From Fatwa
to Jihad:
The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy

 

 

"Gripping...
The Rushdie affair has shaped all our lives.
This book shows us how."

Hanif Kureishi

"Riveting political history... Impeccably researched, brimming with detail, yet razor-sharp in its argument"

Lisa Appignanesi
Independent

"An important intervention in the debate on freedom of expression"

Monica Ali

"Few writers have untangled the paradoxes and unintended consequences of political Islam as deftly as Malik"

Maureen Freely
Washington Post

"Enthralling"

Robert McCrum
Observer

"Terrific"

Bryan Appleyard
Sunday Times

"Valuable and sophisticated"

Theodore Dalrymple
City Journal

"Seldom can a book have had a more searing relevance to contemporary events"

Lindsay Johns
New Humanist

"One of the best analysis of today's conflicts"

Henrik Gade Jensen,
Jyllands-Posten

"Indepensable"

Bent Blüdnikow,
Berlingske Tidende

"Dazzlingly well written...indispensable "

Henning Lyngsbo,
Historie-online.dk

"Elegant...
A necessary book"

Nazneen Khan-Østrem
Aftenposten

"An admirable piece of reportage... subtle and intelligent"

Stuart Kelly
Scotsman

"Scalpel-sharp"

Saif Shahin
Mail Today

"Detailed and arresting"

Sudeep Paul
Indian Express

"Faith has transformed itself into the religious wing of identity politics. Religion has, ironically, become secularised, driven less by a search for piety and holiness than for identity and belongingness. The rise of identity politics has transformed the meaning not just of religion but of blasphemy too. Blasphemy used to be regarded as a sin against God. These days it is felt as a sin against the individual believer, an offence against the self and one’s identity. "

'Beyond the sacred'
Blasphemy! conference
London,
28 January 2012








"There is a long history, reaching back into the Raj, of applying heavy handed censorship supposedly to ease fraught relationships between different communities. It is a process that in recent decades has greatly intensified. Hand in hand with more oppressive censorship has come, however, not a more peaceful society, but one in which the sense of a common nation has increasingly broken down into sectarian rivalries, as every group demands its right not to be offended. "

'To name the unnameable'
Pandaemonium
22 January 2012








" Terrorism has come to be presented as self-evident, the use of unconscionable violence to undermine basic freedoms and liberties. But, as the response to the Iranian assassinations reveals, ‘terrorism’ remains a deeply politicized concept. Iran is a terrorist state. Saudi Arabia, despite probably sponsoring more terrorist groups, and despite being equally undemocratic and brutal, is a valued Western ally. The murder of an Iranian citizen is a justified act. Plotting to kill a Saudi official is international terrorism."

'The terrorists that are and
the terrorists that aren't'
Bergens Tidende
17 January 2012








"Suppose that Oliver Brüstle had patented a technique to produce neurons from adult, rather than embryonic, stem cells. Would Greenpeace have objected? Unlikely. The key issue, therefore, is not that of patents but that of the legal and moral status of embryos, and of cells that derive from them. "

'Embryo research, scientific patents and Greenpeace:
a debate'
Göteborgs Posten
2 January 2012








"The depth of the economic crisis has led to talk of a ‘crisis of capitalism’. And yet, unlike in the 1930s, or the 1980s, there is today no political challenge to capitalism. Workers’ organizations have been destroyed, the left has imploded, as has the idea that there could be an alternative to the market system. As a result, despite the economic crisis, capital has never been so ascendant over labour. The one depressing certainty of 2012 is that capitalism is likely to end the year economically weaker, but politically stronger. "

'A year of momentous change and of little change'
Bergens Tidende
2 January 2012

3 Februray 2012
Why I am an atheist
Trinity College
Stoke Hill, Stoke Bishop
Bristol BS9 1JP
11.10

I am explaining to theology students why I don't believe.

8 February 2012
The Moral Maze
BBC Radio 4
20.00

Also on the panel are Michael Portillo, Claire Fox and Matthew Taylor.

16 Februray 2012
A Conversation with
Patrick French
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place
London WC2H 0HE
19.00

I am talking to Patrick French about his new book India: A Portrait. Details and tickets from the NPG

24 February 2012
Any Questions?
BBC Radio 4
20.00

My debut on the show.

29 February 2012
The Moral Maze
BBC Radio 4
20.00

Also on the panel are Melanie Phillips, Claire Fox and Matthew Taylor.

14 March 2012
The Moral Maze
BBC Radio 4
20.00

Also on the panel are Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo and Clifford Longley.

23 March 2012
Is Multiculturalism in Crisis?
Samuel Alexander Theatre,
University of Manchester
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
16.00-18.00

Debate with Mary Dejevsky (Independent), Jon Gower Davies (author and academic), Alexei Miller (Russian Academy of Sciences), Tariq Modood (Bristol University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship) and Erik van Ree (University of Amsterdam). Details from the University of Manchester, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures.

28 March 2012
The Moral Maze
BBC Radio 4
20.00

Also on the panel are Melanie Phillips, Claire Fox and Michael Portillo.