Holding is employed at just about every major airport, worldwide, so stop losing sleep! In the USA delaying tactics sometimes avoid actual holding but speed reduction often takes place a long way out. In Europe there is considerably less airspace to play with so holding patterns are employed. Some pilots like them, others do not, but they serve their purpose.
I dealt with Heathrow Traffic from 1972 and we used to hold in those days, even though the daily movements were considerably less than today. Problem is that many flyers - especially business men - wish to arrive in the morning and depart in the evening. Even then, there are times during the day when there is no holding. As I write this, traffic is coming straight off the stacks at high speed with no delay into Heathrow but come this evening things will be somewhat different.