Censorship is merely the compliment that stupidity pays to fear? When hundreds of theatres and galleries agree on a weekend to say, with some wit, that they will not be muzzled by book bans and loyalty tests, they are finally behaving like the public conscience they claim to be. I approve of the intention, but I will be impressed only when these institutions refuse money tied to silence, not merely when they programme a defiant evening and then return to business as usual. The test of courage comes when the grant letter arrives with a quiet condition at the bottom. It is easier to perform dissent than to budget for it. Until boards and directors accept that a truly free stage will sometimes bite the hand that feeds it, weekends like this will be the exception instead of the rule.