COLUMNS

7 CATHERINE P E P I NSTER

‘Outside the window of the home office, the hum of community is falling silent’

9 P E T ER STANFORD

‘Young people are presented not as individuals, but as a menacing plague’

1 5 PARISH PRACTICE 1 6 NOTEBOOK 1 7 L ETTERS 1 8 THE L I V I NG S P I R I T 1 9 PUZZLES

BOOKS

2 0 J OHN POLLARD

Hitler, Mussolini and the Vatican: Pope Pius XI and the speech that was never made Emma Fattorini

MARCUS TANNER Ghost Milk: calling time on the Grand Project Iain Sinclair

SARAH HAYES How It All Began Penelope Lively

ARTS

2 4 F EATURE

Rick Jones The Spitalfields Festival, east London

C I NEMA Francine Stock Hugo

RADIO D.J.Taylor Four Thought

T E L EV I S I ON John Morrish Who Wants To Be a Millionaire

THEATRE Mark Lawson Reasons to be Pretty

CONTENTS

3 DECEMBER 2 0 1 1

F EATURES

COVER STORY 4 From Arab Spring to winter Anthony O’Mahony

Support for the Syrian Government or the opposition within the region is polarising around key players in a fractious Middle East

4 Can the Christian cross count? Michael Gunn

Copts are making common cause with secular liberal parties against the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt’s elections

6 Benedict’s Irish gamble Robert Mickens

The Vatican’s new man in Dublin is well liked by the Pope, but some doubt he has the diplomatic experience needed for this tough post

8 Guide of the Missal Elena Curti

Mgr Andrew Wadsworth of Icel tells The Tablet about the steps leading up to the new translation, and the road ahead

1 0 ‘All art is a kind of miracle’ Brian Morton

The director Ken Russell, famed for his controversial film imagery, talks about his Catholicism in a previously unpublished interview

1 1 Steps forward and back Peter Henriot

A Jesuit working in Africa assesses the Pope’s apostolic exhortation Africae Munus and finds both encouragement and disappointment

1 3 Shame on Poland Jonathan Luxmoore

Allegations of sex abuse against priests in the Polish Church are multiplying and ignoring them is no longer an option for the clergy

1 4 Advent meditation Laurentia Johns

The second in our series of reflections rooted in St Benedict’s Rule

2 8 THE CHURCH I N THE WORLD

Tauran hails friendship with Muslims

3 2 NEWS FROM BRITAIN AND I RELAND

Housing charities facing big cutbacks

3 5 OBITUARY John Jukes

3 December 2011 | THE TABLET | 3