BRITAIN: Draconian Measures

The shock waves of the pub explosions that killed 20 people and maimed 183 others in Birmingham are beginning to transform British life. After mailboxes blew up in crowded Piccadilly and two other locations last week, anti-Irish extremists retaliated by throwing fire bombs into several Irish-owned shops, homes and pubs. Lesser but ugly incidents are commonplace. At Charing Cross subway station, a man who had tried to squeeze onto a crowded train was manhandled when other passengers discovered he was Irish. Headlined the raucous tabloid Sun: IT'S WAR.

In Parliament, Roy Jenkins, the humane and reform-minded Home Secretary, found himself...

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