Issue 2
November 1995
Contents
Islam's divided house
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
For militant Islam the 1990s have been less successful than the 1980s. But fundamentalism remains a powerful and volatile feature of several middle eastern and north African countries. Some regimes have tried to crush it, others to co-opt it. David Gardner considers the dilemmas
Schäuble: waiting for power?
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Anne McElvoy talks to Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's second most powerful man
Washington's green house
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Under President Clinton the US's policy on Northern Ireland has moved towards the nationalists. Conor O'Clery provides the first detailed account of the forces which shaped Clinton's conversion in last year's visa wars
Pay as you earn
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Labour politicians believe that Cedric Brown and other highly paid utility bosses will win them the next election. But has the uproar over top salaries led to any greater clarity about how much people should earn? W G Runciman offers some guidance
Coming of age in Japan
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
In 50 years, Japan has hurtled from devastation to post-industrialism. Is it now counting the psychic cost? The Aum gas attack and similar disturbing events have shocked the world. Lesley Downer explores the country's shifting values by talking to members of a youth cult with mass support, the otaku
The miserable regiment of women
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Today's professional women are advancing through the labour market in unprecedented numbers, but many are discovering stress and unhappiness rather than the promised land. Rosalind Miles suggests that the old enemies of feminism can no longer be blamed
A tale of two cultures
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
The borders which once divided the scientific from the artistic imagination have been breached-by the scientists. John Carey, a professor of English at Oxford, pays tribute to a new literary genre
Russian roulette
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
The next few months could see the emergence of a new and altogether less predictable Russia. Forthcoming Duma and presidential elections will see gains for nationalistic, anti-western politicians. Having abandoned Marxism, the Russian political class may now be on the verge of exchanging liberal democracy for an ancient form of Muscovite statecraft. Bruce Clark assesses the impact of the new Russia on east-west relations
The prize is right
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
With the collapse of price-fixing for books, British publishers need the Booker Prize more than ever. Paul Bilic and Robert Winder compare it to France's loftier Prix Goncourt
The sex and shopping gland
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
The director of a top modelling agency has accused women's magazines of being obsessed with sex. But Hilary Burden, former deputy editor of Cosmopolitan, says they have already been destroyed by the advertisers
Souls at the polls
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
As the people of Poland prepare to elect a president, the Catholic church wants to influence how they cast their votes. Daniel Passent, of the Polish weekly Polityka, asks whether the new democracy is becoming a theocracy
The end of the imperial presidency
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
The frantic swings in American political life over the past five years have perplexed the world. Martin Walker sees them as symptoms of a bigger shift in the balance of power following the end of the cold war
Sauce for the liberal goose
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Liberalism has become the world's dominant political theory but its philosophical foundations remain uncertain. Ernest Gellner unravels the flaws in the work of Isaiah Berlin, the champion of modern liberalism
Look back in propaganda
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Playing fast and loose with the past is current fashion in the cinema. Christopher Tookey defends historical truth against political correctness
Escaping the aerodrome
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Totalitarianism is on the run but liberalism's future is not assured. Chris Patten rediscovers the relevance of Rex Warner's wartime novel for Robert Skidelsky's World after Communism
Digest
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
Howard Davies, the former director-general of the CBI, recently delivered a series of broadcasts on the state of British business. This is an edited version of his final talk, on links between government and industry
Hailing the taxes
20th November 1995 — Issue 2
After the tax cuts of the 1980s, the tax debate in the 1990s has become more subtle. The uproar over VAT on fuel has challenged the view that indirect tax is less politically sensitive than direct tax. Meanwhile, the left has made its peace with indirect taxation, while all parties and countries are embracing green taxes. Stephen Tindale reports