Jeff Black | Berlin

…And indignance amongst the Islamist apologists.

Over past couple of weeks a sort of debate-by-columns has been going on in the feuilletons of the German newspapers. A feuilleton, by the way, is where weighty but yet somehow too-hurriedly-written articles on culture get published, every single day. It never ceases to amaze me how this can go on, considering that you need the concentration of a racing driver to get through one of these articles, never mind three large sheets before breakfast. But anyway.

The debate has been about whether Europeans are entitled to defend the right to offend – especially when, like Danish “Mohammed Cartoonist” Kurt Westergaard, one can be attacked in one’s own home – or whether We (capital intended) ought not to “abuse” free speech and offend in the first place.

I would like to get involved in this debate, perhaps even piss a few people off, but I can’t help thinking that while we are waffling about it, some loony somewhere is planning how to knock Salman Rushdie off.