Pullman: The Humanists' L. Ron Hubbard Salman Rushdie missed a trick. If he had set the Satanic Verses in the nostalgic Oxford of the establishment and described puddings, punts and shoplifting T. S. Eliot from the Oxford bookshops - What japes! - in his book instead of being so exotically "oriental" then he t0o could have passed under the radar. Philip Pullman is cock-a-hoop, though. He can't understand why he got off so lightly. Roald Dahl castigated Salman Rushdie for his insensitivity. Philip Pullman deserves a little castigation too. Philip Pullman thinks the problem with our society is religion. So this is what he does about it. He gets children's attention by using magic and fantasy as a plot device and then, towards the end of his trilogy, once he has enticed them into "His Dark Materials" sweet cart, he then whips away the cover and the promises of magical wonder fade. The children find themselves locked into the barred rationalist cage
Left wing commentary from the heart and the head