IN THIS ISSUE

Humanist
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Volume 121 No 2 March/April 2006 EDITOR Caspar Melville DEPUTY EDITOR Pádraig Reidy COMMISSIONING EDITOR Laurie Taylor ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sally Feldman DESIGNER Paul Anderson CARTOONIST Martin Rowson SPECIAL THANKS Farah Reza, Meena Chauhan EDITORIAL OFFICES 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD Tel 020 7436 1151 Fax 020 7079 3588 Email info@newhumanist.org.uk Website www.newhumanist.org.uk ISSN 0306-512X
Published by the Rationalist Association. Available on microfilm for libraries in the USA from: Proquest, 300 Northzeeb Road, Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA

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CULTURE’S REVENGE Stuart Hall tells Laurie Taylor why Marx still matters

COLUMNS

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‘TAKING OFFENCE IS THE BEST FORM OF ATTACK’ Martin Rowson considers the cartoon crisis CONTINENTAL RIFT Rosemary Bechler hears opposing versions of European Islam WHAT’S IN A NAME? Jihad Fakhreddine despairs at the fate of Arab secularism LOSING FAITH Andrew Copson is not impressed by the Education Bill SPINOZA REVISITED The great thinker was one of us, claims Steven Nadler

RA ASSOCIATES
VICE PRESIDENTS Baroness Susan Greenfield, Paul Kurtz, Laurie Taylor HONORARY ASSOCIATES David Aaronovitch, Peter Atkins, Lord Birt, Harold Blackham, Colin Blakemore, Alan Brownjohn, Colin Campbell, Philip Campbell, Noam Chomsky, Bernard Crick, Helena Cronin, Richard Dawkins, Sanal Edamaruku, Paul Edwards, Ekow Eshun, Winston Fletcher, Antony Flew, Michael Foot, AC Grayling, Stuart Hall, Tony Harrison, Simon Heffer, James Hemming, Christopher Hitchens, Eric Hobsbawm, Richard Hoggart, Ted Honderich, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Richard Leakey, Sir Michael Levey, Sir John Maddox, Haydn Mason, George Melly, Jonathan Miller, Edwin Mullins, Patrick Nowell-Smith, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Jack Parsons, John Postgate, Claire Rayner, Amartya Sen, David Starkey, Ralph Steadman, DJ Stewart, Ian Stewart, Hazhir Teimourian, Claire Tomalin, David Tribe, Baroness Turner of Camden, Arnold Wesker, Francis Wheen, Lewis Wolpert

REGULARS
EDITORIAL PARISH NEWS NOTICES LETTERS CONCRETE REASONING Chris Maslanka ENDGAME Laurie Taylor’s on the road

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DESIGN FOR LIVING Hugh Pearman looks at the human side of Modernist architecture

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NEW HUMANIST

IN THIS ISSUE

CONTENTS
VOLUME 121 NO 2 MARCH/APRIL 2006
COVER STORY

CULTURE

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BOOKS STEPHEN HOWE wonders what’s left BRENDA MADDOX is in search of a story STUART SIM visits the wasteland MICHAEL BINYON is surgically enhanced TOBY SAUL takes to the streets

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APOCALYSTS NOW
As the US and Iran square up, David S Katz explores the occult leanings of their leaders
FEATURES

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SHOES A new poem by Pat Yarker FAIL BETTER Nina Power on the dignity of Beckett PROJECTING THE HUMAN Andrew Tudor searches for the soul of film

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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Jonathan Rée gets to grips with Daniel Dennett’s analysis of religion REPUBLIC OF LETTERS The legacy of the Enlightenment must be reclaimed says Stephen Eric Bronner

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CAR WARS A woman’s place is behind the wheel says Sally Feldman

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NEW HUMANIST MARCH/APRIL 2006

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