Issue 23
October 1997
Contents
Meet the president
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
As a young Solidarity activist in 1980 Radek Sikorski worshipped Lech Walesa. Ten years later, as deputy defence minister in Poland's first freely elected government, he met President Walesa, a political thug bent on buying nuclear weapons from the Russians
The future of history
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
What is History? EH Carr's famous question has been answered by post-modernists who argue that writing history is simply about power, and that all interpretations are equally valid. The post-modernists (and Carr) are wrong
Curse of comparison
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Why are so many people unhappy, when we live in a period of unprecedented affluence? An obsessive preoccupation with comparing ourselves to others is to blame. We have unrealistic expectations, which leave us permanently dissatisfied, prone to depression and aggression
Schools, hospitals and elites
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Why has Britain's state run health system been so much more successful than the state education system? The answer lies in the success of the NHS in creating an effective cross-class institution which has survived the rise of the new "superclass"
France says no
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
France is in a mess. But in hesitating to embrace the new certainties of neo-liberalism the French may have a point. The recent triumphalism of the Anglo-Saxon world is misplaced, and in Britain it may now be giving way to a less defensive/assertive stance
The Meaning Of Diana
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
It was an extraordinary episode but what does it tell us? Prospect writers (and guests) try to make some sense of the events of the past few weeks
Conservatism now
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Labour says it can combine social cohesion with economic efficiency but so far it is just being bossy. Tories understand real institutions, not abstract communities
Free the university
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Universities should be free-to charge students what they like. Alan Ryan, Warden of New College, Oxford, says Dearing is already out of date, the system must be deregulated
Tigers at bay
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
The east Asian economic shock reminds both Asians and westerners that the tiger economies are subject to normal economic laws. Gerald Segal hopes we will now hear less about Asian values
Poetry commando
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Poetry is everywhere, from the outpouring of doggerel verse for Princess Diana to pop song lyrics. Yet most people think it is not for them. William Sieghart wants to change that
Raising the floor
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Labour has abandoned equality but not the "excluded"-the three million people stuck on unpopular council estates. Their lives can be improved without a big increase in spending
The Saatchi sensation
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Modern art in Britain used to be rather provincial. Not any more. Norman Rosenthal, who recalls visiting the Freeze exhibition a decade ago with Damien Hirst, says London is now a contender
Ever shrinking Beeb
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Samuel Brittan objects to a piece of high-minded special pleading for an ever rising BBC licence fee for an ever shrinking BBC. Quality programmes need a better defence
The rise of Mr Person
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Portugal is the theme of this year's Frankfurt book fair but it has produced few writers of significance. C A R Hills explains how the work of Fernando Pessoa has sparked a Portuguese renaissance
The men of rock
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Richard Fortey has written an elegant and informative biography of life on earth. But his preference for the rock over the intriguing idea lets him down
Letter from Enniskillen
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Princess Diana's funeral was a complicated occasion in far away Fermanagh
The prisoner
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Peter Wayne returns to Lindholme and discovers that Governor Batt was not so bad after all
The business
20th October 1997 — Issue 23
Business is leading a counter-revolution against corporate reform. John Plender sees a problem for Lord Simon