Yet does this help us get at the issue of how tolerant Western states should begin to consider cases of free expression in relation to the Islamic faith? It helps us suggest that the problem —if there is to be one —is not with "offence" itself, but rather the practical laws which register such offence. The Christian-centric hold on the blasphemy laws meant that offence registered by British Muslims was not recognized by the law whereas a comparable offence registered by Christians would have been recognized before the law. The blasphemy laws were entirely impracticable for a defense by British Muslims, had the level of offence warranted government intervention. However, I contend —despite the legal flaw —that the harm done by the case of blasphemous free expression did not warrant interference, since, as Mill argues, "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." No significant harm to others was perpetrated by Rushdie or anyone associated with him. To the contrary, the opposite is true of Iranian Muslims, who persistently threaten a fatwa on the head of Rushdie.

It is necessary to defend free expression simply because it is the true part of "the" British way of life in which individuals are allowed to enjoy basic personal freedoms. It is one of the basic freedoms that has been and will be placed beyond all others.

J. P. McConalogue was born in Essex in 1979. For the past five years, he has been working in the editorial departments of various publishing companies in London and Essex, in addition to studying political thought at Birkbeck College (University of London) and the University of York. He is currently a postgraduate student at the University of York. His poetry publications include: the chapbook 'Terra Incognita' (2003); 'Rhodian Moon Night' (www.hauntingspectre.co.uk, 2004); 'Restless' and 'Romford, Born and Bred: The Politics of the Human Species' (Open Wide Magazine, 2005); 'The March of Night' (Aesthetica, 2005) and 'Of stars that do not give a damn' (in the anthology: The Shape of Tomorrow, Forward Press, 2005).