Thursday, February 02, 2006
Writers Write Well, And All Is Right With The World
MWW bring us the reactions of several writers to the very happy news that the government's terrible Incitement To Religious Hatred bill was tempered as much as possible.
Philip Pullman stated:
'The Commons vote last night shows how thoughtful argument, skilfully deployed in the service of a good cause, can still beat arrogant short-term political jerry-building. The episode also shows that if we want to guard freedom of expression, we can’t relax our vigilance for a minute. Those who think such freedom is a soft luxury, and well worth giving up in order to curry favour with whatever group has the votes they want, will come back another day and from another direction in order to destroy it; those of us who know it’s a hard necessity must be ready for them.'
Quite right too. Salman Rushdie stated more simply:
'There are moments when one is profoundly grateful for, and proud of, British Parliamentary democracy. This is one of them.'
Amen, brother!
Oh, I must also add that I laughed like a drain when I found out that it was Tony's absence that got one of the amendments through. Seriously, I laughed for like five minutes or something. Happy days.
Philip Pullman stated:
'The Commons vote last night shows how thoughtful argument, skilfully deployed in the service of a good cause, can still beat arrogant short-term political jerry-building. The episode also shows that if we want to guard freedom of expression, we can’t relax our vigilance for a minute. Those who think such freedom is a soft luxury, and well worth giving up in order to curry favour with whatever group has the votes they want, will come back another day and from another direction in order to destroy it; those of us who know it’s a hard necessity must be ready for them.'
Quite right too. Salman Rushdie stated more simply:
'There are moments when one is profoundly grateful for, and proud of, British Parliamentary democracy. This is one of them.'
Amen, brother!
Oh, I must also add that I laughed like a drain when I found out that it was Tony's absence that got one of the amendments through. Seriously, I laughed for like five minutes or something. Happy days.
