ISSUE 147 JUNE 2008

Contributors to this issue

PHILIP BALL ’s novel The Sun and Moon Corrupted (Portobello) is just out

PETER BAZALGETTE is a former reality television producer

TIM BOUQUET is the co-author of Cold Steel (Little, Brown)

JOHN R BRADLEY is the author of Saudi Arabia Exposed (Palgrave Macmillan)

TOM CHATFIELD is assistant editor of Prospect

PHILIP COLLINS is the former chief speechwriter to Tony Blair

MARK COUSINS is Prospect ’s film critic

ALEX DE WAAL is programme director at the Social Science Research Council

ROBERT DRUMMOND is a psychiatrist

ANTHONY DWORKIN is director of the Crimes of War project

DAMON GALGUT is a novelist

DAVID GOLDBLATT is the author of The Ball is Round (Penguin)

AC GRAYLING is a philosopher

MARTIN KETTLE is a Guardian columnist

OHNMAR KHIN is assisting relief efforts in her native Burma

MARK KITTO runs a caféé near Shanghai

ROBIN LEANSE is a poet

BEN LEWIS presents BBC4’s Art Safari

ALEXANDER LINKLATER is associate editor of Prospect

CLARE LOCKHART is director of the Institute for State Effectiveness

GEORGE MAGNUS ’s The Age of Aging will be published by Wiley in September

ROBERT PAARLBERG is professor of political science at Wellesley College

RUTH PADEL ’s most recent book is The Poem and the Journey (Vintage)

MARK PAGEL writes on genetic, linguistic and cultural evolution

ELIZABETH PISANI is an epidemiologist

STEPHEN POLLARD is a political columnist

RICHARD REEVES is author of John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand (Atlantic)

IAN STEWART is a mathematician

ERIK TARLOFF is a novelist and writer

DAVID TRIMBLE won the Nobel Peace prize in 1998

DAVID WILLETTS is a Conservative MP

ALISON WOLF is the author of Does Education Matter? (Penguin)

JONATHAN ZITTRAIN is the author of The Future of the Internet (Allen Lane)

2 Prospect JUNE2008

contents

Coverstory 24Rage against the machines Modern video games mean big business,and big controversy. Yet most of the charges levelled against games—that they stunt minds and spark addiction—are based on an outdated understanding of what gamers do when they sit down to play explains Tom Chatfield

Opinions

12Liberalise or die Labour must turn its back on its centralising tradition and embrace liberalism. PHILIP COLLINS & RICHARD REEVES

13Primary school What did we learn from the US primary season? ERIK TARLOFF

14Noblesse oblige We should welcome the return ofthe elite to political leadership. STEPHEN POLLARD

16Cairo’s failing fundamentalists The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is weaker than it seems. JOHN R BRADLEY

17An Ulster betrayal By going soft on Sinn Fééin, Tony Blair and Jonathan Powell allowed Ulster’s centrists to be sidelined. DAVID TRIMBLE

18Against gunboat philanthropy Bernard Kouchner’s idea of providing aid at gunpoint is dangerous posturing. ALEX DE WAAL & OHNMAR KHIN

20The truth about food Rises in food prices hurt city-dwellers, but they do not increase global hunger. ROBERT PAARLBERG

Essays

30The plague is over,let’s party An HIV diagnosis in Britain is no longer a death sentence. But as the spectre of death fades, so do the reasons to avoid risky behaviour. Now the Aids prevention industry has a new set of problems. ELIZABETH PISANI

34What’s up,doc? Last year’s medical training fiasco was a failure of NHS centralisation. And a surge in the number of medical students, plus an open door for foreign doctors, means there will be a mismatch between applicants and jobs for years to come. ALISON WOLF

40The failed state we’re in The international community has spent billions on reconstructing Afghanistan— yet the country has made dismayingly little progress. It’s time for a radical new approach to state-building. CLARE LOCKHART

Witness

46Likud on the terraces Seventy per cent of Jewish Israelis say they want a two-state solution. But that doesn’t mean they have a high opinion of Arabs. Consider the hardcore fans of Beitar Jerusalem FC. DAVID GOLDBLATT

Portrait

52Lakshmi Mittal He is the wealthiest steelman since Andrew Carnegie. But there’s little sign that the Indian tycoon shares his predecessor’s political engagement or philanthropic instinct. TIM BOUQUET

My story

58Movies made me They are art, big business and soft power—but movies are a lot more than just that. On a six-hour flight, I worked out exactly why cinema matters to me. MARK COUSINS Special report

62Are we losing the virus wars? The openness of technologies like the PC and the internet has led to great innovations—but also to viruses, worms and spam. Such bad code now threatens to derail the internet. JONATHAN ZITTRAIN

Columns

10Out of mind JosefFritzl is one ofus. ALEXANDER LINKLATER & ROBERT DRUMMOND

22Washington watch The Dems feel buyer’s remorse. TUMBLER

44China café é My dismal stint as an English teacher. MARK KITTO

50Lab report We’re not getting warmer. PHILIP BALL

65Brussels diary Don’t rule out Blair yet. MANNEKEN PIS

88Confessions I need a leader. ROBIN LEANSE

Regulars

4Letters 6News & curiosities 8Grayling’s question AC GRAYLING 8Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 82Classifieds 86The generalist 87The list

Forthcoming

A roundtable talk on the financial crisis with GEORGE SOROS,MARTIN WOLF,ANATOLE KALETSKY,JOHN GIEVE & others

JONATHAN FORD treads the by-election campaign trail with George Osborne

STEVE EALES on astronomy’s big picture

The next issue of Prospect will be published on 26th June

www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

online arts & books

Prospect online

Fiction

Archives Every article from every issue of Prospect .

66Impostor When Adam’s life fell apart, he turned to his brother for help. But charity can be hard to swallow. DAMON GALGUT

Subscriptions Take out online or paper subscriptions.

Web exclusives Free, web-only content with weekly updates.

Reviews

72The kindness of strangers We need to recognise both the genetic reality of race and our ability to transcend it. MARK PAGEL

First DraftsProspect ’s editorial blog, updated daily.

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

74The unforgivable truth One of Israel’s great national authors can finally be read in English. RUTH PADEL

75States of terror and consent Philip Bobbitt’s analysis of the relationship between 21st-century states and terrorism could not be more timely. ANTHONY DWORKIN

Web exclusives

TREVOR MOSTYN on China and the ghost of Tibet

ALEX STRICK VAN LINSCHOTEN reports from Beirut

AVI SHLAIM on Israel’s revisionist historians

77To thine own self be true Politicians are slated for hypocrisy, but some narrative obfuscation is necessary for political debate. DAVID WILLETTS

78End of the cult of finance? Central banks, regulators and governments all share the blame for the present financial crisis. GEORGE MAGNUS

Arts columns

70Private view Conceptual Chinese calligraphy.

BEN LEWIS

81Performance notes Mahler’s “farewell”symphony was nothing of the sort. MARTIN KETTLE

85Smallscreen The joy of The Apprentice . PETER BAZALGETTE

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

Israel

DAVID B GREEN on Israel’s security wall of ambivalence

MELANIE PHILLIPS says the occupation is destroying the Jewish soul

Aids

MATT RIDLEY on the origin of Aids CHRIS WILL on plagues, old and new

JOHN MADDOX on how throwing money at the problem can work

Afghanistan

ANATOL LIEVEN on Afghan statecraft

RORY STEWART VSSHERARD COWPER

COLES Are we losing the battle in Afghanistan?

Film

ALEXANDER LINKLATER: documentaries fill the void in cinema MARK COUSINS probes Polanski

CHRISTOPHER TOOKEY on how cinema plays fast and loose with truth

Prospect JUNE2008 3