In the same issue of the Independent, John Lichfield pondered on whether the French had got it right all along with their strict secular constitution (this fascinating article is available on-line only for a charge). “The French-is-French approach seems to work better than the British-means-many-things approach. A recent poll by the Pew Research Centre in the US found that 46 per cent of French Muslims considered themselves French first and Muslim second. Only 42 per cent said they felt Muslim first. In Britain, according to the Pew poll, 81 per cent of Muslims say that their faith is a more important part of their identity than their British nationality.”