Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Yes, we went to see United 93 (very moving) and we'll go to see World Trade Center (very noble, no doubt) when it arrives, but the 9/11 film we want to see is Snakes on a Plane. But isn't the film a satire on action movies and not about terrorism? Not quite. Dana Stevens at Slate attempts a reading of it as a post-9/11 allegory. It is literally about terrorism, she says.

"Snakes on a Plane doesn't need to be conscious of itself as a 9/11 movie to effectively function as one. It plays on all our fears — the dangers of air travel, the death of innocents, the random appearance of evil in our daily lives — but it allows us to master those fears, and, ultimately, to achieve some measure of control over them — not to give anything away, but I think you've figured out this isn't United 93. Hell, dealing with a few adders in first class would be a cakewalk compared to the al-Qaida agents we really fear."

Our fears about the "dangers of air travel" got a run in the non-film world on Saturday when there was a mutiny on Flight 613: "British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny — refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed. The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic."

This is what happens when people lose faith in the ability of airlines and, to a greater extent, the security forces, to protect them. Today's New York Times carries a story headlined: "British Law Against Glorifying Terrorism Has Not Silenced Calls to Kill for Islam", which is very disturbing and forces one to ask: Why has Britain become a global centre of Islamic extremism? Simon Nixon has no doubts. It's all because of the dread "multiculturalism". In "Britain's cultural cowardice", he writes: "As a result, Britain has a huge Muslim population, much of which is increasingly alienated from mainstream society. 'Londonistan' is no longer just a safe haven for foreign extremists. Today, it nurtures home-grown terrorists, many born in Britain, educated at British schools and attending British universities."

It is frightening, of course, when people take the law into their own hands and force harmless fellow passengers off planes, but if Britain persists with its misguided "multiculturalism" we can expect to see more mutinies. Or worse.