The unpredictable sense of anarchy which contributes so much to making Brighton and Hove such a stimulating place has kicked our pomposity in the backside again.

Jedi Knights! Six and a half thousand people had the wit and the courage to fill in that response to the question about religion in the national census form.

That is four times the average of other towns and cities - nearly 400,000 Jedi Knights around the country!

My only sadness now is that I was too stuffy to do the same thing myself. I want to be a Jedi Knight, not a boring old C of E.

But that was the fun part of the census. The rest of it produced both alarming and dispiriting statistics.

For instance, the number of homes occupied by married couples has fallen below 50 per cent, reflecting sweeping social changes in family life. And also for the first time, people aged over 60 outnumber children under 15.

There has been a steady rise in the number of never-married single people living on their own, lone parents and co-habiting couples - of which Brighton and Hove has the dubious distinction of having the highest proportion in the country. Could there be some bizarre connection with the Jedi Knights here?

But of course the facts and figures dealing with ethnic changes were the most startling.

On the one hand, the ethnic population of the UK as a whole is still less than 8 per cent. This is infinitely lower than the image propagated by those liberal media zealots determined to display their multicultural credentials.

TV drama, soaps, news, documentaries tend to reflect a much higher proportion of ethnic faces in the land than is actually the case.

On the other hand, whites now account for less than half the population in Brent in north London, and Newham in east London. And analysts will fuel the already fevered debate on multiculturalism. They are predicting that Leicester will become the first city in the land with a non-white majority by 2011. Other cities such as Birmingham would be expected to follow.

But while Islam has emerged as the second largest faith after Christianity, the gulf is 3 per cent for Muslims and 72 per cent for Christians.

You can read what you want into the complex figures about changing Britain. But the census dramatically underlines the need for urgency and firmness in dealing with the morass of underlying problems this emerging new society is throwing up.

Should everyone be made to learn the English language? Should the teaching of British history be compulsory? How important is it for all immigrants to absorb and respect our culture? Should a loyalty to Britain be imposed with an oath of allegiance?

These and many more questions need to be addressed and dealt with. The present administration is showing neither the resolve nor the courage to do so. Sweeping them under the carpet will create dangerously destabilising problems for the future.