The Current Discussion: A London publishing house was firebombed for agreeing to publish 'The Jewel of Medina', a controversial novel about Muhammad's wife, which Random House dropped earlier this year because it feared terrorist threats. In hindsight, was Random House in the right? Does this justify censorship of this kind in the future?

I live in London just up the road from the publisher whose house was firebombed. To say that Random House is responsible for the firebombing would be silly - but by its timorous decision not to publish The Jewel of Medina, it certainly made it more likely. And the firebombing does not make me feel kindly towards Random House.

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