One of the most depressing aspects of the Salman Rushdie stabbing is the way that it so quickly became folded into our ongoing obsession with the so-called culture wars. It is extraordinary and saddening that when writers as august as Philip Pullman, Antony Horowitz and Ian McEwan talk about cultures of fear, self-censorship and death threats, they are not talking about the ravings of fascistic theocratic nutjobs, but their colleagues in the publishing business, other writers, readers. People who love books.
Just to be clear, I don’t think that there are many
