January/February 2011 Issue 29

C A R R I L HO

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C OV E R

Manchester Square 5 CounterpointsNudgeFudge;Climatolatry; RIP Kit Cunningham; Comprehensive Classics; Church and Hate; Tuition Squeeze; Rentacrowd Reinvented 8 Letters The Arts Council is ACE; GK’s Saintly Wit; Germane Germanness; St Paul the Pinko; No Rules OK 13

Columns On the contrary Lionel Shriver has a low-tech defence against online mudslingers 15 Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi holds Wikileaks to its own lofty standards 16 Living History Michael Burleigh denounces China’s manipulation of North Korea 17 Marketplace Tim Congdon sets the record straight on Quantitative Easing 18 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg says the jury’s out on trial by jury 19 European Eye Mara Delius considers modern Germany’s relationship with its past 20

Dispatches Old order collapse Stephen Fay in Australia sees Aussie cricket hit for six by consumerism 22 A tale of love, bulls and goats Berenika Stefanska in Kenya is enchanted by the encounter of ancient and modern at a Rendille wedding 24 Mole Special Our insider explains why inner-city Birmingham is Europe’s worst place to be a non-Muslim 26

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Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness FeaturesFivemyths and a menace Nigel Lawson corrects economic misconceptions with the help of Adam Smith 36 Warning to the US: Don’t play by Islamic rules Douglas Murray advises America to avoid Europe’s mistakes in dealing with Islamism 48 Critique The hounding of M. F. Husain Nick Cohen denounces the persecution of India’s greatest artist 64 Plus Drawing Board 68 Dialogue Will Germany be divided again? Necla Kelek and Karen Horn in Berlin discuss Germany’s multicultural lessons for Britain 30

Features Last Post for a global power Gwyn Prins laments reckless cuts to the UK’s defence budget 42 Back to Beveridge Sheila Lawlor proposes a smarter, fairer welfare system 46

Energy Special The glories of gas Patrick Heren speaks up for the energy source we too often take for granted 52 Renewables won’t keep the lights on John Constable says green surcharges will make British electricity the world’s dearest 54

Playtime is over for governors David Womersley believes school boards face huge new responsibilities 56 Melancholy monuments of chivalry Simon Scott Plummer visits the crumbling Crusader castles of the Levant 58

Civilisation Books Paul Johnson on The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V by Hugh Thomas; Andrew Roberts on Decision Points by George W. Bush; and Eric Ormsby on How Snow Falls by Craig Raine, New & Collected Poems by U. A. Fanthorpe and Late Poems by Anthony Thwaite 71 Music Jessica Duchen puts the brakes on Liszt snobbery 77

Television Nick Cohen wants moralising British dramas to get real 78

Film Peter Whittle talks up Colin Firth in The King’s Speech 80

Theatre Minette Marrin praises Derek Jacobi’s majestic turn as Lear 81

Art Michael Prodger finds little “British” about modern British sculpture 82

Cosmos Neil Scolding debunks the great stem-cell myth 85 Text Geza Vermes re-examines the reputation of King Herod 86 Chess Dominic Lawson marks the centenary of an unflinching Soviet champion 95 Overrated/Underrated Nassim Nicholas Taleb by Jamie Whyte Charles Taylor by Joseph Bottum 96 Imagination Party Lines by Daisy Waugh; Whatever by Peter Blegvad: The Saga of Smit & Smule continues 98

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