SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2008

CONTRIBUTORS

Nick Doody is a stand-up comedian and comedy writer. His show Tour of Doody was one of the highlights of this year’s Edinburgh Festival. In the diary (page 7) he wonders what ex-Muslims might laugh at.

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24] ‘Follow God, work and provoke no one’ Richard Dowden meets the Mourides of Senegal 16 COLUMNS 7] Diary Comedian Nick Doody dusts off his death penalty gags 37] Opinion Martin Rowson sums up the history and future of the world, in one word

BOOK REVIEWS 44] Jenny Bunker is at ease with a secular conscience 44] Natalie Haynes is not amused by a new study of humour 46] Caroline Moorhead reviews an impressive new series on censorship 48] Philip Womack wonders why Peter Ackroyd has meddled with a classic 48] Stephen Howe on a new history of Cromwell’s Irish adventure

Edna Fernandes is a former foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and the author of Holy Warriors: A Journey into the Heart of Indian Fundamentalism and The Last Jews of Kerala.

Richard Gregory is a distinguished experimental psychologist. On 4 November he will be in conversation with Rationalist Association President Jonathan Miller on the art and science of vision. On page 20 he reviews the current understanding of perception.

Dagmar Herzog is Professor of History at the City University of New York. Her latest book, Sex in Crisis, has caused a furore in America, where she has been accused of advocating teenage sex and destroying the fabric of society. See what the fuss is about on page 16.

Richard Dowden is Director of the Royal African Society and a world renowned expert on the continent. His new book is Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (Portobello).

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2008 New Humanist 5