Gadfly Iconoclast

Cancer has not slowed down Harold Pinter, as he continues to spar with the Establishment

The line for the Harold Pinter event wound all the way around Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, where the 72-year-old British playwright made his first public appearance recently after a battle with cancer.

Up close, Pinter exudes the kind of droopy-eyed charm usually reserved for film stars of the Michael Caine variety. His years on stage -- as playwright, director, actor and political gadfly -- have left him with a knowledge of two things above all: how to play to the gallery, and where to place those trademark Pinter pauses.

It's an explosive session, and his comments generate banner headlines in the UK media the next day. Pinter calls for Tony Blair to be "arraigned" as a war criminal; he slams Clinton and Bush for America's actions.

And he ruffles several feathers when he says bluntly, apropos 9/11, that what happened "was a determined act of retaliation against American power and the way it has asserted itself over many, many years". A week down the line, Pinter will be among a hundred artists -- actors, filmmakers, writers and musicians