ISSUE 136 JULY 2007

Contributors to this issue

WOODY ALLEN is the author of Mere Anarchy (Ebury Press)

PHILIP BALL is a science writer

RICHARD BARRY is a former engineer

DEREK BROWER is a journalist who covers oil, gas and energy politics

CLEMENTINE CECIL is a former Moscow correspondent for The Times

HA-JOON CHANG teaches economics at the University of Cambridge

TOM CHATFIELD is Prospect ’s editorial assistant

RICHARD COCKETT is Africa editor of the Economist

ROBERT COLLS is professor of English history at the University of Leicester

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

ANTHONY DWORKIN is director of the Crimes of War project

DAVID FLUSFEDER ’s novel The Pagan House (4th Estate) is published in July

CHRISTOPHER HIRD is joint managing director of Fulcrum Productions

DANIEL JOHNSON is a freelance commentator on politics and culture

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

MARTIN KETTLE is a Guardian columnist

TIM KING is a writer living in France

JULIAN LE GRAND is professor of social policy at the LSE

BEN LEWIS presents BBC4’s Art Safari

ANATOL LIEVEN is co-author of Ethical Realism (Pantheon Books)

JOHN LLOYD is a writer for the FT

DAVID MARQUAND is a visiting fellow in the department of politics at Oxford

IAIN MCLEAN is a professor of politics at Oxford University

GEOFF MULGAN is director of the Young Foundation

KAMRAN NAZEER is writing a book on ghosts

BENJAMIN POGRUND is author of How Can Man Die Better (Jonathan Ball Publishers)

MICHAEL PREST is a freelance writer

FREDERIC RAPHAEL is a novelist and screenwriter

ALEX RENTON won the 2006 Glenfiddich award for best food writer

ERIK TARLOFF ’s novels include The Man Who Wrote the Book (Crown)

ARABELLA WEIR is a comedian and writer

4 Prospect JULY2007

contents

JULY 2007

íS LITTLE MEN TAKE ON THE CASINOS David Flusfeder Prospec

GORDON BROWN: INTELLECTUAL What will it mean for Britain?

POLITICS ESSAYS ARGUMENT

A TALE OF HUGELY EXPENSIVE TRUFFLES Woody Allen

PROTECTIONISM WORKS Ha-Joon Chang

POKERí

£4.50

John Lloyd, Geoff Mulgan, Daniel Johnson and others

In this issue:

BEN LEWIS The case against Damien Hirst

DEREK BROWER How Gazprom triumphed over the EU

ANTHONY DWORKIN on John Gray and why we still need utopias

ROBERT COLLS journeys through Englishness

RICHARD BARRY explains why it’s time for a carbon tax

ANATOL LIEVEN on Pakistan’s underlying stability

JULIAN LE GRAND Tony Blair is leaving behind a golden age

ARABELLA WEIR “I really fancy my neighbour’s 17-year-old son”

CoverstoryAnintellectual in power Gordon Brown is the first prime minister in decades who can be said to be a genuine intellectual.This must be significant—but how? Despite his bookishness,little is known of Brown’s worldview.John Lloyd,Iain McLean,Daniel Johnson,Geoff Mulgan, Richard Cockett and Kamran Nazeer give their views.

PAGE 24

Opinions

Essays

14The cost of carbon Carbon trading is an attractive idea, but it will not work as well as a consistent tax on carbon emissions. RICHARD BARRY

15A bone-headed boycott Cutting links with Israeli academics will only hinder the chances of peace in the middle east.

BENJAMIN POGRUND

16Back to Bhutto? If President Musharraf is ousted, it will be another example of Pakistan’s underlying stability. ANATOL LIEVEN

17It’s broke, let’s fix it It’s time for an end to piecemeal reform—Britain now needs a proper written constitution.

DAVID MARQUAND

18Blair’s golden age? New Labour has combined growth with social protection. It’s a lot better than the 1960s. JULIAN LE GRAND

36Protecting the global poor Almost all rich countries became wealthy by protecting infant industries and limiting foreign investment. But these rich countries are now denying poor ones the same chance to grow.

HA-JOON CHANG

42The case for minor utopias The 20th century showed how dangerous utopian ideas can be. Should we follow John Gray and abandon all political idealism? ANTHONY DWORKIN

46English journeys My early years brought me into contact with many kinds of Englishness—but each was part of a whole. It is hard to say the same of our national identity today. ROBERT COLLS

Witness

52Poker’s face-off In recent years, small poker clubs have sprung up across the country, providing ideal venues for amateurs to hone their skills. But the big casinos are against them and their legal status is uncertain.

DAVID FLUSFEDER

Special report

56Checkmate Gazprom The EU wants to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. But a series of shrewd moves by Gazprom has left the EU’s diversification strategy in tatters. DEREK BROWER Columns

12Letter from Moscow We must save the city from Russian vandals. CLEMENTINE CECIL

20Washington watch Is Gordon Brown really on the CIA payroll? TUMBLER

22Matters of taste A short history of fish canning. ALEX RENTON

34Lab report Techno-fixes for global warming. PHILIP BALL

41Rivers of Babylon Iraqi dynasties. NIBRAS KAZIMI

51France profonde The revival of village festivals. TIM KING

59Inefficient markets The Royal Mail’s in trouble. MICHAEL PREST

60Brussels diary Will the Lib Dems help Gordon? MANNEKEN PIS

80Confessions I fancy my neighbour’s 17-year-old son. ARABELLA WEIR

Regulars

06Letters 08News & curiosities 10Grayling’s question AC GRAYLING 10Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 73Classifieds 78The generalist DIDYMUS 79The list

Forthcoming

Edward Skidelsky interviews Nicholas Mosley. Dan Jones on moral psychology. Robert Sandall on the economics of pop music. CAR Hills’s breakdown. The next issue ofProspectis published on 26th July

Arts and books

Fiction

61 How deadly your tastebuds, my sweet Some people will go to amazing lengths for the chance to savour a flawless white truffle. WOODY ALLEN

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Archives Every article from every issue of Prospect .

Reviews

66 Doubting Damien With much modern art, it’s hard to tell the difference between a banal work and one whose theme is banality. So how might we make a case against Damien Hirst? BEN LEWIS

68 The essence of Cliveishness Clive James’s compendium of short essays shows him at his most democratic, irreverent and dazzling.

FREDERIC RAPHAEL

69 Caught up in The Wire The Sopranos has been described as the greatest television show ever. But The Wire, also made by HBO, is even better.

ERIK TARLOFF

70 From people to person In China, collectivist ideals are enshrined in the language itself. In two recent Chinese novels, rebellion takes a linguistic form. TOM CHATFIELD

Arts columns

64Performance notes Don’t take the Proms for granted. MARTIN KETTLE

72Widescreen The pick of Cannes. MARK COUSINS

77Smallscreen Ever heard of the Community Channel? CHRISTOPHER HIRD

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ADAM THORPE on Brits behaving badly JONATHAN RÉÉE on the late Richard Rorty JACK THURSTON on the revival of cycling DAVID GOODHART writes an open letter to Tariq Ramadan

Online archive

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

Gordon Brown

MICHAEL GOVE,CLARE SHORT and others look forward to Brown in power

DAVID MEPHAM on Prime Minister Brown’s foreign policy

Englishness

MALCOLM RIFKIND,ARTHUR AUGHEY and others on English identity JOHN KEEGAN on the arcadian English ideal

John Gray

ADAIR TURNER takes on the antihumanism of Straw Dogs

KENAN MALIK discusses Gray’s tragic fatalism

Prospect JULY2007 5