Issue 5
February 1996
Contents
Dear Green Place
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
It's ten years since Glasgow began its journey from "mean city" to "city of culture." But literary and media accounts of the city remain fixed on its rumbustious proletarian past, and its drugs-ridden present. Jeremy Clarke reports on what has become of the world's greatest Victorian city
America's punishment industry
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
The great incarceration experiment of the 1980s has left the US with a prison population which far exceeds those in other advanced countries. Despite locking up one in every 50 working age men the US has not yet produced a low crime society. Richard Freeman outlines the costs of incarceration and suggests some alternatives
The rise and fall of inflation
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Is high inflation in the UK dead or dormant? Kit McMahon, formerly chairman of Midland Bank, takes an historical look at rising prices and considers whether inflationary fears are now dampening growth
Jonathan Miller: return of the polymath
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Mark Irving talks to Jonathan Miller
The UN - mission impossible
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
No one felt like celebrating at the UN's 50th anniversary last year - the wounds of Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia were too raw. David Hannay, formerly British ambassador to the UN, says its failings are overstated
Nature's numbers
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
In the spirit of Plato, a new generation of science mavericks is seeking to find a mathematical understanding of nature, from the number of petals in a flower to the shape of spots on a peacock. Ian Stewart explains why we should take their flaky theory seriously
Generation gap
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Writers still form identifiable generations. For all their curmudgeonly individualism, the "angry young men" of the 1950s stood for something. By contrast, argues Allan Massie, the 1980s generation are disconnected and indifferent to life in Britain
Globaloney
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
It is a commonplace of left and right that global markets are rendering national economies ungovernable. Unconstrained markets are said to increase wealth while polarising its distribution and destroying political authority. But how global has the market become? Paul Hirst examines the evidence for globalisation and finds that the theory does not always match reality
Sweet dreams
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
One in four cancer patients suffers unnecessarily painful death because the medical profession is still reluctant to prescribe morphine-mistakenly viewed as a dangerous addictive drug. John McVicar witnessed how his terminally ill mother was denied her right to an easy end and advises us on how to plan our own deaths
Cartesian ills
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Descartes is still sowing confusion on the hospital ward. Neurologist Adam Zeman believes it is time to transcend the mind-body distinction
Alpha and omega
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
For half a century the Big Bang theory has dominated attempts to explain the origin of the Universe. It is now being discredited by 16 billion year old stars. John Maddox explains the new crisis in cosmology
Opera house blues
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Virginia Bottomley was right to refuse a new Cardiff Opera House. Money, says Edward Pearce, should go to performers not buildings
Big, boring, apple
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
The murder rate has halved; taxi drivers will soon speak English. But, says Michael Pye, New York is losing its point
Spanish practices
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Behind a shiny modernising façade, Spain's socialists have abused power on an heroic scale. Victor de la Serna, of El Mundo, regrets the immaturity of southern European democracies
Evaporating wets
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
For the first time in its history Britain is the most right-wing country in Europe. Ian Gilmour, defeated in an earlier contest with the right, explains the failure of the One Nation Tories
Honi soit qui mal y pense
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Régis Debray recalls friendship and disillusionment with François Mitterrand, and unravels the political psychology of a man whose inconsistencies helped unite a fractious country
Fig leaf democracy
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
The first Palestinian election marked a modest start in the establishment of a democratic culture. But its aim, says Ian Black, was to legitimise peace with Israel, not to establish democracy
Schlock of the old
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Screen adaptions of classics face two hazards, says Christopher Tookey. They either follow the original too closely at the expense of the drama, or see the past only through the eyes of the present
National interest
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
An art exhibition full of variety and surprises has no unifying theme save that the paintings all come from National Trust houses. Marc Jordan is inspired
"I was there"
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
It is ten years since Michael Heseltine stormed out of the cabinet over Westland. Martin Rosenbaum compares eye-witness accounts
Las Vegas lessons
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Twenty-five years ago, two architects chose Las Vegas to highlight the divorce between contemporary architecture and popular culture. Deyan Sudjic explains how Dutch-born Rem Koolhaas is now following in their footsteps
Russia's "Fleurs du Mal"
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Contemporary Russian literature is suffering an identity crisis. Lesley Chamberlain describes how post-Soviet writers are struggling to escape the legacy of both 20th century repression and 19th century masters
Digest
20th February 1996 — Issue 5
Robert Reich, the US Secretary of Labour, argues that government can create incentives for companies to act in the public interest as well as their own