Rushdie 1, Protestors 0

"What if they gave a war and no-one came?" went the popular Vietnam-era poster. Well, there's more than an echo of that in what happened in Blackburn the other day, according to this report. A march to protest Sir Salman's knighthood had been announced by Tasaddiq Rehman, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Europe. But "nobody turned up at the meeting point of Bangor Street Community Centre, nor at the town hall where a demonstration was planned." It gets better: "It appears that not even the organiser himself had attended, despite telling the Lancashire Telegraph that he expected high levels of interest in the march."

(NB. The report has sparked off some raucous comments, from "this march was cancelled over a week ago" to "we need more Mr Rushids (sic) in this town. Well done old chap.")