A policing nightmare it may be — this year especially — yet I still rate the Notting Hill Carnival as a triumph of civilisation. Only 60 years ago, carnival was a Caribbean and Latin-American phenomenon, and London was a white, mono-cultural city. There may have been a few bumps along the way, but the capital today is a thrilling kaleidoscope of races and faces, ethnic nosh and hybrid music. And next weekend’s carnival will be a joyous affirmation of the fact that — a handful of thugs and racists aside — Londoners revel in belonging to the world’s most diverse city. Carnival is one of the great successes of multiculturalism. The Arts Council has even launched a pretentiously titled “National Carnival Arts Strategy” to extend the reach of what it calls this “major art form in England”.

Yet in other respects, multiculturalism is under attack, along with the artistic-diversity objectives for which it stands. Those objectives are founded on the notion that society is enriched by free expression and by encouraging people to learn from one another’s cultures. However, it is becoming disconcertingly evident that certain communities do not uphold these objectives.

One sign came last December. Sikhs in Birmingham protested so vigorously against the staging of a play of which they did not approve that it was cancelled.
Then came the July 7 bombs and the revelation of an underclass of young British Muslims whoseem resolved to drive a wedge between themselves and everyone else. That, in turn, has provoked a backlash. You hear a lot of coded talk about forcing people to “sign up to British values”. That’s ironic. The greatest British value is that we don’t force people to sign up to anything.

Where does this leave our prized multicultural society? The answer is shafted. Can you have an “almost multicultural” policy? Can you carry 95 per cent of the population along in a rainbow-coloured caravan but leave an embittered 5 per cent churning outside? Surely not if you want to have peace. Yet that is what has happened. Britain can boast great steel bands, gospel choirs, Chinese New Year festivities, St Patrick’s Day parades, Diwali celebrations. But tap the word “Muslim” into the search engine on the Arts Council’s website and you draw a blank. One community has opted out of the carnival. And we are only just waking up to the devastating implications of that.

In The Times last week, Salman Rushdie called for a “Muslim Renaissance”. That would be nice. Islam’s cultural achievements were a shining light in medieval times. In the modern world, however, its image is of a house with the doors barricaded and windows shuttered. Nevertheless, I wonder how much real effort quangos such as the Arts Council have made to establish links with British inhabitants. Forget the National Carnival Arts Strategy. We need a strategy to persuade disaffected Muslim youngsters that they can make a valued contribution to our shared society. Until that happens, “multiculturalism” is a dangerous sham.

Notting Hill Carnival (www.rbkc.gov.uk/NottingHill05), Aug 28-29