CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
RUSHANARA ALI is associate director at the Young Foundation MICHAEL AXWORTHY’s biography of Nader Shah is forthcoming PHILIP BALL’s most recent book is The Devil’s Doctor (Heinemann) CHERYLL BARRON

contents
Issue one hundred and twenty March 2006

is writing a book about classical Indian thought and science writes for the International Herald Tribune is the author of The Story of Film (Pavilion Books)

COVER STORY

GRAHAM BOWLEY

40
A Damascene conversion
AATISH TASEER

MARK COUSINS

STEPHEN EVERSON

is writing a book on metaphysics and the mind

KATE GAVRON

is a research fellow at the Young Foundation novel Juno & Juliet is published by Flamingo

JULIAN GOUGH‘s

ROBIN HARRIS

was a member of Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street policy unit is the editor of Emel is a writer on magazine

SARAH JOSEPH

I had been living in Damascus for barely a month when my Norwegian friend Torbjørn, a theology student training to become a priest, told me he was on the verge of converting to Islam. Then the Danish cartoon row erupted.

AHMAD SAMIH KHALIDI

middle east affairs
TIM KING

is a writer living in France is a writer and journalist

OPINIONS

22 A long voyage
ANATOL LIEVEN

ELENA LAPPIN BEN LEWIS

12 The angry east end
KATE GAVRON & RUSHANARA ALI

presents BBC4’s Art Safari

ANATOL LIEVEN’s America Right or Wrong is published by Element Books KENAN MALIK is a writer and broadcaster—www.kenanmalik.com ALEX MCBRIDE is a criminal barrister working in London KAMRAN NAZEER’s

The postwar white working class felt betrayed by immigration, new welfare rules and lack of consultation.

As in India, the maintenance of peace requires controls on free expression— especially where religion is concerned.

13 Spoiling the party
ROBIN HARRIS

DEBATE

Send in the Idiots will be published by Bloomsbury in March is a writer

I gave David Cameron his first job. I’m not impressed with his leadership.

24 Should Muslims turn a blind eye to the cartoons?
KAMRAN NAZEER
VS

SARAH JOSEPH

15 No deal—ever
AHMAD SAMIH KHALIDI

EDWARD SKIDELSKY IAN STEWART

Two British Muslims disagree about the appropriate response to the cartoon controversy.

is professor of mathematics at Warwick University

is working on a book about the role of religion in the lives of young people in the middle east
AATISH TASEER

Instead of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, both sides now just want to contain it.

ESSAYS

30 Realism rules (still)
JAMES WOOD

book A Royal Affair is published by Chatto and Windus
STELLA TILLYARD’s

CARTOONGATE OPINIONS

20 A sense of awe
TIM WINTER

is the author of The Strange Death of Tory England (Penguin)
GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT TIM WINTER

Portrayals of the Prophet underestimate his grandeur, but they are not “banned.”

In America, realist fiction has been excoriated by postmodernists and literary critics. But realism is nothing like as naive as its critics claim.

34 No more heroes
EDWARD SKIDELSKY

is a lecturer in Islamic studies at Cambridge

21 Too much respect
KENAN MALIK

is author of The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel (Pimlico)
JAMES WOOD

In democracies, it is both important and inevitable that we offend each other.

Leo Strauss is not the fascist of caricature. But neither is he a figure with whom democrats can feel comfortable. He believed in virtue.

4 PROSPECT March 2006

www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

PORTRAIT

46 AJP Taylor
GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT

The historian AJP Taylor was one of the first telly dons. But over the years, those of us who admired him have gradually been disabused.

arts&books
70 Moral bombing?
MICHAEL AXWORTHY

SPECIAL REPORT

50 The return of macroeconomics
GRAHAM BOWLEY

Area bombing of German cities in the second world war was not a crime. Sometimes ends can justify means.

The monetary framework created in Britain after 1992 has enjoyed a long run of success. Will it still work in tougher economic times?

COLUMNS

63 Widescreen
MARK COUSINS

Englishness on screen. COLUMNS

64 Private view
BEN LEWIS

10 Tillyard’s tales
STELLA TILLYARD

Gilbert and George are truly awful.

We have become a football family.

72 Cultural tourist 17 Washington watch
TUMBLER

Actors at the Olympics. Plus Under the radar. FICTION

Sport and politics become one.

56 The orphan and the mob 38 France profonde
TIM KING JULIAN GOUGH

77 Musical notes
STEPHEN EVERSON

A Royal socialist.

Were it not for the need to pee, Jude might discover the secret of his birth.

What Bartók gave to folk music. WEB EXCLUSIVES

54 Lab report
PHILIP BALL

REVIEWS

Is it relegation time for Pluto?

66 Reading Richard and Judy
ELENA LAPPIN

Daniel Dennett and Richard Swinburne debate religion David B Green previews the Israeli election plus more at
www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

55 Brussels diary
MANNEKEN PIS

Cameron’s awkward bedfellows.

Borrowing the idea from Oprah Winfrey, a television book club has reshaped British fiction. What do publishers make of R&J’s choices?

80 Common law
ALEX MCBRIDE

68 India’s anti-diplomat
CHERYLL BARRON

FORTHCOMING Richard Reeves on the meaning of John Stuart Mill Alun Anderson on Craig Venter Ehsan Masood talks to Tariq Ramadan about Islam and modernity
THE NEXT ISSUE OF PROSPECT IS PUBLISHED ON 23RD MARCH

Dressing for the dock.

REGULARS

6 Letters 8 News & Curiosities plus Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 13 Numbers game THE CRUNCHER 73 Classifieds 78 The generalist DIDYMUS 79 The list

One of India’s image management specialists has written a deeply unflattering portrayal of his own country—and been promoted for it.

69 The Lovelock apocalypse
PHILIP BALL

The Gaia theorist has dire prophecies for the planet, but remains keen on nuclear power and attacking greens.

PROSPECT March 2006 5