“The plan I came up with was to invite theatres across the country to read the play and discuss it afterwards, to have a debate so there was more understanding about the whole issue.  I was proceeding with these plans until last night, when I received a request from the author.”

Neal Foster, actor-manager, Birmingham Stage Company.

That request from Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, the author of the play, Bezhti, was made from hiding because of death threats against her by fellow Sikhs.  They, fearing that Neal Foster’s defence of liberal values might result again in their religious sensibilities being offended, then called him on the phone.

“They said I would be shot if I continued with plans to stage the play,” he said. “I have taken them seriously.”

Quite.  But why wouldn’t the rioters and phone-terrorists feel emboldened to pursue such a course when the junior Minister responsible for race relations, Fiona Mactaggart, says this:-

“I think that when people are moved by theatre to protest, in a way that’s a sign of the free speech which is so much part of the British tradition.  I think that it’s a great thing that people care enough about a performance to protest.  I think that the free speech of the protesters is as important as the free speech of the artist.  The question is that we need to be able to prevent violence being a part of that debate.”

At this point in proceedings you must imagine her an hour or two later at her Whitehall desk, the telephone pressed to her ear.  “Yes Minister,” she says, “No Minister, not a freedom of expression, Minister.  Not a brick, no Minister.  I will do it right away, Minister.  Awfully sorry, Minister.”

Queue next statement to the press.  “... Outrageous that any group should threaten the safety of theatregoers ... I don’t think throwing a brick through a window is a freedom of expression.  It is against the law and people who do it should be prosecuted.”

Well, I noted in the thread to my previous piece yesterday on this matter that it was, essentially, a contest between two liberal causes: multiculturalism and the freedom to offend.  We learn from Ms Mactaggart’s first reaction that multiculturalism out-ranks freedom.  From her second we learn that political expediency out-ranks them both.

The losers in this affair are not abstract political principles but people.  Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti has lost her freedom of movement.  Ms Mactaggart has lost the absolute trust of her superiors.  The batty one certainly deserves it.  The Bhatti one deserves some sympathy.

The gainer, for once, is the native English who have been shown a window into the soul of the Sub-Continent.  It isn’t just a Moslem thing, you see.  It’s just not our thing.