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Sir Salam Rushdie has been made a knight in the UK. What a stupid and irresponsible move by the British government and what an even more ludicrous move by the Pakistani Government.

The Religious Affairs Minister has called for suicide attacks. Now Iran is stepping up. All the time Bush and his 'doomsday prophecy' crew are rubbing there hands at the emerging vision they have been waiting for, sizing up an attack on Tehran.

Israel is planning attacks on Gaza.

Iraq is still going to pot (80 people killed in a mosque attack yesterday). 7 Children killed in US attacks in Afghanistan.

Governments have lost it. Religous power has lost it

The best hope we have is that we don't all wipe each other out. And then we can start again without need for moral frameworks dictated by religious texts and without being product slaves to capitalist corrupt corporations and democratic imperialism.

The past few years have shown that maybe Mayans were a lot smarter then originally anticipated. Religious war is coming again, but this time it won't be hand wielded weapons it will be WMD's.

As for me I am off to costa rica

Does your daddy know you're using his computer?

Tell me whats homosexual about being concerned about the dire state of this world?

What a stupid and irresponsible move by the British government

I didn't know the Queen is part of the british government. Either way, why is it "stupid" or "irresponsible"?

valkyrie wrote:

What a stupid and irresponsible move by the British government

I didn't know the Queen is part of the british government. Either way, why is it "stupid" or "irresponsible"?

The queen signs off the selected list of 950 potential knights because she is the one who taps the sword on the shoulders - but it's no more then more then a visual performance.

Why is it stupid and irresponsible - for the plain reason of the very motions which are setting forth at this very minute.

Minds are being turned and focused to hate.

I'm pretty sure that occupying Basra province is what creates the conditions of hate against the british government.

valkyrie wrote:I'm pretty sure that occupying Basra province is what creates the conditions of hate against the british government.

And I would agree with you - amongst several other valid reasons.

There aren't 950 knights and dames, the honours list includes several different levels of which knight or dame is highest.

On Rushdie getting one, I understand he's written many learned works but personally never read his stuff, general concensus is he shouldn't have been knighted by the British but then it is a very arcane process that does look to reward people from many fields and not just the obvious choices.

I do find the reaction, fuelled by parliaments in Pakistan and Iran, way over the top though, many probably don't know really what he is said to have said in his novel, just jump on the bandwagon and off we go against the West again. Throw a few more effigies on the fire.

In a time of cultural divisiveness, I actually find it a little sad that the fact that the British people chose to bestow the highest public honour on an Indian immigrant is overshadowed by the moronic actions of a few. That their nations would never be as open to reward immigrants in the same way is a sad indictment on them.

As for the honours system itself, I am fully in support of it. The 950 people mentioned above come from many walks of life and many are nominated by the public. My brother once nominated a guy he knew who worked with underpriveliged kids all his life, even as a hardened ex-Army sergaent the guy was in tears when he got his letter from Buckingham Palace.

Once again, stupid reactions by a few people and once again tarnishing the whole by the pathetic reactions of a few, who prove they're complete morons, who have nothing better to do than to use any old excuse to encourage violent reactions - pathetic!

pakistanis have the right to voice their anger at the award of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie.

Equally, the rest of us have every right to express our anger at the deeply offensive response of pakistan's religious affairs minister who invoked the world's muslims with the comment "If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet, his act is justified."

He later "clarified" his words, but we all know exactly what he was up to. And what of the Labour peer Lord Ahmed, who responds by saying Rushdie has "blood on his hands".

Some people like Rushdie's novels, others don't.

Yes, he has cost the U.K a lot in protecting him and through him, a core value of freedom of speech. But unless there is a strange and violent back-story we didn't know, Sir Salman hasn't the smallest drop of blood on his hands.

If Pakistan is so offended, however, there is a dignified way to deal with the problem.

Last year, Tony Blair went to Lahore to praise its "enlightened moderation" and to announce a rise in our aid budget to Pakistan from £236 million to £480 million. If this is tainted money, it can presumably be returned.

.telegraph.uk . . .