The Salman Rushdie attack shows things have got worse, not better

Yesterday’s horrific attack on Salman Rushdie in New York has been met with a barrage of support and solidarity. Few today would dare utter the pathetic “yes but” apologetics which marred his initial hounding by angry mobs. No one, surely, would go on Question Time now, as Shirley Williams once did to claim that he “offended Muslims” and made himself a …