ISSUE 142 JANUARY 2008

Contributors to this issue

JULIAN BAGGINI is the editor of the Philosophers’ Magazine

PHILIP BALL ’s novel The Sun and Moon Corrupted is forthcoming from Portobello

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

SHERARD COWPER-COLES is British ambassador to Afghanistan

STEPHEN EALES is the author of Origins: How the Planets, Stars, Galaxies and the Universe Began (Springer)

ANDREW FEINSTEIN is a former ANC MP

DAVID GOODHART is the editor of Prospect

ROBERT GORE-LANGTON is a freelance writer based in Bristol

GERSHOM GORENBERG is a senior correspondent for the American Prospect

LINDA GRANT ’s novel, The Clothes On Their Backs , is published by Virago

AC GRAYLING ’s latest book is Towards the Light (Bloomsbury)

CHRIS HASKINS is a farmer and a former chairman of Northern Foods

CHRISTOPHER HIRD is joint managing director of Fulcrum Productions

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

MARTIN KETTLE is a Guardian columnist

IVAN KRASTEV is chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria

PAUL LAY is writing a book on Venice and the English civil war

BEN LEWIS presents BBC4’s Art Safari

JOHN MURRAY BROWN is Ireland correspondent for the Financial Times

FREDERIC RAPHAEL ’s most recent novel is Fame and Fortune (JR Books)

RUTH RENDELL’ s Collected Stories 2 will be published by Hutchinson in January 2008

ALEX RENTON is writing a book about the rise of the food industry

IAN STEWART is the author of Why Beauty Is Truth: The History of Symmetry (Basic)

RORY STEWART is the author of Occupational Hazards (Picador)

RAYMOND TALLIS ’s books The Kingdom of Infinite Space (Atlantic) and Hunger (Acumen) will be published in 2008

ERIK TARLOFF is a novelist and writer

BERNARD WASSERSTEIN ’s latest book is Barbarism and Civilization: A History of Europe in Our Time (OUP)

GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT ’s Le Tour: A History of the Tour de France (Pocket) was shortlisted for the NEC sports book prize

contents

Coverstory 32Lucre of the Irish For the first time in Irish history,a big,indigenous moneyed class has emerged—the product of a long economic boom and a leap in property prices.How are the new rich changing the way the Irish see themselves—and their English neighbour? By John Murray Brown

Opinions

12The ANC’s awful choice For South Africa’s sake, both Mbeki and Zuma must be removed from the fray. ANDREW FEINSTEIN

13What Gordon should do next Forget about the vision thing. Here are a few practical policy ideas. DAVID GOODHART

16The Beeb at its best Radio 3’s unashamedly highbrow Sunday schedule is a genuine treat. PAUL LAY

17Reaching for the stars State funding of astronomy ensures Britain’s role in a great human adventure. STEPHEN EALES

18The return of Malthus The Malthusian prophecy of a global food shortage could yet come to pass. CHRIS HASKINS

Debate

26Are we failing in Afghanistan? Is Britain’s strategy in Afghanistan realistic or hubristic? Should we accept that we cannot militarily defeat the Taliban? RORY STEWART VSSHERARD COWPER-COLES

Essays

38Across the great divide The new cleavage in British politics is not between left and right, but between liberals and communitarians. Yet the divide is not insurmountable. JULIAN BAGGINI

42Two cheers for populism The shift from liberalism to populism in central and eastern Europe is not as bad as it looks. Populism gives a voice to the losers from the transition period. IVAN KRASTEV

Poll

22The cultural year 2007 Which cultural events—books, films, television shows, operas, plays, concerts—have been most overrated and underrated this year? Prospect asked a panel of writers to give their choices.

Portrait

48Parmenides The pre-Socratic philosopher sparked an intellectual revolution that still echoes today. Yet for philosophy and science to continue to progress in the 21st century, we may need to embark on a new cognitive journey. RAYMOND TALLIS

2 Prospect JANUARY2008 My story

54Oxford’s poetry revolution Forty years ago, inspired by the 1968 revolts in Paris, I tried to get the glamorous Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko elected as Oxford’s professor of poetry. BERNARD WASSERSTEIN

Columns

10Matters of taste The day Idismembered a pig. ALEX RENTON

20Washington watch Latest on the Iowa caucuses. TUMBLER

30This sporting life Life after doping. GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT

37Letter from Jerusalem My fight for freedom of information. GERSHOM GORENBERG

46Lab report A surfer’s theory of everything. PHILIP BALL

53Rivers of Babylon Iraq’s revolutionary television. NIBRAS KAZIMI

58Brussels diary Slovenia’s troubles. MANNEKEN PIS

Regulars

4Letters 6News & curiosities 8Grayling’s question AC GRAYLING 8Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 73Classifieds 78The generalist 79The list

Forthcoming

ALEXANDER LINKLATER interviews Christopher Hitchens

HOWARD JACOBSON on the way we talk about sex

RICHARD KELLY on the renaissance of England’s northeast The next issue of Prospect will be published on 31st January

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Archives Every article from every issue of Prospect .

60The wink In the old people’s home, Jean saw him again. This time, she knew what to do. RUTH RENDELL

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Reviews

66The pricks of conscience Why are writers expected to comment on political issues? LINDA GRANT

68Grandmasters of war Daniel Johnson’s history of cold-war chess is muddled and biased. ERIK TARLOFF

69Stages of history Why does Michael Billington’s story of British postwar theatre ignore musicals? ROBERT GORE-LANGTON

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Web exclusives

What next for Kosovo? MARY FITZGERALD on the other side of the Irish success story ANDREW JACK looks ahead to life in Russia after Putin

70Grandstanding pity More preening self-regard and rancid bad faith from John Berger. FREDERIC RAPHAEL

Arts columns

64Widescreen Faces in films. MARK COUSINS

72Private view Sickert’s Camden town nudes. BEN LEWIS

77Smallscreen Cranford’ s a cracker. CHRISTOPHER HIRD

80Performance notes The meaning of Stockhausen.

MARTIN KETTLE

Online archive

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

Ireland

JOHN O’FARRELL on the cultural gulf between north and south

DAVID MCWILLIAMS hails the Irish contribution to English culture

GARRET FITZGERALD & PAUL GILLESPIE on Anglo-Irish relations

Eastern Europe & communism

RADEK SIKORSKI recalls his time as a Polish defence minister in the early 1990s

BEN LEWIS tells communist jokes ERNEST GELLNER on what was left after the collapse of communism

Philosophy

CHAKRAVARTHI RAM-PRASAD asks why western philosophers ignore eastern thinkers

BRYAN MAGEE laments the quality of philosophical writing

HANS-JOHANN GLOCK tries to bridge the gap between the continental and analytic traditions

Prospect JANUARY2008 3