The current of anxiety among Britain’s centre–left establishment about race, diversity and national unity reflects a shift away from the post–1960s multicultural model. But is the recent demand for members of minority communities to “assimilate” based on reason or prejudice? And is the most visible signifier of diversity, Islam, the new black?

The urgency and topicality of debates about migration should not create space for a language loaded by prejudice and presumption that fuels a far right agenda. Yet this is precisely the approach of Anthony Browne in the People Flow discussion. An analysis of his panic-laden, historically-myopic argument is a necessary prelude to creating a rational basis for responsible exchange.