Issue 1
October 1995
Contents
Full of genes
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
A new generation of scientists and writers is returning to biology to find explanations for human behaviour. Focusing on the gene, the sociobiologists have generated hypotheses about everything from altruism through mate selection to the near universal fondness for open spaces, trees and lakes. But does their popular appeal mask flaws in their methodology? Geoff Mulgan investigates
The future is a foreign country
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Hong Kong's future will be Chinese, but what will be the residual influence of British traditions? As 1997 approaches, it remains unclear how much political and economic autonomy Beijing will tolerate. Ending the impasse between Britain and China could have some benefits, but lasting prosperity requires that Hong Kong retain its cosmopolitan spirit, says Philip Bowring
And then to the university
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
More by accident than design, student numbers in Britain have doubled over the past two decades. And with the change in status of polytechnics, Britain is following the US towards mass higher education. Few want to reverse this trend. But, says Christopher Price, the expansion has led to bitter conflicts over the purpose and quality of university degrees
Delors: after power
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Charles Grant talks to Jacques Delors about Europe and what he plans to do with the rest of his life
The appeal of the court
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Something unexpected appears to be happening to the ancient institution of the magistracy-in some parts of Britain it is evolving into a progressive, self-questioning organisation. Jeremy Clarke has often been on the wrong side of the bench. Here, he finds reasons to be cheerful about justice
Coming up for Blair
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
R W Johnson has left for South Africa after 30 years observing-and later advising-Labour politicians. Looking back to Harold Wilson and forward to Tony Blair, he reflects on the eternal cycles of British politics
Still looking for an idiom
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Good sports writers in Britain have traditionally been reluctant to write for tabloid newspapers. Three years ago Brian Glanville, a long-standing admirer of American and Continental European quality sports journalism for the masses, took his soccer column from the broadsheet Sunday Times to the tabloid People
Government health check
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Can the machinery of government be reformed without a constitutional upheaval? Which parts of the machinery are functioning and which are failing? Sarah Hogg offers an inside view
The Yugoslav tragedy
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
As the war in the former Yugoslavia moves towards a denouement, Aleksa Djilas, son of the late dissident Milovan Djilas, disputes the view that it is a peculiarly Balkan horror. Instead, he argues, it is part of the unstoppable process of border formation and ethnic homogenisation already experienced throughout the rest of Europe
Wrongs and rights in development
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Can developing countries enjoy fast economic growth and political freedom? Does the provision of decent health care and education in such countries stimulate or restrain wealth creation? Amartya Sen addresses these two momentous questions in respect to India, a democracy which endures mass illiteracy and rudimentary social security, and China, a country with high levels of education and health care, but little regard for liberty
Dead souls
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Russia is in the midst of a demographic crisis. Life expectancy for men is falling precipitately and is now below the level it reached under Stalin. Andrew Cowley examines the reasons
Enter the alumni children
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
As white male resentment of affirmative action gains momentum in America, Alan Ryan wonders why its opponents appear so complacent about the injustice of helping the 'overclass'
The milkman theory of civilisation
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Trust does not merely make for pleasant neighbourhoods; it's good for the economy too, according to Francis Fukuyama. Susan Greenberg applies this thesis to her life
Jobs for the boy
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Lord Salisbury was Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. William Gladstone was his own Chancellor. If Tony Blair enters Downing Street, he should appoint himself Education Secretary
Jellyrolls and alligator spreads
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
In the arcane world of derivatives trading, banking has become a branch of applied mathematics. How do the managers cope? Rudi Bogni, of Swiss Bank Corporation, explains why he is going back to university
The party's over
20th October 1995 — Issue 1
Frederic Raphael considers 'Le passé d'une illusion'-François Furet's meditation on the bewitching influence Soviet Marxism had on so many French intellectuals. The British and others may have been less susceptible, but can the millennarian impulse ever be finally extinguished?