Contents

June 2011

In Prospect 9 If I ruled the world

Fines, jail, and shoe-shining. terry eagleton 10 Recommends 12 Diary

Opinions 14 Betraying themselves

The Lib Dems pick a dangerous fight. ian birrell 15 Welcome to Rikers Island

Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s prison. david mcconnell 16 My Pakistan

Growing up with army betrayal. moni mohsin 18 Backing winners

Nerves about the Arab Spring are misplaced. peter mandelson

Features

19 Offbeat

Americans make better music. kate mossman 20 Sell Descartes, buy Spinoza

Hot philosophical stocks. rebecca goldstein

22 Politics

Should Scotland break away? Alex Salmond talks to james macintyre, plus comment from economist john kay and pollster peter kellner. 26 Letters plus stephen collins’s cartoon strip.

The World 28 The month ahead 28 Belgium Kingdom without rulers. stephen castle 29 China Bad air. mark kitto

30 What should we expect of our spies?

American agents found Osama bin Laden, but failed to foresee the Arab Spring. What counts as success? gregory f treverton plus michael scheuer

38 In the shadow of the twin towers

The impact of 9/11 on American fiction. adam kirsch

43 Tonic for the nation

The Festival of Britain, 60 years on. andrew roberts

48 A law unto itself

Let the light into the Supreme Court. james grant

55 Divided city Belfast is still segregated, says david mckittrick, plus owen mccafferty and julian gough

60 The most beautiful game geoff dyer and lionel shriver on tennis.

une 2011 · prospect· 5