Interesting. A few points.

Carol C --25 June 2007 11:53 PM: "My opinion is that it was Muslim-baiting".



Steve Shaw: I totally agree with you -- the Rachmininoff 2nd piano concerto does worlds for me more than the 3rd. Good to hear it from you. I bet the fascination with the 3rd has to do with that movie--can't even remember anything about the movie.. What do you think?

But I have to disagree on the Rushdie business.   Have you not heard of "No good deed goes unpunished?"   Why do you not think the committee, which is not required to be made up of foreign policy analysts, as far as I know, was both trying to honor a man's unquestionable literary achievement--and with classic clumsiness admittedly-- trying to build better relations between the UK and Asia--as the Guardian says? Neither of those should be a hanging crime.

However, if anybody thinks that Muslim-baiting is in fact behind the knighthood, it would seem, after over 400 posts, that perhaps it's time to start bringing out the evidence behind this theory---with source.

I'm sure we'd all like to see it.