Ms Applebaum cites, and provides a link, to a new report by CIVITAS (2008) on honor-based violence in the UK as evidence that honor killings are a "perennial problem" there. I think this report does nothing to support Ms Applebaum's claim and is substantively devoid of factual value.

If Ms Applebaum were to read this report, she would see that the best estimates of yearly honor killings in the UK is 10-12 individuals as mentioned by a law enforcement official in 2003. The report's footnote goes on to elaborate that while no firm studies have been conducted since this "guess-timate" the author's firmly believe that the actual number of honor killings is much higher. Unfortunately, we don't know an exact estimate and the report does not go to great lengths to provide an more accurate estimate.

Yet another problem with relying on this source to buttress Ms Applebaum's argument: the bias of the report itself. CIVITAS is a British think tank that, amongst other things, is deeply concerned about the unsettling effects of multiculturalism on the UK ( check out CIVITAS Center for Social Cohension's web site and judge the tenor of the group yourself... <link> Specifically, they seem disproportionately worried about the influence of Muslim immigrants on British culture. In short, I think this source is highly biased and not fit to us as a buttress for an argument.