“The country is like a tinderbox now,” according to Robert Jenrick, a prominent Conservative Party politician and potential future leader. Seven out of ten Britons agree, at least judging by a recent poll from The Economist . Not to be upstaged, Elon Musk’s AI Grok gave us the date of Aug. 5 for when things would boil over. And a few days later, indeed, there were perhaps 20 protests across the country against asylum-seekers housed in hotels.

There was no widespread civil unrest . Total attendance at those demonstrations was in the low thousands. Yet there are still worrying signs about Britain’s direction, and how the political and media class are fueling xenophobia.

Immigration has soared up the political agenda. By some measures it is now the most important issue for much of

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