The problem with the self-chosen conscience keepers of the under class is that they are not comfortable with either history or the present moment. A letter to Comrade Basu, urging him to play the patron saint and tell fellow-comrades that they are equally superannuated. Rushdie's new book, a thriller, will have Bombay and New York in equal measure. Thanks to Vajpayee, India has realised the redundancy of anti-Americanism. Peace was a local, provincial term of reference at the New York Millennium Summit.
Every city gets the grand old man of letters it deserves.
After the fur cap and dark glasses, welcome to gun and mega-W moustache. If George W. Bush becomes President, it will only reflect the desperation of an essentially conservative America.