Mick Hartley comments on the statement by Julie Birchill’s ex-publishers about why they cancelled her book:
And you can almost guarantee that if someone states how they “believe passionately in freedom of speech”, it’s a prelude to an act of censorship which proves that, actually, they don’t.
It’s the word “passionately” that is so nauseating, in this context. What this actually means is: “Somewhat less than before this row happened, which we are going to give in to.”
Little, Brown didn’t actually use the word “but” in their statement, to signal the reversal. But, if they had, it would have changed nothing of importance.
Can you imagine a world in which someone was rude about Jesus and had their book cancelled? It’s all very odd.