GORDON Prentice got more than he bargained for when he raised the question of whether Salman Rushdie's controversial novel 'The Satanic Verses' would be banned by the new Anti-Terror Bill going through Parliament.

He made the mistake of raising the issue of the book, alleged by some to blaspheme the prophet Mohammed, which led to the author being sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Khomeini, with the fastidious and learned Labour veteran Gerald Kaufman.

Pendle MP Mr Prentice said many Muslims in East Lancashire were outraged by the volume.

He asked the Commons Culture Committee chairman if he would support prosecuting Mr Rushdie under the new Bill's proposals to outlaw "incitement to religious hatred."

Somewhat to Mr Prentice's surprise, Mr Kaufman replied: "I am an extremely strong opponent of any action against Salman Rushdie -- except on literary grounds, as I think he is a very bad novelist.

"If I have a single achievement in life, it is that I prevented his inclusion on the Booker Literary Prize shortlist in the year when I was chairman of the Booker judges."

This was clearly not quite what Mr Prentice expected. He commented: "Gerald was just being his usual flippant self. But there is a serious issue here. I am not infavour of book burning.

JANET Anderson's problems with dates continue! Last week she revealedseveral of her Rossendale and Darwen constituents turned up for a supermarket surgery in Rawtenstall a week early, when the management put up the wrong day.

Now she has done the same trick herself. Last weekend, the Methodist Labour MP arrived at Bacup Trinity Baptist Church for its 40th anniversary celebrations -- only to be politely told they weren't due for another 12 months. Obviously losing herWhitehall diary secretary when she lost her job as Tourism Minister in the summer government reshuffle has proved too much for her and she needs to invest in an electronic personal organiser to be in the right place at the right time!