Issue 136
July 2007
Contents
Protecting the global poor
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Almost all rich countries got wealthy by protecting infant industries and limiting foreign investment. But these countries are now denying poor ones the same chance to grow by forcing free-trade rules on them before they are strong enough
The case for minor utopias
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
The 20th century showed how dangerous utopian ideas can be. Does that mean we should follow John Gray and abandon all political idealism? Or is a more modest strain of visionary thinking—with human rights at its foundation—still possible?
English journeys
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
From the Boys' Brigade to postcolonial Sudan, my early years brought me into contact with many kinds of Englishness. But what was never in doubt was that each was part of a whole. It is hard to say the same of our national identity today
Checkmate Gazprom
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
After Russia cut supplies to Ukraine in 2006, the EU decided it needed to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. But since then, a series of shrewd moves by Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas monopoly, has left the EU's diversification strategy in tatters
Lessons from history
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Intellectuals have had a mixed record in British politics. Let's hope that Gordon Brown is in the tradition of Gladstone rather than of Balfour
Just a bookworm?
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Brown's thinking is neither cosmopolitan nor sophisticated, and he is a loner with few strong links to leading intellectual contemporaries
An American liberal
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Brown is less of an intellectual "magpie" than he seems. He draws on both liberal and conservative Americans for good reason
Leap of faith
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Recent Labour leaders have kept quiet about their religious beliefs. As premier, will Brown allow his faith to leech into his politics?
Courage and sorrow
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Gordon Brown's new book "Courage" is a response to the death of his first child. He has transformed his suffering into a lesson
An intellectual in power
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Intensive study has made Gordon Brown into one of the best-read politicians of recent times. But what is his intellectual formation and style? And how will they inform his premiership?
Poker's face-off
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
In recent years, small poker clubs have sprung up across the country, providing ideal venues for amateurs to hone their skills. But with the big casinos against them and their legal status uncertain, the card rooms' future looks far from secure
Israel's apartheid
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Benjamin Pogrund believes Israel is being unfairly singled out. But a boycott is appropriate for a uniquely brutal society
After Lal Masjid
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
What does the Lal Masjid mosque siege tell us about the growth of extremism in Pakistan?
Blair's bloated fantasies
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
An explosion in consumer debt, a fleecing of public services and wars fought on a peacetime budget—is this really a golden age?
Le Tour in London
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
As the Tour de France comes to Britain for the first time ever, what can three books tell us about the meaning of the world's most demanding athletic contest?
The costs of wealth
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Julian Le Grand says that Blair has left behind a golden age. He should try going out in Hull on Friday night
The stringer's spouse
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Memoirs by foreign correspondents are ten a penny. But what about their husbands and wives?
India shining
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
A new book on India's recent history tells the story of the last 60 years in resiliently upbeat fashion
Remembering Rorty
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Rorty ditched his early positivism for an open-minded and iconoclastic pragmatism that irritated as many as it inspired
The cost of carbon
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Carbon trading is an attractive idea, but it will not work as well as a consistent tax on carbon emissions
A bone-headed boycott
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Cutting links with Israeli academics will only hinder the chances of peace in the middle east
Back to Bhutto?
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
If President Musharraf is ousted, it will be another example of Pakistan's underlying stability
It's broke, let's fix it
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
It's time for an end to piecemeal reform—Britain now needs a proper written constitution
Blair's golden age?
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
New Labour has combined growth with social protection. It's a lot better than the 1960s
Doubting Damien
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
The problem with assessing much modern art is that it's hard to tell the difference between a banal work and one whose theme is banality. So, how might we make a case against Damien Hirst?
The essence of Cliveishness
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Clive James's compendium of short essays shows him at his most democratic, irreverent and dazzling. Even the flaws seem to be there for a purpose—to make the reader feel slightly less ignorant
Caught up in The Wire
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
The gangster series "The Sopranos," which recently ended, has been described as the greatest television show ever. But the police procedural "The Wire," also made by HBO, is even better.
From people to person
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
In China, collectivist ideals are enshrined in the very language, so it is not surprising that rebellion often takes a linguistic form. These two novels examine the struggle for self-expression in modern China
Performance notes
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
The Proms remain the most democratic concert series in Britain. But a lack of new music means that Prom audiences are ageing and in decline—if the Proms don't adapt, they may die
Widescreen
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
All the best films at Cannes this year were about human goodness. The best of all, Alexander Sokurov's Alexandra, was among the greatest works that cinema has produced
Smallscreen
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
If you think multi-channel television isn't for you, try the Community Channel. Despite its worthy title, the channel shows some good programmes, and deserves wider recognition
How deadly your taste buds, my sweet
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Some people will go to amazing lengths for the chance to savour a flawless white truffle
Letter from Moscow
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Moscow's mayor is overseeing the destruction of many of the city's historic monuments. A stand needs to be taken against this illegal vandalism—and international criticism can help
Washington watch
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Washington's conspiracy theorists have turned their attention to Britain's new prime minister. Has Gordon Brown really been on the CIA's payroll for 40 years?
Comment (1)Matters of taste
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Norway may have given up producing canned fish, but its cuisine is still pretty poor. At the Stavanger fish market you can, however, pick up some very tasty whale meat
Lab report
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Global warming "techno-fixes," such as erecting a sunscreen in space, are starting to interest climate scientists. Plus, hi-tech architecture booms in Beijing
Rivers of Babylon
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
The head of Iraq's leading Shia dynasty has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. His young son wants to take his place, but the knives are now coming out
France profonde
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Village festivals are increasingly important in rural France. They bring tourists and money, but they also restore pride to small towns which have lost so much else
Inefficient markets
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
Faced with social obligations on one side and increased competition on the other, Royal Mail is in trouble. But the government is leaving the hard decisions to Postcomm
Brussels diary
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
To avoid a referendum on a new "mini-treaty," Gordon Brown may need the help of the Lib Dems. But will Britain's most Europhile party put Europe before vox populi?
Confessions
28th July 2007 — Issue 136
I fancy my neighbour's 17-year-old son. Actually I don't just fancy him—I positively lust after him. But I'm not so deluded that I imagine he feels the same way