I Find This Astonishing

It seems that British PM Tony Blair (known as Phony Tony by his enemies, after the fashion of Slick Willie on these shores) has made a speech declaring that the "multicultural experiment" in Great Britian is "over." From now on, he said, immigrants need to conform to British culture-- learning the language, abiding by the customs, etc. "If you're not interested in assimilating, we don't want you," was his message in a nutshell. Most felt that his speech was directed at Muslims.

Now he's Phony Tony, a consummate politician, so he probably doesn't believe a word of it. That's not really relevant. What's interesting is that he seems to feel the need to say these words at all-- that it's expedient to issue such a decree in jolly old England these days. As Limbaugh observed today, no American politican would dare to make such a declaration over here, and I always thought that as PC-whipped as we are, the Euros were far worse. So what gives, I wonder?