ISSUE 138 SEPTEMBER 2007

contents

Contributors to this issue

ANDREW ADONIS is minister for schools

ALUN ANDERSON is a former editor of New Scientist

PHILIP BALL is a science writer and author of The Devil’s Doctor (Arrow)

CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE is the author of In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: a memoir of Iran (HarperPerennial)

MATTHEW CONTINETTI is the author of The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Conservative Machine (Doubleday)

Coverstory 26India’s middle-class failure India’s 200m-strong middle class may be the most economically dynamic group on the planet,says Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad. Yet it has a limited sense of citizenship and is largely uninterested in politics.Until it starts to engage politically, India will suffer from a lop-sided modernisation.

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

DAVID COX is a television producer and a former head of current affairs at LWT

ROSS DOUTHAT is the author of Privilege : Harvard and the Ruling Class (Hyperion)

TOM GALLAGHER is chair of ethnic peace and conflict at the department of peace studies, University of Bradford

ANTHONY GIDDENS is the author of Over To You, Mr Brown: How Labour Can Win Again (Polity)

AC GRAYLING ’s latest book is Towards the Light (Bloomsbury)

CAR HILLS is a former editor of PENNews

CHRISTOPHER HIRD is joint managing director of Fulcrum Productions

KATHRYN HUGHES is the author of The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton (HarperPerennial)

NIBRAS KAZIMI is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, Washington DC. His blog is at talismangate.blogspot.com

MARTIN KETTLE is a Guardian columnist

ANTHONY KING is professor of government at the University of Essex

TIM KING is a writer living in France

MICHAEL PREST is a freelance writer specialising in business and economics

ROSS RAISIN ’s novel God’s Own Country will be published by Viking in March

CHAKRAVARTHI RAM-PRASAD is the author of Indian Philosophy and the Consequences of Knowledge (Ashgate)

KATE SAUNDERS is a writer and journalist. She is author of Bachelor Boys (Arrow)

KIM SENGUPTA is a journalist for the Independent

EDWARD SKIDELSKY is a freelance writer and philosopher

Opinions

12The long goodbye? The SNP’s performance has been unexpectedly strong, making an independent Scotland more likely. TOM GALLAGHER

13Sarkozy’s 100 days France’s new president has been as hyperactive in office as he was on the campaign trail. But real reform has yet to come. TIM KING

14Winning over the Kurds In the remote Turkish town of Varto, I watched as the ruling AK party attempted to expand its appeal to local Kurds. CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE

16Is Britain broken? Marriage and cohabitation are far more complex issues than Iain Duncan Smith’s report suggests.

ANTHONY GIDDENS

Interview

22Jacqueline McGlade The head ofthe European Environment Agency explains why northern Europe should brace itself for more flooding and why she wants to replace income tax with “pollution taxes.” ALUN ANDERSON

Essays

32Constitutional fiddling Many of Gordon Brown’s constitutional reform plans are sensible and overdue. But it is hard to see how they will solve the problem of mass disengagement from politics. ANTHONY KING

36Impartiality imperilled A bulwark of our public discourse is under threat. If we want to save it, we may have to reshape the system of public service broadcasting that currently enshrines it. DAVID COX

42Wellcome Collection Prospect presents a special supplement—in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust—about the latter’s latest venture, Wellcome Collection, and its place in the museum world.

Portrait

54Rudy Giuliani The famously abrasive Rudy Giuliani is hoping his 9/11 credentials will steer him to the presidency. ROSS DOUTHAT

58Fred Thompson Former senator and actor Fred Thompson has vaulted into the top tier of presidential contenders without any executive experience. MATTHEW CONTINETTI

IAN STEWART is author of Why Beauty Is Truth: The History of Symmetry (Basic)

CHRIS WILKINSON is a theatre director and journalist

2 Prospect SEPTEMBER2007