Contents

cover story Inside British politics 32 What do the Tories really really

want? ponders julian glover 24 What I believe

How to renew the centre-left. gordon brown 38 Does Britain’s left have a future?

david aaronovitch vs john harris 42 Sen and sensibility Politicians should read more

philosophy, says james purnell 46 Left brain, right brain

matthew taylor on human nature.

regulars 8 Prospect recommends October’s top events by ivan

hewett, nick james, nick crowe, kevin jackson, emma crichtonmiller & michael coveney 12 Diary Will the Tories axe Nesta? plus

brian eno on car boot sales nigel warburton on dirty hands & stephen nickell on the VAT cut. 16 Letters

opinions 18 Size and the City

How much is a bank really worth? alex crossman 19 A less than useful debate

What makes something socially useful? jonathan wolff 20 Unhappy 60th, comrades China’s Communist party doesn’t

know what it’s for. jonathan fenby 21 An interesting time to die The way we treat death is all wrong.

ann mcpherson 22 Ooh! Aah! South Africa! Stop carping about South Africa’s

world cup. david goldblatt 23 Sayonara, change

Japan’s election was a conservative revolt. kenneth neil cukier

correspondents 26 Washington watch Climate change deadlock. renegade 27 Brussels diary The new commission. manneken pis 28 China café CTV and me. mark kitto

features 52 The drugs don’t work

A new book claims that Prozac-style antidepressants are worse than useless. john cornwell 56 In search of the lost generation

How badly will young people suffer in this recession? fran abrams 60 The greengrocer’s revenge

Many eastern Europeans feel that only the elites gained from the revolutions of 1989. ivan krastev

science & technology 64 A load of rubbish

How to convert our food waste into energy. tristram stuart 65 Lab briefing 66 No kidding Can a brain scan tell whether people

are lying or not? ian leslie 67 Video in print

Moving images are coming to a magazine near you. philip ball 68 Image of the month A tiny revolution in medicine. 68 The month ahead

arts & books 71 Still crazy after all these years

Female surrealists finally get their own exhibition. hermione eyre 72 Douglas, the universe and everything

Douglas Adams was an emotional vampire. michael bywater 74 Cultural notebook

Monty Python’s legacy. sam leith 75 Twilight of the gods

John Banville’s new novel plays dazzling games. brian dillon 76 Apocalypse tomorrow

Atwood’s and Coupland’s latest dystopias are all wrong. toby litt 77 Performance notes Bernstein’s season. martin kettle 78 Smallscreen Bye Big Brother. peter bazalgette 80 The play’s the thing Trevor Nunn and Kevin Spacey

interviewed. john nathan 82 A righteous Goliath

An ex-offender’s life. danny kruger 82 The ghost of conferences past Three diary extracts. ian irvine 83 Widescreen The problem with 3D. mark cousins

short story 84 Wittgenstein’s war

A graphical short story by apostolos doxiadis & christos h papadimitriou

columnIStS 5 If I ruled the world Bailouts for writers. edward docx 10 Political notes

Who needs charisma? anne mcelvoy 30 The prisoner

Life after jail. car hills 96 Dear Wilhemina My husband won’t consider adopting.

and finally 93 Enigmas & puzzles ian stewart 93 Coming up & online 94 The generalist didymus 95 The Prospect list

october 2009 · prospect · 3