Culture

Coming at you fairly soon from Manchester

December 03, 2007
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Oh dear. The rumours are true: Terry Eagleton will not be able to join Martin Amis in debate this evening in Manchester, due to his "international commitments" (and not—as was made clear to me by the University when I phoned up to check—not in any way because he may have bottled it).

There should still be some lively discussing going on, however, as Amis is being joined by both the translator, author, teacher and journalist Maureen Freely (best known for her translations of Orhan Pamuk) and by Ed Husain, author of The Islamist. A piece Husain wrote for Comment is Free yesterday gives some taste of his likely attitude towards "Martin Amis, who has found Islam a convenient whipping boy for all things religious"—feelings, doubtless, will be running high on all sides.

In the absence of Eagleton, live blogging doesn't seem the most interesting way to report on the event: so instead, my laptop and I will divulge a detailed report onto this blog later this evening. Stand by for breezy observations on the clash of civilizations.