Contributors

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. Peter Blegvad teaches creative writing at the University of Warwick. Alan Brownjohn is a poet and novelist. He has edited poetry collections with Seamus Heaney and Maureen Duffy. His latest novel is Windows on the Moon (Black Spring). Michael Burleigh is Professor of History at the University of Buckingham. Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer. Tim Congdon is an economist and chief executive of International Monetary Research. 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 Tibor Fischer’s latest novel, Good to be God, is published in paperback by Alma Books. Miriam Gross is a former senior editor of Standpoint and is on its advisory board. She was literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph, 1991-2005. Len Krisak’s most recent book is a translation of Virgil’s Eclogues (University of Pennsylvania Press). Dominic Lawson is a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Independent. Norman Lebrecht’s latest book is Why Mahler? (Faber). Joseph Loconte is a senior research fellow at The King’s College in New York. Margot Lurie is associate editor of Jewish Ideas Daily. Her work has appeared in the New Criterion, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, Commentary and the Jewish Review of Books. Justin Marozzi is a travel writer, historian, and political risk and communications advisor. He is the author of South from Barbary (HarperCollins), a travel history of Libya. 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. Kenneth Minogue taught political thought at the London School of Economics. Last year he published The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life (Encounter). Douglas Murray is Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society. Michael Nazir-Ali was Anglican Bishop of Rochester, 1994-2009. He is the author of Conviction and Conflict: Islam, Christianity and World Order. Now President of Oxtrad, he devotes himself to defending persecuted Christians and others all over the world. C.P. Nield’s poetry has been published in New Poetries IV (Carcanet), as well as Ambit, The London Magazine and Magma. In 2006, he was awarded the Keats-Shelley prize. Eric Ormsby’s latest book of prose is Fine

Michael Nazir-Ali

Miriam Gross

Sarah Skwire

Margot Lurie

Justin Marozzi

David Womersley

Tracey S. Rosenberg

Adam Zeman

Incisions: Essays on Poetry and Place (The Porcupine’s Quill). The Baboons of Hada, a new selection of his poems, is published by Carcanet. Michael Prodger is an art historian and critic. David Pryce-Jones is a senior editor of National Review. His book, Treason of the Heart: From Thomas Paine to Kim Philby (Encounter), is published this month. Piers Paul Read’s novel The Misogynist will be published in paperback in July. Tracey S. Rosenberg was recently awarded a New Writers’ Award by the Scottish Book Trust. Her debut novel, The Girl in the Bunker, will be published this summer. Joshua Rozenberg chairs Halsbury’s Law Exchange, an independent legal think-tank. Simon Scott Plummer is a former leader writer on the Daily Telegraph. William Shawcross’s new book, Justice for the Enemy: From Nuremberg to Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, will be published this summer. Lionel Shriver’s novel So Much for That is published in paperback by Harper Collins. Sarah Skwire’s poetry has appeared in the New Criterion, the Oxford Magazine and the Vocabula Review. Anthony Thwaite’s Collected Poems was published in 2007. A new edition of his Japanese Verse anthology (edited with Geoffrey Bonas) was published in September 2009. Edmund de Waal was apprenticed as a potter in Canterbury, studied in Japan and read English at Cambridge. His memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes, won the 2010 Costa Biography Award. Daisy Waugh’s new novel Last Dance With Valentino is published by HarperCollins. Peter Whittle’s new book Monarchy Matters is published by the Social Affairs Unit. Jamie Whyte is head of research at Oliver Wyman, an international consulting firm. David Womersley is the Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. His most recent book is Divinity and State (OUP). Adam Zeman is Professor of Neurology at the Peninsula Medical School, and the author of Consciousness: A User’s Guide and A Portrait of the Brain (Yale University Press). With thanks to Elisabeth Perlman

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.

4 May 2011 May 2011 Issue 32

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Manchester Square 3 Watchman, what of the night? Counterpoints The Godless delusion; Lessons of Nuremberg; Muscle man; Defining society; Cuts hyperbole; Burke in Egypt 7 Letters Christians and the courts; Don’t bank on it; Keep calm and carry on? 14

Columns Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi warns that the EU’s Middle East “peace initiative” won’t promote peace 16 Living History Michael Burleigh admires two courageous Algerian novelists 17 European Eye Mara Delius sees an exhibition devoted to the German Enlightenment in not-so-enlightened China 18 The Outsider Douglas Murray says the West should stop apologising for everything 19 On the contrary Lionel Shriver takes a dim view of the “fat tax” 21 Market Place Tim Congdon proposes Congdon’s Law of Public Debt 22 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg thinks a new law will not necessarily protect Israeli politicians from persecution in the UK 23

Features The rise of rights and the fall of man Kenneth Minogue laments the love of rights at the expense of common sense 38 Death in Vienna, birth of celebrity Norman Lebrecht says the passing of Gustav Mahler 100 years ago heralded the modern obsession with the private lives of public figures 42

The Mosque Militant Michael Nazir-Ali urges the West to face up to a growing threat to religious freedom 34

Text An experimental education Miriam Gross remembers her Dartington schooldays 70

Dialogue Ruth R. Wisse and Jack Wertheimer discuss the challenges facing the Jewish community in the US and responses to the threat of global anti-Semitism 24

Civilisation

Books David Pryce-Jones on Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda; Simon Scott Plummer on Walsingham: Pilgrims and Pilgrimage by Michael Rear and Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe by Charles Freeman; Alan Bekhor on A Philosophical Retrospective: Facts, Values and Jewish Identity by Alan Montefiore; Allan Massie on A Man of Parts by David Lodge; and Tibor Fischer on The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 55 Cosmos Adam Zeman searches for scientific explanations of the soul 61

Art Michael Prodger celebrates an exhibition that reveals the many faces of

Joan Miró 63

Film Peter Whittle hails new releases of two Seventies classics 64 Television Nick Cohen claims politicallycorrect quotas are the greatest threat to equal opportunities 65

Music Jessica Duchen says Shostakovich’s real voice is heard in his string quartets 66

Theatre Anne McElvoy enjoys the best— and endures the worst—of Rattigan 69

Dispatches Justin Marozzi in Benghazi reports on the courage of the Libyan rebels and looks forward to the post-Gaddafi era 30

Poetry Special Critique David Womersley reexamines Shelley’s prophetic poem The Revolt of Islam in the context of the Arab Spring 46 New Poems Three generations of American and British poets: C.P. Nield, Margot Lurie, Sarah Skwire, Tracey S. Rosenberg, Alan Brownjohn, Len Krisak and Anthony Thwaite 48

Drawing Board Edmund de Waal 76 Overrated/Underrated Paul Muldoon/ Alfred Lord Tennyson by Eric Ormsby 78

Chess Dominic Lawson reveals a French cheating scandal 80 Wine Saintsbury toasts a belletrist who retired from the City to cultivate his cellar 81 ImaginationPartyLinesby Daisy Waugh; Whatever by Peter Blegvad: The Saga of Smit & Smule continues 82

www.standpointmag.co.uk

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