IN THIS ISSUE

NEW

Humanist

Volume 121 No 5 September/October 2006

EDITOR Caspar Melville

DEPUTY EDITOR Pádraig Reidy

COMMISSIONING EDITOR Laurie Taylor

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sally Feldman

DESIGNER Paul Anderson

CARTOONIST Martin Rowson

SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Judith Walker

SUBSCRIPTIONS ASSISTANT 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

RATIONALIST ASSOCIATION President: Jonathan Miller Vice Presidents: Baroness Susan Greenfield,Paul Kurtz,Laurie Taylor

HONORARY ASSOCIATESDavid 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, 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

4 NEWHUMANIST

20WALKING THE TIGHTROPE Ramin Jahanbegloo’s fight for a liberal Iran

22HUMAN TOUCH Michael Frayn tells Laurie Taylor how we made the universe

COLUMNS 6DIARY ACGrayling heads to Darwin’s domain 13TRUE BLUE Imogen Edwards-Jones discovers her inner Tory 16WHAT A PIECE OF WORK Brian McClinton on Shakespeare’s humanism 29DEVIL IN THE DETAIL Pádraig Reidy reads the Signs

REGULARS

3 EDITORIAL

7 PARISH NEWS

17 WINE CLUB

40 LETTERS

41 CONCRETE REASONING

42 ENDGAME Laurie Taylor uncovers a new prejudice

Stumped by our summer quiz? Find the answers on page 33 IN THIS ISSUE

CONTENTS VOLUME 121 NO 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006

COVER STORY

26 WILD THINGS Why is fur back on the catwalk, asks Sally Feldman

FEATURES

8KAMIKAZE DIARIES Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney gets inside the minds of the suicide pilots

10DOWN TO EARTH Brian Morris on the pioneers of humanist ecology

14LITTLE MONSTERS Caspar Melville examines children’s fascination with the dark side.

18THE ORWELL FACTOR Jenny Joseph is charmed by Eileen Blair’s letters

CULTURE 34BOOKS

NINA POWER is put off by Auster’s posturing

MICHAEL BINYON on a time of neither revolution nor glory

ROSIE WATERHOUSE on the gonzo trail of human sacrifice

MARTINA EVANS discovers Roddy Doyle’s way with women

PETER WOIT visits Paul Davies’ universe

EBENEZER OBADARE on the genius of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o

39ATALANTA A new poem by Alan Brownjohn

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30OUT OF THE SHADOWS Toby Saul on Velásquez’s way of seeing

Go to www.newhumanist.org.uk for details

NEWHUMANIST SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 5