It's possible for ethnic minorities to integrate and be decent productive citizens whilst maintaining the cultural identity of their origins. Sadly people with agendas from both sides use the failures in an opportunistic way, and don't want to focus on the successful immigrants. Immigrants who bring so much to the countries they settle in. It amazes most when I see this attitude in Americans of all people you'd think they'd see the benefit of immigration. It's laudable perhaps that the Danish government want to tackle the problems some of their policies have produced, but it's wrong even reading just the one news story TD linked to assume that the Danes want to end immigration or multiculturalism, they merely want to shape it by trying to remove some of the negative aspects a small minority have produced.

Why TD thinks wanting immigrants to be productive and to assimilate to the best examples of the societies they settle in is anathema to a left wing viewpoint he seems reticent to share?

I think it behoves all decent people to be wary of policies that target children for experiments in social change in a very overt display of force. That just simple common sense to anyone with a grasp of 20th century European politics and how it has treated and viewed minorities.

Being enraged and intolerant when we hear of abhorrent behaviours by immigrants is easy, this is how bigots and racists opportunistically demonise such groups and demographics, what is hard is making measured balanced responses in policy and law making that help improve immigration without persecuting or stigmatising immigrants who don't deserve it.

It's one of the reasons I voted to stay in the EU, and why I am worried about some aspects of BREXIT.

Just as with religious claims I'm going to need some objective evidence that your scaremongering is justified. Much of European civilisation has been Muslim for centuries, like the centuries old Muslim communities that were murdered by the Serbian ultra right wing christians, they were eroded all right, despite having lived for centuries in the cultural and ethnic melting pot of their country and communities as one of the nest examples of multiculturalism.

What is it you think "Europe" should be doing I wonder to these "unwanted" Muslims? I suspect you have what some might call a "solution", let us hope it isn't a final one like recent christian European sentiment formulated for another religious demographic they first demonised by much the same kind of rhetoric i am seeing here..

Anyway my grandson birthday, so I off out now.

Precisely correct, and again a measured balanced policy on immigration is what produces best results, extreme actions usually produce extreme reactions. Education is key of course, but that does not mean anyone is morally justified in trying to counter parental indoctrination with state indoctrination, the idea makes me very uneasy.

Some people, not some cultures, though some cultures have less in common than others of course. In my culture just two generations ago children in their own country in the UK were beaten in school after being caught speaking their own language. It was systematic policy by the government, where children caught using their own language instead of English had a wooden sign hung around their neck by a piece of string, they could only remove it if they heard another child using their own language and the child with it at the end of the day was flogged, these were 5 year old children away from their Welsh speaking parents for the first time.

So a government policy to integrate children into speaking the language they thought the whole UK should use. Sound familiar?

The attempts of successive governments based in Westminster to eradicate that language and culture is centuries old, and had of course not entirely succeeded. In recent years we have learned from past mistakes and now try to promote cultural diversity as a good thing. Different languages, food, music these benefit the countries that accept immigrants. It's a good idea to note that immigration and multiculturalism is not a failure because some serious problems result from a small minority. The fears over what Islamic beliefs pose is generally way out of proportion to the facts. This is not to suggest we should ignore problems, just that we put them in perspective, and that our reactions are proportioned accordingly.

@Terminal Dogma: The Gov is only doing it to at risk children which is their duty of care.

Google "Stolen generation" and "Australia" for an example of a well-intentioned government policy targeting at-risk children. Also look up the stories of British children shipped off to Australia and New Zealand as "orphans" in the postwar era.

"why does a military age, male Muslim need to emigrate from an Islamic country?"

When did Islamic countries place a moratorium on persecuting men over the age they can join the armed forces?

The farce is strong with this one Obi Wan.

"From 1970 to 1972, I lived in Europe. I fear that if I returned now it would be unrecognizable. "

More rhetoric, I also lived in Europe in the seventies, and still do, some things change, some things don't, c'est la vis.

"Europe is committing cultural suicide."

Another one who plagiarises heavily from the right wing book of rhetoric. You guys must have stricken the word histrionics from the dictionary as it has been rendered moot by this constant hand ringing hysteria. I was planning a trip to the supermarket but I may not bother, god forbid I should run into any Johnny foreigner types, gulp.

Or alternatively I'll order an Indian takeaway, cultural suicide never tasted so good.