Human rights: a common standard for all peoples? Reclaiming Britishness: Living together after 11 September and the rise

The link between tall towers, diverse communities and a common language is of biblical proportions. Literally. In the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel we learn that those who build high to boast loud risk being brought down to size and that the struggle to understand each other is made much more diffi cult when we speak different languages, both literally and metaphorically. We have been confronted with these issues, it seems, since the beginning of recorded history. In the year 2002 – as we grope around in the aftermath of September 11th and tensions and disturbances closer to home – we fi nd we are still grappling with them.