Issue 140
November 2007
Contents
Dangerous history
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Robert Kagan's history of 19th-century US foreign policy sees American action as motivated by morality rather than self-interest. As a work of history it is worthless, but it may be of interest to students of neoconservative propaganda
The real lessons of Ulster
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
The Northern Ireland conflict is now fought over the lessons of the Troubles. One apparent lesson is that only extremists can make deals stick. But perhaps the real conclusion is that the late-colonial British did not properly study their own history
Tumultuous Britain
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
For more than a century, Americans have seen Britain as tired and broken. But some of them now think that the old dynamism and iconoclasm has returned. If Britain really is back, it will be another test for the special relationship
Masters of disgrace
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Philip Roth and JM Coetzee are very different writers with a lot in common: their hard visions of life, their interest in sexual transgression and their tendency to put themselves in their novels. Moreover, with age, their visions are getting closer
How we "count" migration
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
People are very hard to count, especially in a free society. The failings in Britain's system of counting migration reflect the inherent flaws in any mass sampling system. Although the system could be improved, it will always be tough to predict future trends
The real GM food scandal
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
GM foods are safe, healthy and essential if we ever want to achieve decent living standards for the world's growing population. Misplaced moralising about them in the west is costing millions of lives in poor countries
Comment (3)Understanding the junta
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
A product of the Japanese imperial army, Burma's military dominates everything. When I visited the country's gleaming new capital and mingled with the generals, I learned why they have held power so long, and why they must be part of any solution
One day in Harare
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Inflation may be running at 7,000 per cent, yet in many respects life goes on as before in Zimbabwe. Harare is in a bad way, but at least its hospitals are clean
Embracing education vouchers
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Data from Sweden suggests that vouchers could offer the government a truly equitable way of combining its educational ideals with pragmatism
Ghosts of the caliphate
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Fantasies of reviving the caliphate reveal a deep crisis of legitimacy within Sunni Islam
Changing the climate debate
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
We need to find a middle ground on global warming to start tackling it effectively. Drastic carbon cuts won't work
Bhutto's homecoming
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Last week I accompanied Benazir Bhutto on flight EK606 from Dubai to Karachi. The jubilant atmosphere on board turned to shock and fear just hours later
Rules of the game
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Reforming governments should take note of the theory of "mechanism design"—work on which recently won three economists the Nobel
A crude analysis
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
The new film A Crude Awakening suffers from all the deficits of the "peak oil" theory it promotes
Diversity and trust
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Recent research by the sociologist Robert Putnam may provide tentative backing for David Goodhart's arguments on diversity
Breakthrough in Kariba
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
After a South African-brokered deal, the outlines of a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe are starting to emerge
Better bequests
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Governments should encourage us to leave wealth not to our children, but to our grandchildren
Trouble in Islamabad
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Pakistan is once again teetering on the edge of crisis. "Managed" democracy may be the best hope
Reading Camus in Salford
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Steeped in European culture, Ian Curtis epitomised the 1970s young British working-class intellectual
Rethinking risk
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Until regulators get as smart as the City, we will be stuck with political solutions to financial problems
A new deal with Russia?
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
It's in the interests of both the west and Russia to seek a grand bargain on the issues that divide them
Is God returning to Europe?
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
A leading US Christian says that faith in Europe will be re-energised by a creative Christian minority and by the example of Islam. But he is too sanguine about the integration of Muslims and about "model" America—where religiosity is, in part, a function of white ethnic anxiety
Political thrills
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
In imagining Tony Blair's future, Robert Harris goes some way to explaining the mistakes of his past. But shouldn't he have aimed for something more ambitious than a thriller?
Lost in translation
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Adam Thirlwell's history of the novel incorporates a dazzling array of authors, anecdotes and translations. If only he'd ditch the clever stuff and let the arguments get really serious
We started something great
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Orlando Figes's magisterial work tells the story of Stalin's Russia through the lives of its victims. It finds that misplaced idealism, as much as blind fear, was what made them obey Stalin
Widescreen
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
The Russian film Day Watch is daft and even boring at times. But it is a stylistic revelation— and the best mainstream entertainment cinema around
Performance notes
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Philip Glass remains a major force, even as the minimalist movement ebbs away. Plus what's behind the treasury's conversion on arts funding?
Smallscreen
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
The recent furore over Channel 4's child-rearing documentary series Bringing Up Baby illustrates the danger of relying too much on flashy formats
Birdwing
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Butterflies offered Arno the passion missing from his marriage. But where, exactly, would his hobby take him?
The Prisoner
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Prison is helping me face my fears and phobias; I believe I was sent here for that very purpose. After many years of vague interest, I have come to believe in God
Washington watch
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
The Clintons join Gore on the climate change bandwagon. The sub-prime mortgage mess may yet hurt John Edwards. Plus the French rush in and Fred Thompson falters
Matters of taste
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
There are many culinary myths: some inexplicable, some daft. Where, for example, does the name of the dish "chop suey"—unknown in China—come from?
Berliner brief
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
German politics is once again veering to the left. Meanwhile, former foreign minister Joschka Fischer's memoirs are thick on self-regard and thin on historical perspective
Lab report
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Could the move of a infectious disease research lab to King's Cross bring the risk of virus leakage to central London? Plus is British science finally acquiring commercial nous?
Rivers of Babylon
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
Judge Rahdi al-Rahdi, head of Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, was a hero in Iraq for his anti-corruption crusade. So why is he seeking political asylum in the US?
Confessions
25th November 2007 — Issue 140
I have a condition you can't discuss openly—I'm one of a secret sect of sufferers. I share this affliction with TS Eliot, Michael Foot and Spike Milligan. In short, I have piles