“From Norway to Sicily, governments, politicians and the media are laying aside their doctrines of diversity and insisting that ‘Islamism’, as the French call the fundamentalist form that pervades the housing estates, is incompatible with Europe’s liberal values.

“The shift is not just a reaction to exceptional violence such as the Madrid train bombings, or the murder of Theo van Gogh, the anti-Islamic Dutch film-maker, by a Dutch-Moroccan. It stems from a belief that more muscular methods are needed to integrate Europe’s 13-million strong Muslim community and to combat creeds that breed extremists and ultimately, terrorism. With mixed results, governments are trying to quell the scourge by co-opting Muslim leaders to promote a moderate European Islam.”

Charles Bremner in The Times, 4 December 2004