Muslims in Britain are the most anti-western in Europe

The thing is: what's this about? If you'd asked me before reading this what my guess about UK Muslim attitudes would be compared with France, Germany and Spain's Muslim minorities, I'd have said that my guess would be that UK Muslims would respond more positively. But ...

The poll found that 63% of all Britons had a favourable opinion of Muslims, down slightly from 67% in 2004, suggesting last year's London bombings did not trigger a significant rise in prejudice. Attitudes in Britain were more positive than in the US, Germany and Spain (where the popularity of Muslims has plummeted to 29%), and about the same as in France.
Less than a third of British non-Muslims said they viewed Muslims as violent, significantly fewer than non-Muslims in Spain (60%), Germany (52%), the US (45%) and France (41%).
By contrast, the poll found that British Muslims represented a "notable exception" in Europe, with far more negative views of westerners than Islamic minorities elsewhere on the continent. A significant majority viewed western populations as selfish, arrogant, greedy and immoral. Just over half said westerners were violent. While the overwhelming majority of European Muslims said westerners were respectful of women, fewer than half British Muslims agreed. Another startling result found that only 32% of Muslims in Britain had a favourable opinion of Jews, compared with 71% of French Muslims.

So what's going on? Is it that a higher proportion of UK Muslims come from backgrounds that are more defensive, less open and tolerant? That's certainly a possibility, given that the family background of the majority is poor, rural Mirpuri with a high degree of transcontinental marriages still going on. So that seems a plausible factor. And that would go with a later observation from the article.

Muslim attitudes in Britain more resembled public opinion in Islamic countries in the Middle East and Asia than elsewhere in Europe

. That would make explanations that majored on strong links to less westernised Muslim communities in Muslim majority areas strong contenders for explanatory hypotheses. So I will hold that in mind as I contemplate these figures more. Other ideas, though, would be welcome.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Poll shows Muslims in Britain are the most anti-western in Europe:

Filed in: Muslim, UK, attitudes, values, women, Jews