The recent attacks in Germany could easily happen here, and they put into focus the strain of immigration

London) moved a large part of the Brexit majority.

Liberals can deplore the public’s aversion to “too many” foreigners as much as they l i ke , a s L o ndoner s excoriated Brexiters as being ignorant provincials. Ultimately all must accept that people in a d e mo cr a c y are individuals, entitled to their views and their votes — even if London differs.

When I look at a London school playground, vi sit a Mile End A&E department or tour Newham’s slum housing with a rent inspector, I am amazed that London copes. But I cannot pretend that I am the chief victim of besieged public services.

Whether in Berlin or London, inward migration brings benefits but also imposes pressure on housing, schools, doctors and hospitals, which they also run. In some German cities a third of school entrants are Muslims, mostly Turks. We can point out that Muslims — not the same as immigrants — in France, Germany and Britain comprise less than six per cent of the population. Yet their exclusivity and conspicuousness, their concentration in certain areas, breeds undeniable stress and resentment.

It is hard to stop desperate people from fleeing hardship. We would if we were them. The British Government was stupid t o p re te n d it could bring immigration down “to tens of thousands”. Politicians also loved to claim migration can be solved “by promoting wealth in the countries of origin”. These are all fantasies.

Demographers predict that Europe may face a truly massive population migration over the coming century, moving out of Africa and Asia as a result of climate change and political and religious instability. The numbers could be in the tens of millions.

Europe’s democracies are not ready for this. We can argue until we drop that newcomers can be fitted in somewhere. But electorates will clearly not stand for it, as Brexit and opinion polls across Europe clearly indicate. The concept of the nation state defined at least in part by border protection will sooner or later have to acquire a new urgency. Cities such as London and Berlin can take th o u s a n d s , pe r h a p s hu n d re d s of thousands, but not millions.

Th e re is nothing special about Germany’s affliction. It could and may happen to London. We must t ake terrorist horror in our stride, like other unavoidable accidents of life, given that it in no way “threatens L ondon’s security”. But the wider question of how we regulate, greet and treat newcomers to London remains urgent. Already a third of its citizens were born abroad, and a quarter of a million new foreigners arrive each year (only half of whom leave).

I may find this inflow invigorating and enriching. I also know that Britons outside the capital — and Germans outside theirs — increasingly do not. Do I acknowledge this opinion, or merely ignore it?