NEW HUMANIST VOLUME 124 No 3 Tel 0207 436 1171 Fax 0207 079 3588 Email info@newhumanist.org.uk Editorial Offices 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD

Editor Caspar Melville Commissioning Editor Laurie Taylor Associate Editor Sally Feldman News Editor Paul Sims Designer Nick McKay Cover Martin Rowson Business Manager Judith Walker Subscriptions Jillian Gibbins Subscriptions enquiries subs@newhumanist.org.uk Tel 0207 436 1171 Advertising info@newhumanist.org.uk Website www.newhumanist.org.uk ISSN 0306-512X

Published by the Rationalist Association registered charity No 1096577, a company limited by guarantee No 4118489 RA President Jonathan Miller Vice presidents Laurie Taylor, Susan Greenfi eld, Paul Kurtz RA Board Jim Herrick, David Pollock, Diana Rookledge, John Metcalf, Laurie Taylor, Sally Feldman, Jose Gonsalves, Marilyn Mason, Winston Fletcher Chairman Jonathan Stopes-Roe Honorary associates David Aaronovitch, Peter Atkins, Lord Birt, Colin Blakemore, Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Sanal Edamaruku, Ekow Eshun, Michael Foot, AC Grayling, Stuart Hall, Tony Harrison, Simon Heff er, Christopher Hitchens, Eric Hobsbawm, Richard Hoggart, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Haydn Mason, Claire Rayner, Amartya Sen, David Starkey, Ralph Steadman, DJ Stewart, Ian Stewart, Claire Tomalin, David Tribe, Arnold Wesker, Francis Wheen, Lewis Wolpert (an incomplete list. For a full list visit our website)

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REGULARS 3 ] Editorial Faith in freedom 6 ] Parish news 8 ] Yours sceptically Readers’ letters 49 ] Hell’s kitchen Chris Maslanka’s quiz 50 ] Endgame Laurie Taylor sees his name in lights

FEATURES 10 ] Not all that is solid Is the cloth-cap economy really a thing of the past? asks Kevin Doogan 14 ] Mills and minarets Can the government prevent radicalisation? Paul Sims investigates 18 ] Growing minds New Humanist visits the Mustard Seed Secular School in Uganda 21 ] Yield of dreams Embrace GM food and we can help fight hunger, says Angela Saini 24 ] Sphere of influence Owen Hatherley stands up for blogging

26 ] Freedom’s foghorn Roger Davidson raises a glass to Tom Paine 31 ] Red alert Sally Feldman uncovers the myriad shades of lipstick 34 ] Shadow boxing It’s time to regain faith in universal values, says Kenan Malik 37 ] Not with a bang but a simper Michael Neumann laments the death of English liberty 40 ] Gothic revival Edgar Allan Poe has much to teach humanists, says Nick Mamatas