Brick Lane

Alexander Chancellor: Author Monica Ali is not alone in imagining the twists and turns Princess Diana's life may have taken had she lived

Letters: As a mixed-race novelist ... I would like to say to your leader writer (The trouble with Brick Lane, October 27) that I reserve the right to imagine anyone and anything I damn well please.

Leader: A film or a book that sets out to be a contemporary record of a particular community living in a well-known area cannot ignore them.

There were threats of demonstrations, book burnings and even violence among some members of the Bangladeshi community. But was the controversy surrounding the filming of Brick Lane as heated as the media suggested? Not at all, writes author Monica Ali.

Brick Lane, the film adaptation of the Monica Ali bestseller, has been pulled as this year's Royal Film Performance, with reports suggesting organisers feared ongoing protests about the film might embarrass Prince Charles.

Emdad Rahman: Protests against plans to film Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane will ensure that the book keeps flying off the shelves.

Natasha Walter: Supporting marginalised communities in their fight for social justice should not mean aligning with reactionary forces. Nobody has the moral right to stamp on the cinematic recreation of Monica Ali's humane tale.

July 31: Salman Rushdie, Hari Kunzru and Lisa Appignanesi have attacked community groups, the police and the media after Ruby Films' decision to abandon filming Brick Lane in London's Tower Hamlets area last week.

Sunny Hundal: The concocted controversy must not prevent the filming of Monica Ali's book.

Letters: Germaine Greer's article (G2, July 24) about the proposed filming of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane is a strange mixture of ignorance (she actually believes that this is the first novel to portray London's Bangladeshi community, and doesn't know that many Brick Lane Asians are in favour of the filming); pro-censorship twaddle (no, people do not have the "moral right" to prevent the making of a film simply because they have decided in advance that they will not like it); and ad-feminam sneers about Monica Ali.