United Kingdom

LONDON — St. George's-in-the-East is the most exuberantly baroque of the many churches designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in the early 18th century to adorn London's East End. Its white towers rise like one of Disney's fairytale castles above the surrounding squalor of Shadwell.

Where are the Muslim enclaves in our towns and cities? Are they really no-go areas and are they forcing others out? John Cornwell, one of Britain’s leading historians and commentators on religion, navigates the multicultural minefields that are polarising the nation.

British Muslims can drown out the minority voices of Islamic extremists by helping to shape the meaning of Britishness, says Government Minister Bill Rammell. The Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, was in Bradford for the launch of a report into the attitudes of young British Muslims.

A perception among migrants that they are unwelcome in Britain is undermining efforts to help them integrate into wider society, a report out today has revealed. The study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found nearly half of migrants say they have experienced race discrimination and 30% of Muslims recently arrived in Britain have come across religious prejudice.

MUSLIM doctors wearing veils may have to take them off if patients object. New guidance published by the General Medical Council says members must not allow personal, religious and moral views to affect patient care. The document, called Personal Beliefs And Medical Practice, says it is for employers to set rules on workplace dress. But it says some patients may find that a face veil `presents an obstacle to effective communication and the development of trust' and that in some situations doctors may have to `set aside' their personal and cultural preferences.

Muslims from the UK are concerned about the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Poland in particular. "Poles work beyond the minimum wage, drink, abuse their women and offend us by putting up stalls with pork sausage everywhere,” says a young member of the Muslim community in Luton, near London, quoted by the Polska daily.

The British government announced Thursday that it was ending efforts to deport Mehdi Kazemi, a 19-year-old Iranian who has been studying in Britain – a move that should be applauded by human rights activists everywhere.