Issue 104
November 2004
Contents
European puzzle
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Over the past decade the EU has become far friendlier to British interests, both economically and politically. Yet over the same period Euroscepticism in Britain has gained ground. The EU's constitutional treaty codifies the new pro-British EU, but few people seem happy to vote for it. What's gone wrong?
War is peace
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
It seems far-fetched to compare today's America to the totalitarian nightmare of Orwell's "1984." But the novel can also be read as a warning about the failings of mass democracies, especially in wartime
Children in care
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Children in care are far more likely to fail at school or end up in prison. The Labour government has devoted more money and attention to the care system, but a wave of children from drug and alcohol-abusing parents are providing new challenges
The Asian aesthetic
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Western film used to give just an occasional nod to the east. Now Hollywood is in thrall to Korean horror, Japanese experiment and Chinese pyrotechnics. India's industry is the largest, but it is in Buddhist and Taoist Asia that a real aesthetic alternative has emerged to change the face of world cinema
The coming of Shia Iraq
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
After 500 years of Sunni rule, Iraq's election will hand power to the Shia majority. This terrifies Sunnis, and gives Shia factions a common goal — masterminded by none other than Ahmed Chalabi
The tomb of modernity
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Moma has not only defined the idea of the modern art museum, it has sustained New York as the defining modern city. So why does its monumental redesign make it look like a mausoleum?
Pointless voting
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
The interesting question on turnout is not why so few of us vote, but why so many
Epochal election?
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
The difference between the presidential candidates is not as great as it looks
Sport and the left
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
The belief that competitive sport damages children is misguided, but not daft
Farewell Derrida
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
When the envy and hostility ebbs, he will be remembered as a great artist-philosopher
Heritage: it's a lottery
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
In ten years the Heritage Lottery Fund has preserved glories, scuppered the V&A spiral and bowed to social inclusion. What is this "heritage" idea?
Fanatical unbelief
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Jonathan Miller's BBC4 history of atheism inadvertently reveals how dogmatic non-belief in the west is merely a narrow inheritance of Christianity
Unmistakably Rothian
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Roth's latest bravura work reinforces his status as American master, but it also exposes his long-standing predisposition for improvisation over planning
Dance forecast
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Mark Morris is the nearest contemporary dance has to a film or football star. His beefy legs, cross-dressing and ferocious discipline have made him as big as Balanchine
Musical notes
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Bernard Haitink's powerful effect on the orchestras he conducts has been striking in the Barbican series, even the Berlin Philharmonic did not disappoint
Smallscreen
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
While British and American television are dumbing down fast, HBO is swimming against the tide. It takes risks and makes the best drama in the world
Beyond the Pale
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Cast out as a child, the lizard boy became a circus ringmaster and terrorised the land. Or so it seemed
Chairman's corner
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Hold on to your hats: if Bush gets back, we will be in for a rough ride
Washington watch
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Forget about the polls and watch the turnout, say hopeful Democrats. And could it be OSCE monitors who decide the election result?
France profonde
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy supports hunting to tap the rural vote. Cynical, perhaps, but it will also help France avoid Britain's urban-rural schism
Berliner brief
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Germany's long road to normal nationhood takes a new turn, with even the rock stars getting nationalistic and the liberal Die Zeit being rude about Turks
Notes from underground
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
There aren't many alcoholics left among London Underground staff. That's good for public safety, but makes it an even more boring place to work
My top ten fears
21st November 2004 — Issue 104
Carole Angier is the author of, most recently, The Double Bond: Primo Levi, A Biography (Penguin)