Contributors

David Barrett is an Australian writer and former journalist at the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. He lives in London. Alan Bekhor runs British Marine plc, a UKbased shipping group. A founding supporter of Standpoint, he has given papers on philosophy and theology at the Forum for European Philosophy and other societies. Julie Bindel is a journalist and feminist campaigner. John Bolton is the former US ambassador to the UN. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad. Katharine Birbalsingh left her job as deputy head of a London academy school after speaking at last year’s Conservative Party Conference. Her book, To Miss with Love, is published by Penguin this month. Peter Blegvad teaches creative writing at Warwick University. Joseph Bottum is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard. Michael Burleigh is Professor of History at the University of Buckingham and author of Moral Combat: A History of World War II, published by HarperPress. David Cesarani is Research Professor in History at Royal Holloway, University of London. His latest book is Major Farran’s Hat. Murder, Scandal and Britain’s War against Jewish Terrorism, 1945-1948. Nick Cohen is an Observer columnist. Tim Congdon is an economist and chief executive of International Monetary Research David Conway teaches philosophy at the University of Essex. John Cottingham is Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, London, and an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford. His latest book is Why Believe? (Continuum). Michael Daley is an artist and illustrator. He is director of the heritage watchdog group, ArtWatch UK. Mara Delius writes for the culture section of Die Welt. She lives in Berlin. Jessica Duchen blogs on music at standpointmag.co.uk/jessica-duchen Joseph Epstein’s book, Gossip: The Untrivial Pursuit, will be published later in 2011. Niall Ferguson is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a senior research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford, and holds the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the LSE for the current academic year. His latest book, Civilization: The West and the Rest, is published by Allen Lane. Christopher Fildes is a financial journalist who has observed the Bank of England over many years. Tibor Fischer’s latest novel, Good to be God, is out in paperback from Alma Books.

John Bolton

Anne McElvoy

Tibor Fischer

Alev Scott

Clive James

Melanie Phillips

Katharine Birbalsingh

David Rose

Robert Fox is Defence Correspondent of the Evening Standard. Clive James’s most recent books of prose are The Revolt of the Pendulum and The Blaze of Obscurity, both published by Picador as is Opal Sunset, a volume of selected poems. Dominic Lawson is a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Independent. Shiraz Maher is senior research fellow at King’s College London. He blogs at Focus on Islamism, standpointmag.co.uk/hitchensmaher Anne McElvoy is Public Policy Editor of the Economist and presents the arts programme Night Waves on BBC Radio 3. Dambisa Moyo has worked for the World Bank and Goldman Sachs. She is the author of Dead Aid, and her latest book is How the West Was Lost (Allen Lane). Douglas Murray is the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion. Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies. Melanie Phillips is a columnist for the Daily Mail and Jewish Chronicle, and a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze. Her latest book is The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power (Encounter). Michael Prodger is literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph. Hamish Robinson is the concierge of Hawthornden Castle, the writers’ retreat David Rose writes for the Mail on Sunday and Vanity Fair. His most recent book, The Big Eddy Club: Southern Justice and the Stocking Stranglings is published in a new edition by the New Press in New York this month. Joshua Rozenberg presents Law in Action on BBC Radio 4. He chairs a legal think-tank, Halsbury’s Law Exchange. Alev Scott is an Istanbul-based writer and Oxford graduate. Lionel Shriver’s latest novel, So Much for That, was shortlisted in the fiction section of the 2010 National Book Awards, America’s leading book prize. Francesca Teoh is a graduate of Durham University. Daisy Waugh’s new novel, Last Dance With Valentino, is published by HarperCollins. She is a Sunday Times columnist. Peter Whittle is director of the New Culture Forum.

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.

6 March 2011 Issue 30

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Manchester Square 5 Counterpoints Printing money; Worship is not enough; Student anti-Semitism; Turkey’s party poopers; Tiger mum talk; Newsroom 101 8 Letters Defence reviewed; Chesterton’s prejudice; Governor’s lament; Muslims misrepresented; The sanctity of life; Martyr missed? 12

Columns The Outsider Douglas Murray says the government is financing Islamist extremism while purporting to fight it 14 Living History Michael Burleigh examines the CIA’s involvement in Egyptian politics 15 On the contrary Lionel Shriver warns of the perils of civilian justice 16 Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi demolishes a potent Arab myth 18 European Eye Mara Delius thinks it’s time German women stood up for themselves 19 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg considers the chances of Mubarak facing charges in a foreign court 21 Dialogue Is China really a threat to us? Niall Ferguson and Dambisa Moyo discuss the challenge to the West from the East 22 Features Gordon Brown’s Recessional Tim Congdon assesses the damage caused by the ex-PM’s worst blunder 38

No he can’t What next for Egypt? John Bolton takes the Obama Administration to task for its mishandling of the crisis in Cairo 32 Dawn chorus in Tahrir Square Shiraz Maher reports from Cairo on the Egyptian Revolution 28

Features Give them the facts Katharine Birbalsingh says children need knowledge, not “skills” 36

Critique The drumming of an army Clive James on the rain in Oz 55

Theatre Global yawning Anne McElvoy watches green shoots (and dead wood) in two plays about climate change 67

Animal rights don’t justify human wrongs Julie Bindel exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Peta 42 A Hungarian democrat takes on the old guard Tibor Fischer defends the embattled Magyar PM, Viktor Orbán 44 The man who drew the fatal Durand Line David Rose looks at the disastrous legacy of the British official who fixed the Afghan-Pakistan frontier 48

Civilisation Books Alev Scott on Turkey: A Short History by Norman Stone; Robert Fox on The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples by David Gilmour; Melanie Phillips on Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore; David Conway on Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People by Philip Ball; and Christopher Fildes on The Bank of England: 1950s to 1979 by Forrest Capie 59

Film Peter Whittle says Never Let Me Go never gets going 64 Television Nick Cohen salutes a superb Danish crime drama 65

Music Jessica Duchen asks whether for composers “late” means great 66

Art Michael Prodger examines watercolour—a very British medium 68 Text Alan Bekhor God, the West and the scholastic mentality 70 Hamish Robinson New poem 75 Drawing Board Michael Daley Caricatures from his new exhibition Portraits under pressure 76 Overrated/Underrated Gustave Flaubert/Willa Cather by Joseph Epstein 78 Chess Dominic Lawson reports on the comeback of a former child prodigy 80 Wine Saintsbury Our new wine columnist on Jane Austen’s “very good spirits” 81 Imagination Party Lines by Daisy Waugh; Whatever by Peter Blegvad: The Saga of Smit & Smule continues 82

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