The USA approach looks like bullying because it is.

Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body was like that. If you watched it carefully enough you could see how it moved to the rhythm of the world, the deep rhythm, the music below the music, the truth below the truth. He believed in this hidden truth the way other men believed in God or love, believed that truth was in fact always hidden, that the apparent, the overt, was invariably a kind of lie.

Free societies are societies in motion, and with motion comes friction.

Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way.

It is often said by religious people that without its framework, there is no sense of right or wrong. My view is that religion comes after ethics.

What I do think is evident is that those countries in the world where Islamic extremism has recovered the most power, those are also the countries which are most disliked.

I have to say that after some initial resistance, I'm now a complete 'Game of Thrones' addict.