Issue 36
December 1998
Contents
The new nuclear threat
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Most people asssume that the end of the cold war has erased the risk of nuclear confrontation. But the break-up of the Soviet Union has actually increased the risk of accidental or "unauthorised" nuclear strikes
A roar from the suburbs
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
The pollster at the heart of Blairism recalls his upbringing among the people that Labour forgot-the new middle class of the sprawling suburbs of middle England
Late night in Lviv
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
What happens to superannuated critics? They become judges at international drama festivals. Few are as bizarre as the one just held in the historic heart of the Ukraine
Eating for England
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
The industrial food economy has meant lower costs and more choice for consumers. But it has also been slowly throttling the artisan food culture. No longer
The Darwinian fallacy
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
By applying Darwinian theory to human behaviour, evolutionary psychologists such as Steven Pinker have provided striking insights. But the new Darwinians reduce culture to biology and do not understand how language and self-awareness have made humans different from animals
National success
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Successful nation states have been built not on race, but on liberal political institutions and a dominant language or culture. But the EU is not a nation or a state, and is neither democratic nor culturally coherent. We should think twice about abandoning the liberal nation state-the best institution we have
The whole picture
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
What are the Turner prize celebrities, such as Damien Hirst, up to? Are they legitimately challenging our ideas of what art is? Or, by calling their works "art," do they encourage us to see a continuity between themselves and the old masters that does not exist? Do we need a new word to describe what they do?
A little black blip
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Just a few miles from the Italian coast is a lawless country struggling to grow out of its bloody adolescence
Speaking Mandarin
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
To implement Labour's modernisation programme the civil service itself requires Euro-modernisation
Common sense
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
A lot of nonsense is talked about English identity, nevertheless it does exist and can, up to a point, be defined
Gut wrenching
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
The 1970s student generation now in power assumed that Pinochet was a synonym for infamy. They had to think again
The Bible without God
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
The Canongate Bible books are the reductio ad absurdum of protestantism. Do we really care whether Fay Weldon likes St Paul?
Cowardly capitalism
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Daniel Ben-Ami pays tribute to Susan Strange, the philosopher of "casino capitalism," but argues that the problem with financial markets is that they are not risky enough
Not just a luvvies spat
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Peter Hall has had another big bust-up, this time with his old friend the impresario Bill Kenwright. But he is still a national treasure
Manufacturing a masterpiece
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Valentine Cunningham tries to understand why a derivative debut novel has become a global bestseller
Irony and foreign policy
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
International relations is increasingly about values, identity and powerlessness
The prisoner
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Many years ago, Prospect's prisoner befriended a moody fellow convict. The convict is now a household name
Brussels diary
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Neil Kinnock is suddenly flavour of the month in Brussels
Modern times
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
Literary festivals are one of Britain's growth industries. Jeremy, with a bit of help from the Almighty, is good at them
Previous convictions
20th December 1998 — Issue 36
I am one of the silent ones, part of an unnoticed backlash against vegetarianism