Contents arts & books 73 Illuminating the human heart Orhan Pamuk’s new novel is both a tragic love story and an epic poem. julian evans 74 Breaking the British movie myth The government is wasting millions chasing an impossible dream of a film industry. colin maccabe 76 Cultural notebook Stuff your turkey. sam leith 77 Dispatches from hell TS Eliot’s letters are a fascinating regulars 8 Prospect recommends The pick of the month’s events. 12 Diary Predictions for 2010, plus our regular columnists, including brian eno. 18 Letters plus stephen collins’s cartoon strip.

opinions 20 A big, unequal society Cameron’s wrong ideas on inequality.

Food insecurity. alex renton 70 Sporting life Playoff politics. david goldblatt 96 Dear Wilhemina Should I marry him? (He’s rich) cover storiesWhat’s the big idea? 33 Fixing the climate We need geoengineering to tackle climate change. oliver morton 38 The hardest word Labour must master the art of the political apology. james crabtree 42 All the world is play Why videogames are a window to the future. tom chatfield 48 How should we rate 2009? What’s been overrated and underrated in the past 12 months? 52 Public intellectuals and the financial crisis jonathan ford philip collins & richard reeves 22 The old boys’ club The Iraq inquiry. jean seaton 23 The Bank’s green future Scientists should help shape science & technology 64 Star wars

Will “civilian” EU satellites be used to guide bombs? jon cartwright 65 Lab briefing anjana ahuja 66 Need to know Risks and benefits to our health are exaggerated. nigel hawkes 67 Skin deep Organic beauty products are no safer and finally 93 Enigmas & puzzles ian stewart 93 Coming up & online 94 The generalist didymus 95 The Prospect listcorrespondents28 Washington watch Why Obama is like Spock. renegade 29 Brussels diary Van Rompuy’s secret. manneken pis 30 China café Piers Morgan and me. mark kitto 31 Letter from Odessa Ukraine’s elections. julian evansfeatures54 That crafty feeling How do I write a novel? I build it sentence by sentence, step by step, until the very best moment—the final word. zadie smith 59 A place of one’s own The idea of “equity” in property lies behind both democracy and the credit crunch. andro linklater guide to his harrowing years. kevin jackson 79 Smallscreen The 3D epidemic. peter bazalgette 80 Performance notes The piano’s decline. martin kettle 81 The tyranny of moderation A definitive account of the Danish cartoons affair. oliver kamm 82 Unknown to the world An ex-offender’s life. danny kruger 82 Christmas celebrations Three diary extracts. ian irvine 83 Widescreen

My advice to Twilight’s Robert Pattinson. mark cousins

FICTION 84 What happened on the mountain A new story by royce mahawatte monetary policy. david king 24 Rethinking Calvin Capitalism and predestination.

than normal ones. anna shepard 68 The month ahead anjana ahujacolumnIStS 7 If I ruled the world andrew brown 24 Age of fleeting plausibility The noughties. tim footman 25 In praise of Scrooge

Defending the miser. tim harford 26 Mervyn turns a tidy profit The Bank of England’s secret

Frohe Weihnachten! lucy mcdonald 10 Political notes

Gordon’s class war. anne mcelvoy 16 Matters of taste bailouts. mark hannam 27 Everyday philosophy nigel warburton january 2010 · prospect · 5