May 2011 Issue 32

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C OV E R

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

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