Contributors

Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology and Director of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life at the University of Oxford. Peter Blegvad is a writer, musician and cartoonist. Michael Burleigh is Professor of History at the University of Buckingham. His latest book, Moral Combat: A History of World War II, is published by HarperPress. Lesley Chamberlain’s most recent book is The Philosophy Steamer: Lenin and the Exile of the Intelligentsia (Atlantic). Tim Congdon is chairman of the Freedom Association. His next book, Money in a Free Society, is published in September. Nick Cohen is an Observer columnist. Mara Delius is a writer for Die Welt. Jessica Duchen is a music journalist, biographer and novelist. Joseph Epstein’s new book, Gossip, The Untrivial Pursuit, will be published this winter by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Tibor Fischer’s latest novel, Good to be God, is out in paperback from Alma Books. Nicholas Garland studied painting at The Slade. He was until recently the Daily Telegraph’s political cartoonist. James Hannam is a historian and the author of God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books 2010. Nichi Hodgson works for Standpoint. Clive James’s most recent books of prose are The Revolt of the Pendulum and The Blaze of Obscurity. His latest collection of poems is Angels over Elsinore (Picador). Dominic Lawson is a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Independent. Norman Lebrecht’s latest book is Why Mahler? (Faber). Noel Malcolm is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He is the author of Aspects of Hobbes. Justin Marozzi is a travel writer, historian and political risk adviser. He is researching a history of Baghdad. Allan Massie’s most recent books are Death in Bordeaux (Quartet) and Klaus and Other Stories (Vagabond Voices). Anne McElvoy is Public Policy Editor of the Economist and presents the arts programme Night Waves on BBC Radio 3. Jonathan Mirsky was the China correspondent of the Observer and East Asia editor of The Times. In 1989 he was named International Reporter of the Year. Douglas Murray is associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. Eric Ormsby’s Fine Incisions: Essays on Poetry and Place appeared last January. The Baboons of Hada, a new selection of his poems, is published by Carcanet. Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at

Clive James

Anne McElvoy

Nichi Hodgson

James Hannam

Michael PintoDuschinsky

George Weigel

Joseph Epstein

Lesley Chamberlain

8

the Washington-based Foundation for Defence of Democracies. Michael Prodger is an art historian and former literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph. Joshua Rozenberg is an independent legal commentator. He presents Law in Action on BBC Radio 4. Piers Paul Read’s novel The Misogynist appears in paperback in July. The Dreyfus Affair will be published by Bloomsbury in February 2012. Michael Pinto-Duschinsky is a member of the Commission on a Bill of Rights. He was honorary academic adviser to Claims for Jewish Slave Labour Compensation. Mark Ronan is Honorary Professor of Mathematics at University College London and Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Simon Scott Plummer is a former leader writer on the Daily Telegraph. Lionel Shriver’s latest novel, So Much for That, is published in paperback by Harper. Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor for the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. Barton Swaim is the author of Scottish Men of Letters and the New Public Sphere, 1802-1834 (Bucknell University Press). George Walden is a former diplomat and Conservative minister. His latest book is China: A Wolf in the World? Daisy Waugh is a columnist for the Sunday Times. Her most recent novel is Last Dance With Valentino. Peter Whittle is director of the New Culture Forum. His latest book is Monarchy Matters (Social Affairs Unit). Jamie Whyte is the head of research at the consulting firm Oliver Wyman. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington DC. His most recent book is The End and the Beginning: John Paul II: The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy (Doubleday). With thanks to Davinia Hoggarth and Louis Glick.

Letters Standpoint welcomes letters to the Editor. Write to: Standpoint, 11 Manchester Square, London W1U 3PW or: letters@standpointmag.co.uk Please include your address and telephone number. July/August 2011 Issue 34

ydale michael by

C OV E R

Manchester Square 11 An archbishop spinning out of control Counterpoints Osborne’s uncharitable tax raid; Novel idea; Crossroads; Brooks’s brothers; Farewell to M.F. Husain; Mawkish Miliband 13 Letters War of the Roses; Dress coda; City slackers; Enduring Guv 18

Columns Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi says the Arab Spring risks becoming a long cold winter 22 Living History Michael Burleigh looks at life in the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets 23 European Eye Mara Delius laments German hysteria over beansprouts and nuclear plants 24 The Outsider Douglas Murray denounces our reliance on new media 25 Marketplace Tim Congdon proposes a makeover for the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street 26 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg weighs up the privacy superinjunction debate 27

Dialogue Peter Singer and Nigel Biggar debate the value of human and animal life 28 Features The Holocaust: excusing the inexcusable Michael Pinto-Duschinsky replies to the defenders of the university funder and Nazi collaborator Alfred Toepfer 34

28

Iliad! Clive James excavates a Homeric satire on Hollywood’s heroes 55

On the contrary Lionel Shriver shuns Cannes glamour in favour of her laptop 20

Still haunted by the ghost of Mao Jonathan Mirsky says China’s democratisation has a long way to go 40 China’s downtrodden sunflower seeds George Walden questions the art but not the courage of the dissident Ai Weiwei 42 The lost art of old England James Hannam relishes the reliquaries at the British Museum 44 Bloomsbury’s teenage terrorist Lesley Chamberlain explores the motives of the writer David Garnett 46 What happens when the band stops playing? Norman Lebrecht puts the case for symphony orchestras 48

Civilisation Unending journey Justin Marozzi believes that travel writing has plenty of life left in it 74 Benedict XVI and the future of the West George Weigel embraces the rebirth of Evangelical Catholicism 84

Books Eric Ormsby on Dante in Love by A.N. Wilson; Piers Paul Read on G.K. Chesterton: A Biography by Ian Ker; Tibor Fischer on James Joyce: A Biography by Gordon Bowker; Noel Malcolm on The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama; Nichi Hodgson on Love: A History by Simon May and All About Love: Anatomy of An Unruly Emotion by Lisa Appignanesi; Simon Scott Plummer on A Pilgrim in Spain by Christopher Howse 67 Music Jessica Duchen welcomes a new generation of conductors 78 Art Michael Prodger enjoys the sublime and the religious at the National Gallery 79 Television Nick Cohen derides BBC4’s programme on Amnesty International 80 Film Peter Whittle endures two moralising documentaries 81 Theatre Anne McElvoy revels in Richard Bean’s Goldoni revival 82 Cosmos Mark Ronan lauds Euclid, master of mathematics 83 Text Two short stories on fatherhood Allan Massie Old Man Failing 59 Joseph Epstein Dad’s Gay 62

Drawing Board Nicholas Garland New paintings and woodcuts 90 Overrated/Underrated Richard Layard/Ken Dodd by Michael Mosbacher and Robert Low 94 Chess Dominic Lawson celebrates the craft of a Cuban chess conquistador 96 Wine Saintsbury shares a glass with Dr Johnson 97 Imagination Party Lines by Daisy Waugh; Whatever by Peter Blegvad: The Saga of Smit & Smule concludes 98

www.standpointmag.co.uk