Columns

12These islands Belfast is beyond strife now—isn’t it?

CARLO GÉBLER

22Washington watch Obama and Hillary fight over talent.

TUMBLER

24Inefficient markets China’s stock market frenzy. MICHAEL PREST

28Out of mind Phantom pregnancy. ROBERT DRUMMOND

51France profonde Sarkozy’s mythmaking. TIM KING

56Rivers of Babylon Baghdad’s wall. NIBRAS KAZIMI

63Lab report Who will find the Higgs boson first?

PHILIP BALL

64Brussels diary Can Brown and Sarkozy be friends?

MANNEKEN PIS

88Modern manners I’m not going on holiday this summer. LESLEY CHAMBERLAIN

Regulars

06Letters 08News & curiosities 10Grayling’s question AC GRAYLING 10Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 81Classifieds 86The generalist DIDYMUS 87The list

Forthcoming

Jack Thurston on the Tour de France. Ferdinand Mount on the Tories. Tony Sewell on Shaun Bailey. Tom Nuttall reviews The Black Swan. The next issue ofProspectis published on 28th June

Arts and books

Fiction

65 Oration for a dead hero My husband died a national hero, exalted by the president. But I know them both for worthless dogs. PETINA GAPPAH

Reviews

72 End of the book postponed The eBook, the rise of the online retailer, the blog and the print-on-demand book all provide challenges for booksellers and publishers. Some may not survive. NICHOLAS CLEE

74 Chaos and horror Don DeLillo has a gift for creating an atmosphere of inchoate dread. But his latest novel feels flat and static, and lacks a sense of purpose. ERIK TARLOFF

75 Life on planet Boyle Danny Boyle’s trippy films delight in moments of rapture—from which they find it hard to come down. MARK COUSINS

77 Lives not led Lionel Shriver’s latest work is a subtle examination of the difficulties of decision-making. I met her in her south London flat. WILLIAM SKIDELSKY

78 The poverty of liberalism The individualism and universalism of western political elites are on a collision course with the popular desire for moorings in time and place. ERIC KAUFMANN

Arts columns

71Private view Who will be Miss Venice Biennale?

BEN LEWIS

80Between the lines Cormac McCarthy’s astounding novel.

JASON COWLEY

85Smallscreen What The Apprentice gets wrong. CHRISTOPHER HIRD

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FIRST DRAFTS —the Prospect editorial blog

CHARLES GLASS AND OTHERS reply to Edward Luttwak

LESLIE LEE ’s dispatches from the Hay festival

YASMIN KHAN reviews Ramachandra Guha’s history of India

KAMRAN NAZEER concludes his Thomas Pynchon reading diary

GEOFF MULGAN pays tribute to the late Mary Douglas

Online archive

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

Cuba

GEORGE WALDEN on Cuban prostitution STEVEN HILL on America’s obsession with Fidel Castro’s health

International development

AMARTYA SEN on the rights and wrongs of development

NGAIRE WOODS asks if aid works

Tax credits

PHILIP COLLINS and ROGER WICKS ask if New Labour’s big welfare idea is too complex

DAVID HARKER on the tax credits overpayments scandal

Prospect JUNE 2007 5