Indonesia's strongman

General Suharto is senior partner in the world's biggest family business-Indonesia. The economic crash has exposed the weakness of that business, says Charles Glass, which could now be on the brink of political turmoil

Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown is the enigma at the centre of British economic and social policy. Despite being cliquey and thin-skinned, he could make a first class chancellor, says Robert Chote. But can he reconcile macroeconomic orthodoxy with his heartfelt social reforming ambitions?

Judge not?

In the clamorous world of modern high culture, people find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and bad art. Frederic Raphael regrets the decline of cultural judgement and is particularly distressed at the praise heaped upon a new book about the Holocaust

Living with adultery

Under the old code of behaviour, if you committed adultery you kept it discreet and people pretended not to notice. This hyprocrisy worked, says Jonathan Rauch-it discouraged infidelity while accommodating human nature. Now adulterers like Bill Clinton are legally pursued but morally excused

The legacy of the sixties

Christopher Hitchens

PETER HITCHENS VS CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS Was the sixties the start of a slide into moral and political nihilism or a flawed but authentic progressive convulsion?

The lesser evil

At a gathering in Paris, French intellectuals conclude that they must support the Algerian government's "armed solution." Michael Ignatieff considers what, if anything, Europe can do

Bella Deutschland

As Germany's Social Democrats decide who to put up against King Kohl in the autumn, Josef Joffe asks whether it matters who rules. As in Italy, politics is becoming a sideshow

Fire and ice

The end of the Soviet Union has released a flood of new histories of Russia and communism. Edward Skidelsky recommends two-one describes the tragedy of an idea, the other of a people

Quashing speculation

The international financial markets are suffering another wobble. Ruth Kelly asks whether we should consider a "Tobin" tax on foreign currency speculation - or does George Soros have a better idea?

How good is Heaney?

Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney is adored by the British literary establishment. Antony Easthope argues that his old-fashioned lyric voice is bland, self-important, and ignores the modernist revolution

Sleepwalking to hell

It is usually the generals who carry the blame for the carnage of the first world war. Derek Coombs reconsiders Roy Jenkins's biography of Asquith and argues that the politicians have escaped lightly

Modern manners

Jeremy Clarke

Jeremy Clarke discovers that John Prescott has not made the trains run on time

Previous convictions

I can clean my own floor, thank you.

In fact