Christopher Hitchens gets it, as always, spot on:

There isn’t an inch to give, nothing to negotiate and no concessions to offer. Those of us who believe in enlightenment and free speech also have unalterable principles which we will not give up. We have to listen all the time to piratical-looking mullahs calling our Jewish friends pigs and demanding the censorship of The Satanic Verses and we find this fantastically insulting, but we don’t behave like babies. They are making a puerile spectacle of themselves.

We should say, how dare you behave in this way? They can put themselves under laws and taboos if they wish, but it is nothing to do with me or anybody else. They are completely out of order.

Contrast that with this elliptical comment from Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty:

We say to Britain’s Muslims in friendship and solidarity — let’s close Guantanamo and end torture flights before we worry about distasteful cartoons. Shutting down free expression is particularly dangerous for minorities. How can my speech be free if yours is so expensive?

I've searched for a clear defence of free speech from Ms Chakrabarti who is, we must remind ourselves, director of Liberty. I can't find one - only other mealy mouthed words such as those. Maybe I've missed it, in which case I owe her an apology. But if I can't find one because it doesn't exist then Ms Chakrabarti has some explaining to do, in letting us know just what is the purpose of her organisation if it is not to defend liberty.