ISSUE 133 APRIL 2007

Contributors to this issue

ANDREW ADONIS is minister for schools

PHILIP BALL is a science writer

PAUL BARKER ’s Arts in Society has been reissued by Five Leaves Publications

RICHARD BEARD ’s fourth novel is Dry Bones (Vintage)

PAUL BROKS is a neuropsychologist and author of Into the Silent Land (Atlantic)

TOM CHATFIELD is Prospect ’s editorial assistant

MARK COUSINS is the author of The Story of Film (Pavilion Books)

RICHARD DOWDEN is a director of the Royal African Society

ROBERT DREYFUSS is a journalist and author of Devil’s Game (Henry Holt)

STEPHEN EVERSON is writing a book on metaphysics and the mind

TREVOR FENNING is a research fellow, Max Planck Institute for chemical ecology

MAUREEN FREELY ’s novel Enlightenment is published by Marion Boyars

KEVAN GARTLAND is dean of the school of life sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University

DAVID GOODHART is editor of Prospect

CHRISTOPHER HIRD is joint managing director of Fulcrum Productions

SIMON JENKINS is author of Thatcher and Sons: a Revolution in Three Acts (Penguin)

HELEN JOHNS is an environmental economist

NIBRAS KAZIMI is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, Washington

VICTOR KEEGAN is a Guardian columnist

TIM KING is a writer living in France

BEN LEWIS presents BBC4’s Art Safari

HILARY MANTEL is a novelist

PAUL ORMEROD is an economist

SIMON PARKER is head of public services research at Demos

JONATHAN POWER writes for the International Herald Tribune

FREDERIC RAPHAEL is a novelist and screenwriter

KATE SAUNDERS ’s most recent novel for adults was Bachelor Boys (Arrow)

STELLA TILLYARD is the author of A Royal Affair (Chatto & Windus)

TONY TRAVERS is director of the Greater London Group at the LSE

ERICA WAGNER is literary editor of the Times and author of Seizure (Faber)

contents

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c

Prospec

Talking to Ken

Ishismegalopolis out of control?

APRIL 2007

POLITICS ESSAYS ARGUMENT

WHY ARE WE CONSCIOUS? Paul Broks

TEA WITH JEAN-MARIE LE PEN Tim King

EXPLORING ONLINE WORLDS Victor Keegan

In this issue:

London special with Ken Livingstone, Simon Jenkins, Erica Wagner and others

ANDREW ADONIS Let’s move the Lords to Manchester

JONATHAN POWER Has my friend Obasanjo turned around Nigeria?

IAN MCEWAN How good is his new novel?

MAUREEN FREELY Turkey’s liberals take on the ultranationlists

KATE SAUNDERS discovers her dad through Kingsley Amis

STEPHEN EVERSON reviews London’s classical music audiences

HILARY MANTEL “I once set fire to a nun”

FICTION by Richard Beard

CoverstoryTalking to Ken:is the mayor’s megalopolis out of control? “Red Ken”explains why big business is a progressive force in the new, global London. He also discusses the city’s high-density growth, Sharia law and segregation in the capital, and how he will sink Labour if it won’t invest in Crossrail. PAGE28

INTERVIEW BY SIMON PARKER,TONY TRAVERS & DAVID GOODHART

Opinions

13Go north, upper house Moving an elected House of Lords to one of England’s regional cities would be more than a gesture of decentralisation. ANDREW ADONIS

14New York, still top After 15 years in London, I’ve come to miss many things about New York— including, incredibly, its subway system.

ERICA WAGNER

15Turkey’s liberals In late-1960s Istanbul, I grew up with many of the men and women who are now fighting ultranationalism in Turkey. MAUREEN FREELY

17Why forests matter To deal with climate change, we need to start investing in forest plantations and stop clearing natural forests.

TREVOR FENNING & KEVAN GARTLAND

18Slavery, guilt and grievance The debate over reparations for slavery is a lot more complicated than I once thought. RICHARD DOWDEN

19No bloodbath in Iraq The argument for going to war in Iraq was based on a false “best case.”Now the argument for staying is based on a false “worst case.” ROBERT DREYFUSS

Essays

22A city of capital London is diverse, dynamic and rich. It is also unequal, expensive and congested. Can Ken Livingstone make it a decent place to live for most citizens? SIMON PARKER & DAVID GOODHART

33Against happiness It isn’t sensible to make governments responsible for something as complex as personal happiness. Moreover, much of the happiness data is faulty.

PAUL ORMEROD & HELEN JOHNS

37The mystery of consciousness Nicholas Humphrey’s latest book has half-persuaded me that his evolutionary approach will one day answer the mystery of consciousness. PAUL BROKS

My story

42Kingsley,dad and me My father and Kingsley Amis struggled against similarly claustrophobic suburban upbringings. Now I read Amis to understand dad. KATE SAUNDERS

Portrait

45Front National Talking to Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine, it is clear why the Front National will not easily join the mainstream French right. TIM KING

4 Prospect APRIL 2007 Briefing notes

50Virtual worlds and second lives Why are a growing number of people devoting themselves to the virtual world of Second Life ? VICTOR KEEGAN

Arts and books

Fiction

59 Hearing myself think I am at Heathrow airport because there’s someone I have to meet. I just don’t yet know who. RICHARD BEARD

Witness

Reviews

54Obasanjo’s legacy Is Nigeria a beacon of hope, or still mired in corruption and violence? As the country votes for a new president in April, Imeet up with my old friend Olusegun Obasanjo. JONATHAN POWER

Columns

12These islands A city of colonies. SIMON JENKINS

21Washington watch Barack Obama’s halo slips. TUMBLER

44Rivers of Babylon Sabreen’s honour. NIBRAS KAZIMI

49Lab report South Korea’s ethical robots. PHILIP BALL

80Confessions I once set fire to a nun. HILARY MANTEL

Regulars

06Letters 08News & curiosities 10Grayling’s question 10Enigmas & puzzles 58The list 73Classifieds 78The generalist

Forthcoming

Joe Boyd on the blues. CAR Hills writes from Belmarsh prison. David McWilliams on the Irish rich. Julian Gough on comic writing. The next issue ofProspectis published on 26th April

64 Snared by the past Ian McEwan’s new novel isboth a triumphant piece of social history and a reminder of the misery caused by an earlier age’s sexual decorum. TOM CHATFIELD

65Degrees of silence A knowledgeable audience can make all the difference to a classical music concert. London is lucky.

STEPHEN EVERSON

67Points of departure Transformations, miracles and slippages are at the heart of David Malouf’s rich and poetic fiction.

STELLA TILLYARD

69Englishness in the mirror The audiences flocking to the Hogarth exhibition at Tate Britain are there to look at themselves. PAUL BARKER

70God and Caesar Michael Burleigh’s study of the intersection of politics and religion in the 20th century is a monumental accomplishment. FREDERIC RAPHAEL

Arts columns

63Widescreen My week with Maggie Cheung.

MARK COUSINS

77Private view Russia tries for an art boom. BEN LEWIS

79Smallscreen Jamie Oliver’s terrible television. CHRISTOPHER HIRD

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Web exclusives

CHARLES GRANT looks back on the EU’s next 20 years

JAMES WALVIN marks the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade

SIMON BLACKBURN explains why we will miss Jean Baudrillard

KEN LIVINGSTONE INTERVIEW— extended version

HILARY DAVIES on the terrible twins of Poland

MAX STEUER on the ignorant paranoia of Adam Curtis

Online archive

Revisit our past coverage of some of the topics covered in this issue.

London

GRAHAM BOWLEY on the congestion charge, March 2003

ALEXANDER LINKLATER on “bloody lovely London,”February 2002

Consciousness

ANDREW BROWN on the literature of consciousness, November 1997

AS BYATT on Antonio Damasio, June 2003

Happiness

RICHARD LAYARD urges politicians to get utilitarian, March 2005 WILL WILKINSON on riches and happiness, October 2006

Prospect APRIL 2007 5