone who takes authoring seriously.

Ms Phillips uses secondhand sources almost exclusively and seems to really just want to use other journalists' writing, even in situations where the primary source material is rather easily obtained and verified. It smack of laziness if not dishonesty. Her strident tone is one of BIAS and PREJUDICE on the subject - I do not say prejudice against a people, please note.

I would look elsewhere to be educated but this will do fine as a political slanted screed if you are looking only for confirmation of a narrow and limiting viewpoint.

Sorry excuse for a book from someone credited with the Orwell Prize.

Very interesting I would recommend this to everyone. It may give an idea of where civilization is going though I hope not.

"Londonistan" is a factual report by a prize-winning reporter for London's Daily Mail. Described here are disturbing recent events in Great Britain. So wrenching is this report that it is both painful to read and impossible to put down. Unfortunately, America and Europe are not the hopeful counter-examples the author sometimes implies. But the actual events described here represent a real threat to our British cousins and in the end to all of us who care about liberal Western values. Self-destructive opinion has apparently become so entrenched in Great Britain that it may be too late for a wake-up call, but this is a most worth-while effort. It is also a very gripping read.

Melanie Phillips explains how British values of freedom and tolerance are being used against the people of Great Britain by Islamic fundamentalists who want to turn the country into a Caliphate. Her style is clear and her message is powerful. She blames political correctness for many of the woes of the West who bend over backwards to appease the Muslims. There is a home-grown enemy population within Great Britain who enjoy the social services, free education and free medical care, but who take every opportunity to undermine the nation which has sheltered them. According to Phillips, the government has been slow in dealing with the problem of homegrown terrorism. What should be done about it? Read "Londonistan" and be enlightened. The book is an eye-opener.

Melanie Phillips presents an incisive analysis on militant
Islamic radicals and their indisputable ability to convert the political
governing classes of Western society into pucilanimous turn-the-other-cheek obsequious hounds, all grovelling at the altar of misdirected
multi-culturalism. All Western society leaders have been warned by all
responsible Arab world leaders about the dangers developing in all major
Western capitals. These warnings commenced thirty years ago; however, they have been studiously ignored by the politically correct devotees of
the ruling class hierarchy in the interests of expediency and PEACE AT ANY
COSTS. These modern day Neville Chamberlains, in all likelihood, will be
responsible for seriously damaging the social fabric of Western society.

I can add little to the glowing recommendations below, other than to simply say that it is rare to read something that is well-written, compulsively readable, meticulously researched and of profound historical significance. Londonistan is all of the above.

I have devoured every word of Melanie Phillips's important book, which is immaculately researched, compellingly stated, and beautifully written. This is one of the most important books an American can read today, and I cannot recommend it more highly. Enough said. Just read the book.

While I read the book the events are enfolding before my eyes. Australia and US are compromised. The pundits are trying to catch up to Melanie.

I think it's pretty clear by now to all except the most intransient multiculti hacks that this societal experiment has been a disaster for the U.K.....but it's been a never-ending gravy train for the "immigrants" (really hostile invaders). Eventually one of these terror plots that the police and intelligence services foil will be successful. It's going to take a large death toll for the whites to wake-up.....

Melanie Phillips main thesis, that Islamism is a growing and overtolerated menace in Western Europe, is more than evident to any serious follower of world events (besides the most ferocious holdouts on the far left, who still see all those evil Jews as the real menace). This book merely collects and categorizes the individual events and broader patterns which characterize the Islamification of England coupled with the indifferent (or intentional) blessings from leftist extremists.

The book is an easy read, but flawed in that Phillips hammers out the same points OVER AND OVER AND OVER until you feel like you might as well just read the same page 200 times instead of wasting energy by flipping pages. Her conclusion is also flawed, in which she derides the traditional British respect for the rule of law as one of their society's most significant weaknesses in combating Islamofascism. The rule of law, so preciously guarded in Britain, is one of its earliest foundations and protectors of individual liberty and property rights. If a law in Britian unintentionally protects terrorists, then change the law. But don't discard an institution that is absolutely vital to the prosperity of freedom just to temporarily leash a few Islamic nutjobs.

As pointed out by other reviewers Ms Phillips has written a masterful book that reads like fiction. Unfortunately it is not.

The more I read it, the more it seemed that the author has it right. While the focus of the book is on Islamic militancy, the observations and lessons apply equally to society as a whole in the US and many other countries. Think for a moment about "politics" in the US and how it has become special-interest focused -- illegal immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, whites, brown - you name it. I left with two quotes that have sort of stuck in my mind.

"Democracy became effectively redefined from majority rule among equal citizens to power-sharing among ethnic and other interest groups"

"It is duty and obligation that forge a community; rights detached from obligations fragment a society into competing interest groups fighting each other for supremacy"

If you are of an enquiring disposition I recommend reading it.

I elected to read Londonistan to try and understand why acquaintances had left London and moved to New Zealand stating "they hated what London had become". Melanie Phillips does an exceptional job documenting the changes which have taken place over the three decades and reveals the network of Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers, the collapse of British self-confidence, the suppression of national identity and the resulting paralysis brought on by multiculturalism and appeasement. The result is schizophrenic environment where the English tolerate intolerance, Mosques are taken over by radicals where terrorists plan attacks on the USA and England and a once Great Nation seems incapable of dealing with the subversion. The book is very well written and well worth reading.

I just finished reading Melanie Phillips' book Londonistan, about the development of London as the center of international Islamic terrorism, and the escalating collapse of British culture. It is positively horrifying to see such a beautiful culture unravel over a relatively short period of time. Phillips is an award-winning columnist for London's Daily Mail. Educated at Oxford, she won the Orwell Prize for journalism in 1996. She is the author of several books.

Londonistan is a book that every English person who does not wish to be an ostrich should read to understand the magnitude of the transformation and downward spiral of British society, because the British media, by and large complicit in the transformation, undoubtedly is not providing the British public with the full picture. The Balkanization of Great Britain is already underway. The support for national suicide by the English elites (politicians, the judiciary, academics, the media and the Church of England) is positively astounding.

The book should also be read by every American and Canadian, because the seeds of such a transformation in North America already exist, particularly in the next generation (16 to 26 yrs old), in the form of multiculturalism, a cancer that has already substantially eaten away the body of the UK and has already begun in small ways to eat away at the body of North America. I also believe that most North Americans do not even have an inkling that the so-called War on Terror is in fact a religious war pitting Islam against Western culture. It may unfortunately be too late for the UK and the rest of Europe to preserve their cultures. It is certainly not too late for North America, but the danger is growing and if we are not alert to the danger and prepared to confront it our grandchildren and their children will pay a very heavy price for our indifference.

An alarming revelation of the subtle yet forceful takeover of a country which chooses to compromise with an evil ideology - which insists on tolerance to all "religions". A frightening reality not to be ignored by any Western nation.

This book shows the direction that Britain is taking towards becoming an Islamic Republic, not just due to the influx of Muslims who have no interest in assimilating into Western culture but, more importantly, because so many politicians and intellectuals have become apologists and facilitators of Islamofascism. What else can you say about people who want to introduce Sharia law into their own country, allowing it to trump SECULAR laws? What else can you say about people who betray Muslim moderates and converts in order to make a small but vocal group happy... which will not happen until Canterbury is renamed the Mosque of the Martyr.

Wake up, everyone.

Ms. Phillips' work is an erudite (hence the "4" rating) indictment of the lack of British response to the "threat" of growing Muslim influence in Great Britain (and the West in general).
Her book, however, fails to provide the historical context of this movement and lapses into near-xenophobic ranting.
IF you believe in her premise (the end of the world as we know it is upon us), your blood pressure will rise. You can add your voice to the chorus.
IF you are an ardent supporter of Islam (our due place in the world needs to be recognized), your blood pressure will rise. You can add your voice to the contra-singers.
IF you were looking for knowledge, the historical context, a reasoned assessment of the latest cultural influence in Great Britain, you will be disappointed: Londonistan gives you nothing to sing about.

If you want to hate vigorously, virtuously, viciously and without limits, like a caveman cowering in a world of unspeakable axes of evil and terrors, this is a short but vivid Bible of reasons.

Prince Charles is evil, as is everyone who doesn't hate Muslims, because he wants to be a "defender of faith". How terrible. That must means "all" faiths. How unAnglican. It's all the fault of the evil British media, which only exists because millions of people buy papers and watch TV every day. Phillips says "history has simply been rewritten and the British have been consumed by a dangerous climate of irrationality, whipped up by a media coverage that has been as unbalanced as it has been relentless."

(Why is Britain a former Great Power? It's due to the pessimism that always finds fault, having lost the optimism that values innovation, diversity and accomplishment.)

In short, this is a typical loser's rant, bitterly attacking everyone who doesn't share her irrational beliefs. It's the absolute fanatic's fatuous folly as eloquently outlined in 'The True Believer' by Eric Hoffer. It's a pity Hoffer never wrote 'The True Hater'; we need such a book today. Phillips hates Islam with the same passion that Osama bin Laden hate Christians. The answer, for Phillips, is for everyone to share her hate lest Osama win the battle of hates by default.

The British attitude is one of "amorality and appeasement, of decadence and denial." Perhaps Americans who solidly rejected Bush in November 2006 are equally amoral, etc. British churches are blamed for paving this road to ruin; one chapter says they are "On their knees before terrorism" while another cites "the appeasement of clerical fascism." In other words, the Brits are a flock of simpering sheep.

In other words, Phillips is a good columnist. She doesn't offer rational analysis; her "scorched earth journalism" (a term once used to describe me) is intended to inflame, infuriate, enrage and make readers think. Good journalism "afflicts the comfortable, and comforts the afflicted." She's great at "afflicting." It's an eloquently done rant without rhyme, reason or rationality; completely rejecting the Christian adage to "love your neighbor" and copying those who hate tolerance, compassion and diversity.

If you don't want to think, don't buy it. If you do want to think, whether you are Muslim, Jew or Christian, American, Brit or Arab, smart or very smart, buy it and be prepared to think about what might be rational policies. Good columnists afflict the comfortable, and for those comfortable in any fad, faith, philosophy or politics, this book is truly a challenge to a whole bunch of lazy ideas.

Buy it. There's no better way to discover the true nature of the intolerant.

Londonstan pulls no punches. While the first portion of the book is about how Great Britain became the underground haven for European Islamic terror, the great majority of the book is an indictment of British society for letting it happen. According to the author, there is no lack of blame to go around. Everyone from British intelligence, government officials, the intellectual elite, Prince Charles, the liberal media, and the Church of England all played a part in letting Londonstan flourish unchecked.

The author is a conservative British journalist, not an academic, which at times causes the book to be a collection of quick quotes followed by biting verbal attacks. The book gets your attention, but at times I kept looking for more historical and analytical depth and less verbal assaults. The facts stood for themselves and the author deserves credit for bringing them to light. Despite the 2005 London Bus bombings, the attacks did not alter the psyche of British society like the 9/11 attacks did in America. The author states that the very concept of British identity is at stake and that the counter-terrorism tactics used against the IRA, are outdated and useless against Londonstan.

The book was written only months after the summer 2005 bus attacks and the emotion still runs high in the author's tone. As long as you go into the book realizing the author's goal is to shake up policy and public opinion, vice write a long academic study, than the book is well worth your time.