Life in France is understandably different after the recent terrorist attacks, as Dalrymple reports from the scene:

On Christmas Eve, a group of 12 Muslims in the northern French town of Lens gathered round to protect a church where midnight mass was about to be performed. They wanted, they said, to give a different and better impression of Islam from that which is increasingly taking hold in Europe.

No doubt this was a well-intentioned gesture on the part of the 12 individuals, decent people all. But it could hardly achieve the desired end: for from whom was the church in Lens in need of protection? There is only one possible answer, an answer not likely to alter the image of Islam…