Salman Rushdie out, Dan Brown in: why it’s time to detoxify our middle-class bookshelves | Gareth Rubin

Drop the pretence: instead of parading a love of highbrow literature, just enjoy the books you want to read

Toughen up. It's the end of the line for soft, middle-class authors. Lefty-baiting headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh has declared that gentle parenting" advice books by middle-class writers are sabotaging families by insisting adults become friends with their children.

She's probably got a point - most mums and dads have watched with a cocked eyebrow as a Boden-clad parent has tranquilly informed little Johnny that punching another child in the face while playing in the sandpit might not be what they like" - but I say Birbalsingh is not going far enough. Why stop with theparenting books? Why not fillet the whole damn bookcase of toxically middle-class ideas? Visionaries such as Chairman Mao have tried it before - with, admittedly, mixed results - but this time we'll do it right.