Issue 38
February 1999
Contents
Czechs, Poles ten years on
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Poland and the Czech Republic were isolated for 40 years by communism and have been separated since 1989 by old stereotypes. They may only come to regard each other as equals when they are both safely inside the EU
Oliver Sacks
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Oliver Sacks's bizarre neuro-histories have made him one of the world's most celebrated doctor-writers. But what is he like as a doctor-in the ward, on the street, making a house call?
Mahler man
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Gilbert Kaplan is a businessman with little musical training who has learnt to conduct Mahler's 2nd symphony. Last year he was in St Petersburg, next month it's Moscow
American graffiti
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Tom Wolfe's latest novel, "A Man in Full," has earned him the title of America's new Dickens. But his realism is nothing like Dickens's. Wolfe's characters are grotesquely typical and monstrously melodramatic. We should not confuse Wolfe's cartoonish realism with life or literature
Crisis, what crisis?
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
The Asian crisis has not brought down global capitalism. Most of the affected countries are now recovering strongly and some have more liberal regimes. But while the world's attention has been diverted eastwards, western corporations have been quietly rewriting the rules of global trade
Corporate control
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
New Labour has created a new "corporate populist" style of governing. It gets things done. But it is no way to run a democracy, especially one embarking on a big programme of constitutional reform. The exit of Peter Mandelson-the father of corporate populism-may strengthen its opponents
Waste is good
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Evolutionists used to be puzzled by the wastefulness of the peacock's tail. Now they believe that almost everything in nature that we find beautiful or impressive has been shaped by wasteful sexual display. Sexual display also lies at the root of culture, consciousness and modern consumerism
Polly's list
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Polly Toynbee's list of progressive values binding together Labour and the Liberal Democrats reads like a parody
Holding on to auntie
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
The BBC will have to adapt to the digital age, but, rest assured, it will remain faithful to its founding ideals
At the birth
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
The famously dull corridors of power in Brussels suddenly sprang to life after the birth of the euro. It's getting personal
We can't write love
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
On Valentine's Day don't send a card, write a letter. But don't include the most rhythmically unsatisfying phrase in the English language: I love you
The posture of contempt
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Roger Scruton's exhilarating tirade against modern culture recommends taking refuge in high art. But art won't tell you how to live
The paradox of class
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Britain's famous obsession with class is, paradoxically, the result of an unusually high level of social mobility
How to save the world
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
The world may be returning to a pre-1929 condition of endemic financial instability. Christopher Huhne considers two proposals to bring order to the markets
Having some of it
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Pamela Meadows welcomes an accessible overview of women and work, but is not convinced by its gloomy picture of a world of workless men and exploited women
Modern times
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Every village used to have a church and a pub. Now it has an all-night BP garage and a massage parlour
Previous convictions
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Support for minority languages is fine-until you have to send your children to the local schools in west Wales
The prisoner
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
The prisoner thought he would prove an excellent defence counsel in his own case. He had not bargained on prison justice
Brussels diary
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
The European parliament's attack on the commission's culture of cronyism could be just the start of the fun
Letter from Brasilia
20th February 1999 — Issue 38
Will the Brazilian domino fall? The country's federal system may push it over