CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

PAUL BARKER is a senior fellow at the Institute of Community Studies

PAUL BROKS is the author of Into the Silent Land (Atlantic Books)

MATT CAVANAGH is a philosopher and former government adviser

JAMES CLARKE is research officer at the migration research unit at UCL

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

MICHAEL COVENEY is a theatre critic

MIKE DIXON is a research assistant at the IPPR

MARGARET DRABBLE ’s latest novel is The Red Queen (Viking)

JULIAN EVANS is working on the authorised biography of Norman Lewis

STEPHEN EVERSON is writing a book on metaphysics and the mind

DEAN GODSON is the author of Himself Alone (Harper Perennial)

DAVID HERMAN is a television producer and writer

RICHARD JENKYNS is professor of the classical tradition at Oxford University

ANATOLE KALETSKY is a columnist for the Times

TIM KING is a writer living in France

BEN LEWIS presented the BBC4 series Art Safari

GEOFF MULGAN worked in Downing Street from 1997-2004.

BHIKHU PAREKH is a Labour peer

NICK PEARCE is director of the IPPR

JONATHAN POWER writes on foreign affairs for the International Herald Tribune

MICHAEL PROWSE is writing a book about the social implications of markets

ALEX RENTON is a contributing editor to Prospect

JOHN SALT is director of the migration research unit at UCL

IAN STEWART is a professor of mathematics at Warwick University

ROSE TREMAIN ’s short story collection, The Darkness of Wallis Simpson is forthcoming from Chatto & Windus

NGAIRE WOODS is director of the global economic governance programme at Oxford University

PETER YORK is the author of Dictator’s Homes (Atlantic Books)

4PROSPECT May 2005

contents Issue one hundred and ten May 2005

OPINIONS 12Franco-Euro-flap

TIM KING France is no longer master of Europe, and the scramble for a “yes”vote in the referendum is near-hysterical.

14Dying brands

PETER YORK We still love the “legacy”retailers like M&S, but not enough to shop there.

15To catch a thief

DEAN GODSON Iraq’s intelligence service is dominated by ex-Ba‘athists.

ELECTION OPINIONS 18Apolitical economy

ANATOLE KALETSKY A synthesis of Keynesianism and monetarism plus the decline of industry has ended boom and bust.

20New model welfare

NICK PEARCE & MIKE DIXON Britain is developing a new Anglosocial model, liberal but social too.

COVER STORY 24Lessons ofpower

GEOFF MULGAN

After seven years at No 10, I still believe that government retains a great power for good. The danger is not from hubris, but that governments will believe the myth that they are condemned to mistrust and powerlessness.

21Emotional spasm?

MATT CAVANAGH Like the US left in 1968, a section of the British left wants to spite its own face.

22Not black and white

DAVID GOODHART & BHIKHU PAREKH The word “racist”is necessary but devalued. We need more rigour and realism in applying it.

ESSAYS 30Getting a life

MARGARET DRABBLE The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has been denounced for its mistakes and tendentiousness. But it includes an impressive variety of lives and the online version is a delight.

36Winner still takes all

MICHAEL PROWSE Why are so many Britons retiring on inadequate pensions?Why are trains still unreliable and most urban comprehensives so poor?Blame our winner-takes-all electoral system. www.prospect-magazine.co.uk

JOURNAL 40Search for the middle

PAUL BARKER The butt of jokes, middle England is still the place where politicians most want to be loved. So where is it?

SPECIAL REPORT 46Migration matters

JOHN SALT & JAMES CLARKE There are big migration flows into and out of the UK every year, but in recent years more immigrants have been arriving than ever before.

PORTRAIT 52A rational Quixote

JULIAN EVANS Don Quixote’s role as the father of the Enlightenment is underappreciated. His delusion is the key to reason.

WITNESS 56Learning the Thai sex trade

ALEX RENTON Thailand generates fantasies, both for tourists in search of sex and aid workers peddling lurid tales of trafficking. What are the facts?

COLUMNS 10Out ofmind

PAUL BROKS Driving lessons and frontal lobes.

63Brussels diary

MANNEKEN PIS It’s Mandy vs Zoellick.

REGULARS 6Letters 8News & Curiosities plus Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 13Numbers game CRUNCHER 15Mini interview JONATHAN POWER 86The generalist DIDYMUS 87The list

arts&books

CULTURAL TOURIST 80The Maly’s ensemble idea

MICHAEL COVENEY St Petersburg’s Maly Theatre shows the power of ensemble longevity. Plus news and listings.

FICTION 64Peerless

ROSE TREMAIN Badger can’t stop Antarctica from melting, but at least he can get some ice for his penguin.

REVIEWS 72Does aid work?

NGAIRE WOODS Does international aid help developing countries?Three new books give different answers.

74The English Hitchens

DAVID HERMAN Christopher Hitchens should be considered one of the finest English critics—literary as well as political— of his generation.

76Peculiar words

RICHARD JENKYNS Dr Johnson wrote a dictionary to teach people to use English well, but also to record the way they spoke it.

COLUMNS 70Private view

BEN LEWIS Lights, camera, Aktion !

78Musical notes

STEPHEN EVERSON Britain’s tenors have depth.

82Smallscreen

DAVID HERMAN Doctor Who and British identity.

88Widescreen

MARK COUSINS Iran’s great freedom.

FORTHCOMING

David Rieff unpicks the reality of Live Aid

Natasha Walter on why Larry Summers is wrong

Michael Coveney criticises British theatre criticism

Daniel Johnson considers chess after the cold war

THE NEXT ISSUE OF PROSPECT IS PUBLISHED ON 19TH MAY

POLITICAL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR

Political Studies Association

PROSPECT May 2005 5