Issue 115
October 2005
Contents
Cherchez l'enfant
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
It looks like a golden age for children's writing. A British tradition has been reinvigorated by two good, though overrated, authors. JK Rowling and Philip Pullman differ from previous classic authors in aiming at a slightly older age range, and their metaphysics are silly. Still, they reflect our times
Bacon's shadow
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Francis Bacon invented the idea of progress 400 years ago. He also claimed that technology grew out of science and that science should be funded by the state. Both claims are still influential—but wrong
In defence of mandarins
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
The meritocratic mandarinate and its humanist culture cushioned mass democracy from the excesses feared by 19th-century liberals. Now the mandarins are in retreat will the nightmare of mobocracy come true?
Public sector IT failures
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Despite Britain's poor track record with big public sector IT schemes, much of Labour's programme depends on them—from NHS reform to ID cards. What accounts for the high rate of failure? Has the government learnt from past mistakes?
Thinking globally
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Prospect and Foreign Policy's list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals is, of course, hugely dominated by the west and above all America. Thirty years ago Europe would still have been in contention and Marxists and Freudians would have been far more visible. Could this list in fact mark the end of the age of the great public intellectual?
Will science explain mental illness?
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Will the sciences of genetics and psychopharmacology lead to greater understanding of mental illness? Or do we need a broader approach?
Born in Bradford
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
I witnessed the birth of political multiculturalism in Britain. It was in Bradford in the late 1980s when the left, shamefully, swapped secular universalism for ethnic particularism
Uncool cities
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
From London and Berlin to Sydney and San Francisco, civic authorities agree that the key to urban prosperity is appealing to the "hipster set" of gays, twentysomethings and young creatives. But the only evidence for this idea comes from the dot-com boom of the late 1990s—and that time is over
Comment (2)The IED tussle
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
The "improvised explosive device" may seem a humble opponent for the US military, but it is the focus of a battle of innovations pitting high-tech against low cunning
Göran Persson
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
After a rocky patch in the early 1990s, the Swedish model of high taxes and high spending is now stronger—and more popular—than ever. Sweden's prime minister explains why
Stormy waters
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Black America is doing better than New Orleans suggests. But trouble lies ahead
System failure
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
It was not just Bush's failure. Decentralised, free market democracy is myopic
Opiate of the masses
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
It is a highly addictive drug, but governments everywhere encourage its use
Emotional confusion
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
The left appears to be confused about the place of emotion in modern politics
Biography and sexism
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Why do women biographers get confused with their subjects? Men don't
Academic press
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Britain leads the world in university presses—an unsung corner of intellectual life
Left out
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
The centre-left is in retreat across most of Europe—third way modernisers have lost
The horrors of Houellebecq
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Michel Houellebecq's new novel is a further dig at French literature, human aspiration and himself. And a biography of the writer tries to explain his self-hatred
Vidal at 80
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Once the most stylish bitch in the US media, Gore Vidal approaches his 80th birthday with his reputation in decline. And what of the novels?
A Tory community
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
The Conservative party has traditionally combined two great principles—personal freedom and public service. It now needs a new idea of community
Seeking Shakespeare
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Lack of facts about Shakespeare seems merely to encourage biographers. Peter Ackroyd wisely tackles him through a social history of Tudor and Stuart England
Rushdie the warrior-poet
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
What many Muslims fail to understand about Salman Rushdie is that his disdain for closed culture is not aimed exclusively at Islam. It is universal
Widescreen
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
In the decade since 1995, cinema has changed technically, aesthetically and commercially. Hollywood is still on top, yet, globally, film is better than ever
Private view
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
It is the centre of art-world fashion. It is usually bad, boring and pretentious. So what is it that video art is trying to do that television can't do better?
Smallscreen
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
What has happened over the last ten years in television? Well, British television can no longer claim to be the best in the world. And "Aunty" Beeb is dead
Acknowledgements
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
I, Clive Pike, shall now inform my followers of the people who helped me bring forth the Book
These islands
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Former BBC newsreader Michael Buerk recently claimed that life is now lived according to women's rules. Could he possibly have a point?
Washington watch
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Katrina seemed to change everything for a few days. But in the end, it may leave everything as it was—except for Haley Barbour, Mississippi governor
Out of Africa
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
China is reintroducing a bit of geopolitical competition to Africa, and undermining western "conditionality." And watch out for Kenya's transport minister
Lab report
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
Publication of the chimp genome has highlighted the confusion surrounding our relationship to the great apes. And is reliable lie detection now possible?
Brussels diary
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
The EU is at its best when it is at its most boring—something Tony Blair has forgotten. And why Americans can't even imagine how Europe works
Modern manners
22nd October 2005 — Issue 115
A decade ago I used to amuse Prospect readers with tales from my parents' residential home for the elderly. All the residents are now dead and I've had a wobble