“Writers have been in terrible situations and have yet managed to produce extraor…” — Salman Rushdie

Certainly, poverty and economic decline have a lot to do with the so-called rage of Islam. You've got all these young men in countries which are economically in bad shape. The idea that they might be able to make a good living and get married and have a family, a decent life, seems very remote to a lot of people in a lot of the world.

Normally when I read, I don't like music playing.

I accept there are people out there who don't like me. I don't like them.

The West was involved in toppling the Mossadegh government. That ultimately led to the Iranian revolution.