I'm glad that you are trying so hard to make multiculturalism work. I think it is commendable that you have taken a stance against fee paying "white ghetto" schools. I wonder though, will you be sending your daughter to a local comprehensive after she leaves nursery, where she can really mix, interact, and grow up with people from around the world? – perhaps then she’ll find out for herself why Islamic women chose/ forced to wear the kind of clothes they do - (Actually it's as difficult as explaining to a young child why some women choose, or feel forced to starve themselves or paint their faces) - She'll also learn about the kind of problems facing multicultural communities first hand, and by doing so, perhaps help make things better.
I'm sure someone as principled as yourself, who has proven her multicultural credential by going out with “black boyfriends,” would not abandon the multicultural project as soon as your daughter is able to think for herself.

Alfred, Birmingham, UK

The truth is that you and your liberal friends planted the seeds of todays' total disaster: when you song Kumbaya, smoked pot and promoted "multicultural values", your country was deliberately invaded by arrogant mobs .Now you suddenly wake up and complain?
You surrendered your country , so be prepared for your daughter to live in a Brave New World under the Sharia law!

Martin E. Scuro, San Francisco, CA/USA

My partner - who is of Asian origin - was beaten up by four Asian men last year in Whitechapel in London - kicked in the head till they broke his nose and cheekbone and blackened his eyes.

His crime? Walking home after a night out with his female flatmate - who is white.

I think this is an illustration that racism cuts both ways
and the most important thing is to avoid creating ghettos where children grow up looking down on other races and cultures

Laura MacDonald, London, london, england

I come from America. It used to be that immigrants were taught in mainstream English speaking schools. They learned the language: they had to. If they wanted to become citizens they had to have a US citizen sponsor (this is 41years ago or even longer than that). They then went on naturalisation courses to learn about the way the government worked and the core values of becoming a citizen. I grew up with the same attitude as your correspondent who visited Chicago. I came here and here I am open to people. I still am. I wonder why we have to ask someone immediately about their dress, customs, ethos, etc. when we all really share the same ones. I think it's rude to ask personal questions of others. I wait until it comes up in conversation. The little girl should be answered with utmost honesty. "She is wearing a veil, I don't know what it's called." (If you are asked further, look it up on the web.) Putting a person on the spot makes them uncomfortable - no matter what the question is.

Carlyle Braden, Croydon, U.K.

I would like to remind Elanor that Places that are home to ethnic minority communities are also centres of international trade and business. As such they have a critical role to play in the UK's future economic success. They are also centres of cultural and creative activity, which draw visitors from across the globe. So much of our economy itself is built by so called ''immigrants''!! If we are confident and proud of your own culture, instill it in our children, there is no reason to feel attacked. If you do, probably it is time to look at your self. Let the fittest survive! As for some illegal imigrants who steal tax payers money, it is an ecomonic problem present in every country along with crime rate, unemployment, illetracy etc. Multiculturalism has nothing to do with it...While I agree that natives should not be deprived of benifits, it is upto your own govt. It is a discipline issue!

Lisa, LONDON, UK

Multiculturalism is never going to work-- it hasn't worked anywhere else. Other comments comparing these levels of immigration to invasion are spot on.

The best you can try to do is find a community of people with a similar cultural backround to yourself.

Your daughter isn't an experiment and giving her a good education and strong networks is the most important thing you do.

Move house, use a private school and hope for the best.

Mary Douglas the anthropoligist analyses communties in terms of their group cohesion and social structures.

Most of the people you live with locally probably don't share either your group alliences, values, dress sense, taboos, choice of food or even language--what are you doing with them??

posey collier, London, UK

Logically all western countries should be worried about their abysmal birthrates and overall "fear of children" which permeates the thinking of too many.

The price of our contraceptive mentality and hedonistic lifestyles of exaggerated individualism will mean ever later marriage, more divorce, weaker family structures and smaller families.

Immigration should be limited to letting in genuine refugees and for family replacement.

If it is used to replace dwindling populations, the traditions and collected wisdom of that family which is a nation will disappear and social tensions will naturally rise.

You can replace what you are not producing naturally, but it won't be the same and it is not racist or xenophobia to say that. It is millenia old and proven common sense.

Kevin G. McDonald , Halifax, Canada, Nova Scotia

Great to see so much integration going on, but i do feel it was rather ignorant to distract a little gilr from seeing differences rather than exploring those differences and understanding them. In such a situation, why dont you ask those people why they do what they do? This will help the child develop communication skills, confidence and understanding... the very things that we take our children to school for in the first place!

Good luck to all children in similar situations of cultural diversity.

seth, cambridge, uk

I don't have my say, either, about where I live. Sometimes I feel like a foreigner in my own country. I like and want legal immigration but I draw the line at having a foreign culture forced upon me. In my liberal, multi-cultural and 'tolerant' state I am afraid to even say this outside my home for fear of being called the R word--'racist'.

The people who'd call me that don't live next to the flats that are rented to two people when in reality 5 or ten move in, complete with the extra trash, loud music and general disruption.

Alice, Boston, USA

[...] why is it that those of "non British white" origin have priority (regardless of qualifications/skill/age) in gaining access to jobs (especially Local Authority jobs) [...]
Greg, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear

my local council even publish in their job advertisements that being black will give you a better chance in the application... there in black and white clearly spelled out in the job pages (!) I mean, what exactly is the clear practical advantage of black skin in the job of a librarian?

Marco, bhm, uk

I am married to a Hong Kong national (or British National Overseas as the correct term goes) but she is still treated as a visitor to the UK. Each time we pass through one of the UK airports she is questioned about her visit; why so many visits to the UK etc. And then has "Permitted to stay 180 days. Not permitted to work and no access to Public Funds" stamped in her passport. My council tax is no longer that of a single person (25% discount) because we are married. We spend approximately one month per year at home. Yet each visit we make to any nearby city; Winchester, Basingstoke, Southampton or Portsmouth, shows that other immiigrants are working in service industries, either legaly or illegally. (When was the last time you checked into a hotel and heard English being spoken by the staff?) The rapidly declining standards of schooling and healthcare have persuaded us to live elsewhere. We are lucky enough to be able to do that!

Bill, Winchester, England

There was a lot in this article that I found rather offensive on a varying scale.

For starters, why assume that just because the two girls who didn't show to your daughter's birthday party didn't show because of cultural differences? Just because they were Somali? Isn't it a bit stupid and blind to assume that just because a person is a different culture to yourself, their actions stem from that difference?

Also, this idea that you have to "distract" your daughter from the oh-so-tricky questions of Muslim clothing. Why not just say, "Well, I think it might be part of her religion/culture. She's probably a Muslim." Kids are pretty quick to grasp that kind of thing. It's not like you have to go over it point by point.

Sure, London's better than some places, but let's face it, you're white and English and so you're not really coming from the best place to talk about how tolerant London is.

Rachel, London,

"when I mixed up my hijabs with my jilbabs one race-relations worker (the irony) yelled: “How dare you talk about this when you don’t know the right terminology.”"
Idiocy! Plain idiocy!
and as for the opinion that if one is affected or feels affected by changes in the society around one, then one is racist?: More idiocy!
Typical of today's society that one is not allowed to talk or even to think or even to feel about one's society!

Marco, bhm, uk

I think that most of the problems you describe here would have occured on their own; teenagers have always posed a threat to the world, it's always good to have a scapegoat for unemployment and you admit yourself that your child appears to be happy at her school. We live in a rich country, and we can afford to extend this to others in need.

To L.M tex, change is inevitable; things cannot remain the same forever. Innovation is necessary.

Carly Taylor, Nottingham,

Your squabbling about immigration political correctness while your country is overrun is most amusing.

It's too bad, but it is already too late. Your liberal views have relegated your once great culture to the abyss.

D. Marshall, Chicago, USA

She calls it the "End of the rainbow"; sounds like the end of Great Britian to me.
So, what's it like to lose your country?
I need to know because it will happen here too, eventually.

Rich, Marysville KS, U,S,A,

We are being overrun here in Texas as well. Social services are strained to the limit, schools cannot find enough multi-lingual teachers to meet the needs of the (often illegal) immigrant children who just show up, often qualifying for free meals (taxpayers pay), and expect teachers to provide supplies.

Our government makes the same claim that their labor is necessary. Meanwhile the character of the nation is being lost by the immigrants who refuse to assimilate.

LM.tex, Spring, Texas, USA

Bravo Eleanor! Finally an article that isn't afraid to ask the kind of questions that need to be answered. why is it that whenever the subject of "multiculturalism" arises within a discussion, the majority of people meerly dismiss it as racist? If there is no problem with Race/Immigration issues in this country and that British White people are neither favoured nor unfavoured in any situation, why is it that those of "non British white" origin have priority (regardless of qualifications/skill/age) in gaining access to jobs (especially Local Authority jobs) and to a religious affirmed school. I myself (of RC background) was denied access to a Roman Catholic school 200m from my home, yet numerous pupils of other faiths were allowed entry. explain to me how that is Multiculturalism...

Greg, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear

Wow! As an outsider looking in and with a minimal knowledge of British history, it seems that the Spanish with their great armada, the French who must have and the Germans of WWII, all tried to breach your shores and failed, and while you were sleeping, a Trojan horse landed quietly and accomplished the task.

Lalise, Bonney Lake, WA

While Eleanor Mills and the rest of her "tribe" inflict this experiment on the people of this country what will happen when if finally dawns on them that the party is over , the game is up / it's just not going to work . She , as she stated, has the luxury of moving away from a mess of her own making. I , like all too many people, don't have that option.

e m, london, uk

Mulitculturalism: It's so enriching that Eleanor Mills describes herself and her daughter as 'white British, London born and bred' rather than English.

I'd call that impoverishment.

Ian Lambton, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire

In the last two years I have experienced all that Eleanor Mills writes of and possibly more.

I am a white working class background professional, I have lived in a multicultural community for many years without any negative feelings towards immigrants, but the last 2 years in another London Borough have been the most damaging to me, and the community emotionally and economically. I am a stranger in my birth country . My experiences (yes real experiences not those that I have read in tabloids before the wooly left wingers or race professionals label me as mis-informed or racist) have completely changed my view of certain immigrants - my tolerance has been tested to levels I never imagined I would have to deal with - and that does not make me racist as I have seen a community taken over by criminal gangs who have carried out mass fraud and crime.

To all those who say multiculturalism works come and live in West Thamesmead - don't even get me started on health care and schools

Emily, West Thamesmead, London, England

Eleanor Mills, having experienced at first hand the fact that multiculturalism doesn't work, expects to be able to make it work here in Britain. Why? In much the same way as in the past countless alchemists tried to make gold from base metals, eventually it dawned on them that they were flogging a dead horse. It just isn't going to happen, and the sooner people like Eleanor Mills realise this and start thinking of how they can minimise the effects of this failed social experiment on the rest of us the better.

R. Wood, Rossendale, Lancashire

Eleanor, I'm guessing you vote Labour or Lib Dem - the answer is to stop doing that. Vote Conservative or English Democrat or anyone else but withdraw support for the parties that continue to practise discrimination against the rights of English people in their own country. Oh, and don't vote for cuddly Ken and his PC army of race advisors.

Stephen, Hampton, London, England

The report on mas immigration by Civitas this weekend said it best: Britain's "cohesion" as a nation is under threat. Translation: Britain could actually cease to be a nation.

And all because of an arrogant and oh so *PC* New Labor government, with their complete indifference and denigration of any thing that smacks at valuing traditional British/English/Scottish/Welsh nationhood.

Tragically, I expect New Lab to offer no solutions, just worthless rhetoric.

Jack Tabor, Harrow, London UK

What really makes me angry is that this has happened by goverenment incompetence in not being able to manage immigration; when there are too many to pretend it is good for us; when people complain to say it is racist to question it and when the truth is plain for all to see to say that there may be a problem after but it is someone elses fault - and still do nothing because they couldn't be bothered anyway.

R Mason, London, UK

If you are English, why do you use an Americanism such as "....queue out the door"? "Out of the door" or "through the door", surely?
Is it the effect of multiculturalism?

Jan, Tavistock,

It's nice that the government is finally admitting that immigration might need to have limits but really what else can they logically say? This is the same government which is telling us that our roads are too crowded and congestion charging will be unavoidable. This is the same government which has presided over huge increases in house prices meaning that quite well paid professionals in our public services cannot afford a house. That is a direct consequence of too many people chasing too few homes. This is the same government that allowed hundreds of thousands of east Europeans into the country to work and force down the wages of those who are already low paid and have to claim tax credits in order to raise their families. How is that a net benefit to the economy?

Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK

I agree with Eleanor , the politicians do not live in the overcrowded areas,struggle to get on the tubes each morning or feel each day their is an element of people rage everywhere you go in London. I and I am sure many other Londoners agree.
This country is full, London is so overcrowded everywhere you go, there is no peaceful place left.

SAM, East London, UK

The net immigration is much lower than the gross immigration. That means that many middle-class English citizens are leaving. They have looked at the situation and made their decision.

I wouldn't want to be the last to leave. Things might start to get a little rough.

Jonathan, NYC, USA

When you accept that, the principal motive of "Race Professionals" is the destruction of prevailing British culture, all becomes clear.

Mark, Oxford,

Why is it a sign of cultural differences if two little somali girls didn't come to your daughter's birthday party? What on earth does that have to say about immigration? I was brought up in a small rural village with an entirely white population, and I had to be comforted by my mother when people I'd invited to my birthday party didn't show up too.

Maybe the somali girls just didn't want to come.

Sally Brewer, London, UK

Eleanor Mills is so right - dispassionate debate is conspicuous by its absence. One side of the political spectrum says there is no problem, the other loses any sense of proportion about it. They can't even agree on identity cards, the one, single measure which would at least identify the cross-Channel lorry-hitchers. The police in Calais know who they are because they don't carry the identity cards all French citizens are obliged by a long-established law to produce on demand ("vos papiers s'il vous plait"). Once the people-traffickers have smuggled the illegal entrants into Britain our police have no way of telling who or where they are, let alone how many of them are here. So compulsory identity cards would be a start. But no politician (unlike the population at large) seems very keen on them.

J. Fletcher, Canterbury, UK

Thanks to Blair and craven bunch that votes for everything he wants you can call it Grate Britain

bob holmes, axbridge, England