Benny Morris

Once the great chronicler of Israel's war crimes, he now laments Ben-Gurion's failure to clear all Arab inhabitants from Palestine in 1948. What has become of Morris and the Israeli left?

An African sermon

Damon Galgut

"There was a history. There had been trouble before, Hutu and Tutsi trouble. There had been big killing in Burundi. That is part of the story, but in a way it is also another story. When trouble comes, it happens to you alone."

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The politics of diet and obesity

We have known for decades that diets in rich countries contain too much fat, sugar and salt and are making some of us ill. But as consumers will not change their habits, governments and food companies may have to save us from ourselves

Cultures of contempt

The claim that the accusatory, contemptuous culture of the modern media is undermining politics is itself now being dismissed as a Blairite whinge. Do the defenders of the media have a point? Can the downward spiral of media abuse and political evasion be reversed? Do we need a new journalism?

The Bush blip?

Behind many of the recent books about the Bush administration, there is a surprising consensus: the cold war background of many of its key members made it uninterested in stateless terrorism. But that same cold war background may mean that the Iraq war will prove a temporary aberration

Goodbye, the west

There can be no "new deal" between Europe and America as proposed last month by Philip Gordon. The world has changed irrevocably

Radio Hong Kong

The John Humphrys of Hong Kong has fled, complaining of intimidation. Those left behind are pushing against Beijing's block on democracy

Smallscreen

David Herman

In the 1990s, The Late Show, infamous for its esoteric subject matter, launched the careers of many of the defining figures in British film and television. Why?

Private view

Sebastian Smee

Robert Hughes's heart wasn't in his follow-up to The Shock of the New, but he is still the model for any art critic - particularly one from his resentful home country

A global religion?

Far from dying of modernity, might the world's religions merge into a single system? Not if you regard the teacher as more important than the lesson

Eurosceptic, but sane

Here is a sane Eurosceptic argument that tries to prove its case - and uses my work to do so. But it misinterprets its source material

Brussels diary

Manneken Pis

The Maoist past of the new commission president. How the EPP group in the European parliament got him the job. And the Irish prefer champagne

Technically speaking

Azeem Azhar

Capitalism and archiving are not well matched. Broadband in Britain is still sputtering - could we emulate Italy? Plus Prospect's guide to cyber-safety

Matters of taste

Kathleen Burk

If you are off to the Athens Olympics and the only Greek wine you know is retsina, you are in for a treat. But you may need to learn some Greek

Out of mind

Paul Broks

Self-recognition reflects a higher form of evolution than the ability to recognise others. Some of my patients see their own doubles. Tom can't recognise his own face

Foreword

David Goodhart