The tribulations of the British

We've all heard about the recent wave of car-bombing attempts in Britain. It's not yet clear whether the motive is primarily outrage over the knighting of Salman Rushdie (when are these people not outraged about one thing or another?) or just the usual generic Muslim desire to slaughter unbelievers. Either way, thanks to the diligence of the authorities and the ineptitude of the would-be jihadists, there have been no casualties and a number of arrests.

There are signs that this latest eruption of Islamic bloodlust is grinding down even the notoriously-obstinate western European brand of political correctness. Tony Blair has told the Muslims of Britain in no uncertain terms to grow up and stop pretending to be oppressed. And this editorial in the Telegraph shows evidence of an awakening, however groggy, to the reality of the situation. It does invoke a generic "violent nihilism"; it pays lip service to the tired old article of faith that "moderate Muslims", often seen in the company of other such elusive and benevolent beings as unicorns and Bigfoot, constitute the "mainstream" of Islam, of which the "extremists" are not -- Heaven forbid! -- true representatives. But even if the media can't decide whether to refer to the terrorists as revolutionary Muslims, British Muslims, conservative Muslims, extremist Muslims, or nihilist Muslims, their efforts to downplay the true nature of the problem seem like little more than going through the motions.

Terrorists aside, Britain has also been suffering from massive floods recently. This has created an opportunity for the Church of England to demonstrate that drooling religious stupidity is not exclusively a Muslim phenomenon.