Over the last year a quasi-religious turf war has sprung up on the streets of London.
So far, all this has led to is a quasi-religious turf war between some dickhead ex-EDL members calling themselves Britain First and some other dickheads from the entourage of Anjem Choudary, a radical Muslim cleric.
He knows his Northern California turf, from its near- religious faith in the Internet to its lock-step sedateness.
After World War II, when federal and state governments monopolized the education, health and welfare services that had been dominated by the churches, fierce turf battles arose about whose religious message would predominate in the newly expanding public sphere.
This meant that technocrats got turfed out of their jobs by religious Shia parties, and in some cases terrorised by radical Shia militias.
Mr. le Carré set "A Most Wanted Man" in Germany because of its explosive ethnic and religious mix, its strained debates over immigration and the turf-battling disarray of its intelligence services.
Land is comfortable on this turf, too, bringing a terrible conviction to the religious war he envisions.
I suspect most people, religious or not, shudder at politicians pitching their tents on church turf.
