DJ Taylor argues that writers walk where politicians fear to tread:

whatever we might think about Martin Amis’s views on Islam or high-profile literary lobbying of international summit meetings, there is one compelling reason why these voices should be heard. Broadly speaking we inhabit a society in which certain political and cultural topics have more or less disappeared from public discussion, such is the anxiety with which politicians contemplate their approach. Amis elsewhere describes his self-consciously fearless statements on religion and “demographic questions” as ventures into otherwise “undiscussable” territory. And at a time when the population of the UK is predicted to increase by as much as 17% by 2031, it is perfectly legitimate to enquire what the consequences might be for our national identity, and yet fear of playing into the hands of the lunatic right means scarcely any politician dares initiate a debate on the subject.

In half a dozen current causes célèbres, whether specific (the attacks on Monica Ali, say, for having the cheek to write a novel about the Asian communities of the East End), or general (the future of public service broadcasting, the continuing trivialisation of our cultural life) one looks for a political response and finds nothing more than a hole in the air. Only the other month I chanced upon the spectacle of the housing minister Yvette Cooper outlining the government’s long-term plans for housing development, a series of pronouncements which could have been summarised by the slogan “We are going to do this whether you like it or not” and a kind of masterclass in illiberal and anti-democratic smugness.

In cases like these the writer becomes a politician by default, colonising territory from which politicians have effectively retreated. Curiously enough, in a world where only certain things can be said (usually for fear of offending people who would prefer hardly anything to be said at all) the man or woman at the desk seems a much doughtier defender of tolerance, freedom of expression and social justice than the pin-striped reality-softeners of the Westminster chamber.