Contributors

Hephzibah Anderson contributes to the Observer, the Daily Mail and Bloomberg. Her first book is Chastened (Vintage). David Barrett is an Australian journalist. He lives in London. Julie Bindel is researching a book on the history of second-wave feminism from 1979 to the present day. Katharine Birbalsingh is setting up Michaela Community School, a free school in south London. She is the author of To Miss with Love (Penguin). Alan Brownjohn’s latest book is The Saner Places: Selected Poems (Enitharmon). Michael Burleigh is the author of Moral Combat: A History of World War II (Harper Press) and the recipient of the 2011 Nonino International Prize for History. Alexander Chancellor has been editor of the Spectator, and a columnist for many newspapers, including The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. Michael Cockerell is a political documentary-maker. His most recent film for the BBC was The Secret World of Whitehall. Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer. You Can’t Read This Book, his new account of modern censorship, is published by Fourth Estate. Tim Congdon’s latest book is Money in a Free Society (Encounter). Robert Conquest is a historian, poet and political philosopher. His new book, Blokelore and Blokesongs from Old Fred, is published in May by Waywiser Press. Mara Delius is a writer and editor for Die Welt. She lives in Berlin. Christopher Fildes writes on finance and public policy but lacks the Olympic spirit. David Green is the director of the thinktank Civitas. Miriam Gross is the former senior editor of Standpoint and is on its advisory board. She is a former Literary Editor of the Sunday Telegraph. Simon Heffer is Editor of Mail Comment Online and a columnist for the Daily Mail. His latest books are Strictly English (Windmill) and A Short History of Power (Notting Hill Editions). Patrick Heren is a journalist and founder of Heren Energy (now ICIS Heren). Paul Johnson is the author of more than 40 books, including most recently Brief Lives (Hutchinson) and Socrates (Viking). His life of Darwin will appear this year. Dominic Lawson is a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Independent. Norman Lebrecht is an author and broadcaster. His latest book is Why Mahler? (Faber). Anthony Loyd has been a special correspondent for The Times for 18 years, frequently reporting from Afghanistan. Noel Malcolm is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is the

Hephzibah Anderson

Piers Paul Read

Miriam Gross

Eric Ormsby

Anthony Loyd

Mara Delius

Patrick Heren

Julie Bindel

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general editor of the Clarendon edition of the works of Thomas Hobbes. Iain Martin is a political commentator. He was formerly editor of the Scotsman and deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal Europe. Anne McElvoy is Public Policy Editor of the Economist. Douglas Murray is the author of Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry (Biteback). Eric Ormsby’s most recent collection of poems is The Baboons of Hada (Carcanet). Emanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. He is the author of The Pasdaran: Inside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (FDD Press). Michael Prodger is an art historian and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham. Piers Paul Read is a novelist and historian. His new book The Dreyfus Affair (Bloomsbury) is published in February. Andrew Roberts is a historian. His latest book is The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War (Allen Lane). He lives in New York. Joshua Rozenberg is an independent legal commentator. He presents Law in Action on BBC Radio 4. Jonathan Sacks is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. His most recent book is The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning. Lionel Shriver is a novelist. A film based on her bestseller, We Need To Talk About Kevin, was released last year. Anne Somerset is a historian and was married to the late Matthew Carr. Her book Elizabeth I has been republished by Orion. Amir Taheri writes for many magazines and newspapers about the Middle East, Islamist terrorism and the Iranian regime. George Walden is a former diplomat and Conservative minister. His books include The New Elites: Making a Career in the Masses (Allen Lane) and China: A Wolf in the World? (Gibson Square). Daisy Waugh is a columnist for the Sunday Times. Peter Whittle is director of the New Culture Forum.

With thanks to Matthias Mueller

Letters Standpoint welcomes letters to the Editor. Write to: Standpoint, 11 Manchester Square, London W1U 3PW or: letters@standpointmag.co.uk January/February 2012 Issue 39

Manchester Square Prophets without honours 5

Counterpoints La dolce vita; A gift for Greece; Unfinished symphony; Crying Wolf; Powell’s pen pal; Fussball crazy 8

Letters 14

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C OV E R

Columns Party Lines Daisy Waugh tunes into maternal anxiety about jobs for British kids 15 Free at last Katharine Birbalsingh is enthused by Toby Young’s conversion 16 The Outsider’s Diary Douglas Murray is dazed by his US speaking tour but glad to return to London 17 European Eye Mara Delius visits the Caribbean to find a very un-Germanic attitude to taxes 20 On the Contrary Lionel Shriver is now a dab hand at derivatives and credit default swaps 21 Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi challenges facile excuses for anti-Semitism 22 Living History Michael Burleigh selects his favourite history books, old and new 23 Marketplace Tim Congdon says the eurozone shambles is a huge setback to EU integration 24 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg sees the Lord Chief Justice admit his bemusement 25

Dispatches

Andrew Roberts in New York says US philanthropy shames the politicians 26 Anthony Loyd in Kabul detects signs of hope in Afghanistan 28

Civilisation Critique Novelists at arms Paul Johnson assesses the best British and American writers of World War II 59

Books Noel Malcolm on The Wartime Journals by Hugh Trevor-Roper; Andrew Roberts on All Souls and the Wider World edited by S.J.D. Green and Peregrine Horden; George Walden on Martin Amis: A Biography by Richard Bradford; David Barrett on A Point of View by Clive James; Eric Ormsby on The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy, and other poetry 65

David Cameron’s Olympian moment Iain Martin asks if the PM will have the courage to take on the EU 38 An Islamist Winter? Amir Taheri believes the Arab Spring is not a total victory for Islamists—yet 32 ‘Over me, my father’s shadow hovers’ Miriam Gross recalls her dealings with Stalin’s daughter Svetlana 52 The Limits of Secularism Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks shows how religion can enrich modern society 72

Features The secret of cheap energy: fire Chris Huhne Patrick Heren deplores a creeping process of politicisation 36 Have women lost the will to marry? Hephzibah Anderson explains why so many modern women stay single 42 Forced marriages dishonour Britain Julie Bindel criticises our cowardice on a mainly Muslim practice 44 We only pretend to defend freedom of speech against censorship Nick Cohen blasts lily-livered liberals 46 The Dreyfus Affair and the birth of intellectual protest Piers Paul Read explores the background of the controversy that split France 48 Lieutenant Gaddafi in Swinging Sixties’ London Michael Cockerell unearths an unlikely tourist (left) 54

Text New Poetry Robert Conquest 78 Alan Brownjohn 82

Critics Music Norman Lebrecht thinks the cuts can benefit the arts 84

Art Michael Prodger enjoys a Continental show at Tate Britain 86

Television Nick Cohen explains why ITV’s golden couple had to go 87

Film Peter Whittle hopes Lady Thatcher never sees The Iron Lady 88

Theatre Anne McElvoy laughs at The Ladykillers but not at Lenny Henry 90 Drawing Board Matthew Carr Portraits and nudes 92

Overrated/Underrated Frank Furedi/Charles Murray by Michael Mosbacher and David Green 94

Chess Dominic Lawson resurrects the Tartar terminator 96

Wine Saintsbury swigs a Swift glass with the great Irish satirist 97 Culture & Anarchy Simon Heffer stands up for unjustly neglected British composers 98

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