There was broad condemnation of the attack from most parts of the French political spectrum. French journalists told me that in private, media and political folk were asking whether such a cover had been really necessary, but in public they united in upholding the right to publish. In Britain, the position taken would have been precisely the other way round.

The incident was considered serious enough for the prime minister, François Fillon, to weigh in. "Freedom of expression is an inalienable right in our democracy," he said, "and all attacks on the freedom of the press must be condemned with the greatest firmness." It is a depressing fact that such a comment from a senior British politician in similar circumstances here would be more or less inconceivable. Indeed, there have been similar circumstances: the home of the director of the publishers Gibson Square was firebombed in 2008, after it was announced that it would be handling the UK publication of the novel The Jewel of Medina (it was subsequently cancelled). There was silence from our political establishment. Perhaps in Britain, there would have to be deaths before heads were raised above the political parapet to defend the right to cause offence.