.... The opportunity to draw a line between then and now is irresistible and Azhar spends the last 20 minutes making a convincing and considered argument that the book burnings in Bradford in 1988 led, directly or otherwise, to the ideas of Tommy Robinson and the like becoming mainstream.
Robinson has “tried to intellectualise racism”, Azhar argues, by claiming a fundamental cultural incompatibility. But when he puts a version of that argument to the man who first burned The Satanic Verses, who demonstrates how he did it – he had to soak it in paraffin to keep the pages alight – he finds that, ultimately, he has few regrets. [The Guardian] Read more
