Contributors

David Barrett is an Australian journalist. He lives in London. John Bew is Lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London and Co-Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. His biography of Castlereagh (Quercus) was reviewed by Andrew Roberts in October’s Standpoint. Katharine Birbalsingh is setting up Michaela Community School, a free school in south London. Her latest book is To Miss With Love (Penguin). Conrad Black was chairman of Hollinger Group which, until 2003, owned the Telegraph Media Group. His new memoir, A Matter of Principle, has just been published in the US. Michael Burleigh is Professor of History at the University of Buckingham. He is completing a global history of the Cold War 1945-65, to be published next spring. Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer. You Can’t Read This Book, his critique of modern censorship, will be published by Fourth Estate in January. Paul Collier is Professor of Economics at Oxford University. His latest book, The Plundered Planet: How to Reconcile Prosperity with Nature, was published last year by Allen Lane. Tim Congdon is chairman of the Freedom Association. His latest book is Money in a Free Society (Encounter). Anthony Daniels’s latest book, as Theodore Dalrymple, is Litter: How Other People’s Rubbish Shapes Our Lives (Gibson Square). Mara Delius is a writer and editor for the culture section of Die Welt. Shehryar Fazli is a Pakistan-based political analyst and author. His novel, Invitation, was a bestseller in India and Pakistan. Alice Hancock is an undergraduate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Simon Heffer is Editor of Mail Comment Online and a columnist for the Daily Mail. His latest book is Strictly English (Windmill). Clive James’s most recent books of prose are The Revolt of the Pendulum and The Blaze of Obscurity, both published by Picador last year. His latest collection of poems is Angels over Elsinore (Picador). Anthony Julius is the Deputy Chairman of the London law firm Mishcon de Reya. He is the author of Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England (OUP). 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). Iain Martin is a political columnist for the Daily Mail. He was formerly editor of the Scotsman and deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph and Wall Street Journal Europe. Allan Massie is a journalist and novelist. His latest book is Death in Bordeaux (Quartet). Anne McElvoy is Public Policy Editor of the

Geoffrey Robertson

Andrew Roberts

Madeleine Minson

Shehryar Fazli

Paul Collier

Norman Lebrecht

Anthony Julius

Alice Hancock

6

Economist and presents the arts programme Night Waves on BBC Radio 3. Madeleine Minson is a Swedish freelance writer and editor. She lives in London. Douglas Murray is the author of A Substantial Number of Shots: The Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday (Biteback), published this month. William Norton is the author of Monument and Bank: Capitalism and the Anglo-Saxon Mind (Social Affairs Unit). He was the agent for the victorious No Campaign in the 2011 referendum on the parliamentary voting system. Emanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and author of Iran: The Looming Crisis (Profile). Michael Prodger is an art historian and Senior Research Associate at the University of Buckingham. Andrew Roberts is a historian and Standpoint’s US correspondent. His latest book is The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War (Allen Lane). He lives in New York. Geoffrey Robertson QC is author of People Against the Press (Quartet) and Robertson & Nicol on Media Law (5th edition, Penguin). Mark Ronan is Honorary Professor of Mathematics at University College London, and author of Symmetry and the Monster. Joshua Rozenberg is an independent legal commentator. He presents Law in Action on BBC Radio 4. Lionel Shriver is a novelist. A film based on her bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin has just been released. Her most recent novel is So Much for That (Harper). Daisy Waugh is a columnist for the Sunday Times. Her novel Last Dance with Valentino is now out in paperback (Harper). Peter Whittle is director of the New Culture Forum. His latest book is Monarchy Matters (Social Affairs Unit). David Womersley is Thomas Warton Professor of English at the University of Oxford. His edition of Gulliver’s Travels will be published by Cambridge University Press next year.

With thanks to Olivia Sayers, Oliver Wiseman and Billy Franklin

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. November 2011 Issue 37

Manchester Square The Coptic Kristallnacht 5

Counterpoints Intervention ambivalence; Borderline rude; AV OTT; Independent thought 10

Letters Seumas Milne denies Stalinism; Rights and sovereignty; Bogarde in France 14

ydale h ael mic by

C OV E R

Columns Party Lines Daisy Waugh listens in to the continuing debate on human rights 15 Free at last Katharine Birbalsingh sees a site for her free school sold from under her nose 16 The Outsider’s Diary Douglas Murray laments Liam Fox’s departure and admires the eloquence of a former child-slave 17 On the Contrary Lionel Shriver reports from Ed Miliband’s booming Britain of 2021 18 Points East & West Emanuele Ottolenghi does not buy Europe’s cry of “Never Again!” 20 Living History Michael Burleigh is critical of growing Chinese influence in Africa 21 Marketplace Tim Congdon baulks at the imposition of a new banking bureaucracy 22 Jurisprudence Joshua Rozenberg finds the wording on a passport politically prickly 23 European Eye Mara Delius discovers that intellectual life is thriving in one corner of Germany 24 Open Season Peter Whittle addresses Britain’s immigration taboo 27

Gotcha! Geoffrey Robertson warns that the freedom of the press is up for grabs at the Leveson inquiry 32 The repentant Europhile: Max Hastings Conrad Black gives the former Telegraph editor some career advice 36

US Dispatch Andrew Roberts, in his new column from America, explains why Chris Christie (above) and Sarah Palin aren’t running for president 28

David Cameron’s difficulties with girls Daniel Johnson asks if the Prime Minister knows what women want 38

Dispatches Shehryar Fazli, in Pakistan, praises the role of underground booksellers 30

Features Iain Martin thinks Scots are disenchanted with the EU—and Alex Salmond 42 Paul Collier says the English class war has ended with the poor deprived of higher culture or aspirations 44

76

Civilisation Critique David Womersley shows how Philip Larkin’s love letters reveal him maturing as a poet 51

Books Anthony Julius on The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England from Cromwell to Churchill by Gertrude Himmelfarb; Daniel Johnson on Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson by Susan Hertog; Madeleine Minson on 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami; David Barrett on The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories by Don DeLillo; Alice Hancock on New Selected Stories by Alice Munro 55

Text Daniel Johnson The Mythology of Decline: America and Europe aren’t finished yet 60 Clive James Five New Poems 64

Critics Cosmos Mark Ronan reports on physicsdefying neutrinos 68

Music Norman Lebrecht believes the cult of the conductor has had its day 70

Art Michael Prodger marvels at Leonardo’s pursuit of perfection 71

Film Peter Whittle has not caught the Contagion bug 72

Television Nick Cohen blames artists for not capitalising on the crisis of capitalism 73

Theatre Anne McElvoy is charmed by a Yorkshire King Lear 74

Drawing Board Marcus Bleasdale Photographs from the Democratic Republic of the Congo 76

Overrated/Underrated Robert Burns/James Boswell by Allan Massie 78

Chess Dominic Lawson savours the Anglophilia of a Russian grandmaster 80

Wine Saintsbury finds reading Zola’s L’Assommoir a sobering experience 81 Culture & Anarchy Simon Heffer isn’t bowled over by today’s county cricket 82

www.standpointmag.co.uk