Special report

62The stealthy rise of renewables Britain has created a regressive stealth tax to fund the renewable energy sector. It’s unfair, expensive and crude—but it works. Yet this subsidy should be more wisely directed, away from renewables towards zero carbon power. RICHARD BARRY

Columns

12Letter from Berlin Filming Germany’s past. RORY MACLEAN

20Washington watch Obama’s spare change. TUMBLER

33This sporting life The triumph of Twenty20. DAVID GOLDBLATT

44Crisis watch Warren Buffett’s troubles. JONATHAN FORD

61China café No one argues against progress in China. MARK KITTO

65Brussels diary What does Obama mean for the EU? MANNEKEN PIS

88Letter from Kabul How the aid workers live. THIERRY KELAART

Regulars

6Letters 8News & curiosities 10Grayling’s question AC GRAYLING 10Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 86The generalist 87The list

Forthcoming

TIM WINTON on biodiversity

Spooky fiction from TOBY LITT

SHEREEN EL FEKI reviews The Jewel of Medina

DAVID FLUSFEDER on the world of filesharing

PROSPECT ’s round-up of 2008 The next issue ofProspect will be published on 17th December

www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

online arts & books

Prospect online

Fiction

ArchivesEvery article from every issue of Prospect.

66Crossing Martyrs Bridge The world is full ofkillers, schemers and liars. But I know what I did. HASSAN BLASIM

Reviews

70The audacity of Dave David Cameron could bring truly radical change—but only if he dares to stick to his convictions. PETER OBORNE

72Let’s talk about books What do you get when you interview 48 great authors? Something immodest, self-contradictory, grumpy—and rather wonderful. RACHEL ASPDEN

73A third way in the middle east Gilles Kepel’s polemic is a useful overview, but it is marred by stereotypes and wishful thinking. KISHWER FALKNER

74The rebirth of a nation As her latest novel shows, Toni Morrison is America’s most influential black literary voice. MARY FITZGERALD

75Is America growing apart? A new book argues that politics has made American communities more divided than ever. Is it right? PETER KELLNER

77The moral wilderness Alasdair MacIntyre virtually invented “virtue ethics.”Yet he thinks his acolytes are sadly misguided. JONATHAN RÉE

Arts columns

79Performance notes Korngold’s best opera. MARTIN KETTLE

SubscriptionsTake out online or paper subscriptions.

Web exclusivesFree, web-only content with weekly updates.

First DraftsProspect’s editorial blog, updated daily.

ShopProspect’s new Politico’s bookshop. Plus, buy binders and back issues.

US election web exclusives

STEPHEN BOYLE on why the election result was bad for the Democrats

JIM SCIUTTO argues Obama won’t win over the Muslim world easily

ERIK TARLOFF looks at what’s next for the American right

JONATHAN DERBYSHIRE interviews John McWhorter and Kwame Anthony Appiah

Plus HANS KUNDNANI on The Baader Meinhof Complex & STEVEN FIELDING reviews David Hare’s Gethsamane

Online archive

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

Social mobility

DAVID WILLETTS argues Britain has high levels of social mobility GEOFF DENCH reviews Ferdinand Mount’s book Mind the Gap JOHN GOLDTHORPE explains how social mobility really works

80Widescreen Hungerreminds me of home.

MARK COUSINS

85Smallscreen John Adamsis a text for our times. PETER BAZALGETTE

Energy

MATTHEW LOCKWOOD ’s rough guide to carbon trading

RICHARD BARRY on plugging Britain’s energy gap

PHILIP BALL goes in search of the clean car

JEREMY LEGGETT & DAVID JENKINS debate whether oil is running out

Prospect DECEMBER 2008 5