Hassan Mahamdallie

The new imperialist era that Western leaders have embarked upon, and its repercussions, have wrought extraordinary transformations on sections of the intelligentsia. Take the example of Martin Amis. Since the 9/11 attacks the once voguish novelist, author of books including London Fields, has been steadily building up a body of work that has essentially argued that Islamism is the new fascist threat akin to Hitler's regime.

You have written many books on maritime history. In the introduction to The Slave Ship you say that this was a painful book to write. Why was that?

There is little doubt, for example, that next year's 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade on British territory will be a hotly contested arena.

The indications are not good. John Prescott is in charge of official proceedings. His contribution so far has been to highlight the "achievement" of William Wilberforce - who, like Prescott, represented Hull in parliament.

HM: Your book Stranger In A Strange Land is divided into four sections-war, race, politics and culture. What are the overarching themes for you?

What a godsend Trevor Phillips has become for the right wing press and New Labour.

Communists in Harlem first came out in 1983. What spurred you to write it?

I was very involved in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the late 1960s and the whole approach of the Communist Party to the 'Negro question' was something that different groups in SDS were using to justify or explain their own understanding of race in America in that pretty tumultuous era. They used the communist approach particularly to justify how they would deal with organisations like the Black Panthers or black student unions on college campuses.

I was struck by the Guardian article about you turning down the OBE in which you wrote, 'I woke up on the morning of 13 November wondering how the government could be overthrown and what could replace it, and then I noticed a letter from the prime minister's office.'

Sukhdev Sandhu's journey through 300 years of black and Asian writers and commentators on Britain's capital city is very much worth reading. In London Calling we encounter a gallery of people - from Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, a former slave whose ghostwritten memoirs were published in 1772, right through to 'Yardie' novelist Victor Headley.

This collection by Hanif Kureishi is divided into two parts--'Politics' and 'Culture and Films'. The latter section records how Kureishi's films--'My Beautiful Laundrette', 'Sammy and Rosie Get Laid', 'My Son The Fanatic' and 'Intimacy'--got to the silver screen. Kureishi says that he wrote 'My Son The Fanatic' as a response to the 'fatwa' on Salman Rushdie after the publication of 'The Satanic Verses'. Most of the protests against it took place in the northern towns now stalked by the BNP.

It didn't take long for this government's brief flirtation with Britain's Muslims to come to an end. No sooner had the war against Afghanistan been 'won', accompanied by convenient pictures of religious leaders on the steps of 10 Downing Street, than it was back to normal. Tony Blair tucked his copy of the Koran away, and out came the Old Testament figure of home secretary David Blunkett.