My children are English, and both of their mothers were English.

Fundamentalists of all faiths are the fundamental evil of our time.

The publishing of a book is a worldwide event. The attempt to suppress a book is a worldwide event.

In the end, the thing that's important about free expression is that it's the right from which all other rights are derived. If you can't articulate ideas and if you can't articulate critiques of other peoples' ideas, then you're powerless. What always increases the power of an authoritarian regime is whether it can successfully prevent people from expressing themselves.

I became a writer because I got addicted to story. The first storyteller in my life was my father.

When...did it become irrational to dislike religion, any religion, even to dislike it vehemently? When did reason get redescribed as unreason? When were the fairy stories of the superstitious placed above criticism, beyond satire? A religion was not a race. It was an idea, and ideas stood (or fell) because they were strong enough (or too weak) to withstand criticism, not because they were shielded from it. Strong ideas welcomed dissent.

Raif Badawi's is an important voice for all of us to hear.