Prospect sets the pace

Published
by
Mary Fitzgerald
on January 6, 2009
in In the news
. 0 Comments
Petraeus (and Prospect) get full marks

Petraeus (and Prospect) get top marks

Things may have been relatively quiet here at First Drafts over the Christmas break, but elsewhere Prospect has continued to lead the news. Not only was there a maelstrom of gossip generated from the Paul McCartney interview, but we elbowed in on weightier matters too. Taking their cue from our Top Public Intellectuals of 2008, this weekend’s Sunday Times News Review led with a portrait of Prospect’s man of the hour: General David Petraeus. The poll was picked up in the Indy the following day as well. Meanwhile, the Economist chased the tail of the government’s apparent volte-face on transport policy, as outlined by Andrew Adonis in this month’s opinion piece, “All Change.” And Prospect-generated wisdom has even spread as far as Antipodean shores: the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday quoted at length from Robert Skidelsky’s cover story, with a ringing endorsement: “This [article] is too elegant to cut and paraphrase.” Naturally, we think so too.

Power’s world: Palestine and the war of civilisations

Published
by
Jonathan Power
on January 5, 2009
in Middle east
. 1 Comment

The Gaza strip: a failure to find common ground

It’s just what Barack Obama doesn’t need as he prepares to take his oath of office as the 44th president of the USA: another Israeli/Palestinian war inflaming passions anew all over the Arab world—and much of the Muslim world outside too, from Iran to Indonesia. What will his middle name, Hussein, count for in this intense firefight?

Well, maybe something, but only if he moves rapidly to change the long-standing American emphasis on supporting, by both word and deed, the Israeli side at the expense of the Palestinian. It is as simple—and as complicated—as that. After the Bush years, during which the ”clash of civilizations” became the de facto interpretation of American, and to some extent European, policy in the region, the West quickly needs to de-escalate its fixation with what it often sees as the rabid policies of the Muslim world. And it must restore a sense of humility in dealing with a great world-wide civilization, albeit one with its share of bad apples.

Comparison, even in the time of Al Qaeda, does not always work in Christendom’s favour. The West cannot overlook its near-conquest by the Nazis, whose attempt to eliminate the Jews came out of a country that was in many ways the fulcrum of modern Christianity. Nor can we ignore the inroads that atheistic Marxism made in Europe; or indeed an everyday crime rate in western nations that far exceeds that of any Muslim country, especially those in the middle east.

”It is human to hate” wrote Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington, who died last week, in his too influential book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. “In this new [post-Cold War] world, local politics is the politics of ethnicity; global politics is the politics of civilization. The rivalry of the super powers is replaced by the clash of civilizations.” Continue reading ‘Power’s world: Palestine and the war of civilisations’

New year’s resolution: sack some European commisioners?

Published
by
Manneken Pis
on December 28, 2008
in Europe
. 0 Comments
Extract: drussels diary

Extract: brussels diary

With the appointment of a new European commission due in the early part of the new year, Brussels officials are bracing themselves for the return of a familiar debate: should there be super-commissioners? With 27 people around the table, the commission is not only an unwieldy institution but also one with wildly varied workloads. The Lisbon treaty was supposed to slim the size of the college but Ireland is pressing to keep one commissioner per member state as part of a package of concessions to help stage a second referendum in 2009. Hence the argument for strengthening big portfolios, perhaps by attaching to them a junior commissioner to whom lesser tasks could be delegated.

The problem is that, since all commissioners are equal, creating a hierarchy contravenes a fundamental principle. The commission president, José Manuel Barroso, has experimented with five “vice-presidents” of the European commission who have an enhanced status but no formal extra powers. The results have been less than impressive. The “first” vice-president is Margot Wallstrom of Sweden, who was supposed to help persuade the European public of the merits of the Lisbon treaty. Although she has a reputation as a good communicator, Wallstrom disappeared without trace when the Irish rejected the document in their referendum. In any case, every one of the vice-presidents has been outshone by Viviane Reding, commissioner for information society and media, who represents tiny Luxembourg.

This is an extract taken for Prospect’s monthly Brussels Diary, by Manneken Pis, available in full to subscribers of the magazine.

Don’t worry about Rick Warren’s less gay website

Published
by
James Crabtree
on December 24, 2008
in Inside Prospect and United States
. 0 Comments
Warren: closeted liberal?

Warren: closeted liberal?

Who’d have thought a jolly man in a beach shirt could cause such a rumpus. Last week, President elect Obama picked megachurch preacher Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation. A mini row followed, largely on account of Warren’s support for California’s recent Proposition 8 gay marriage ban, egged on by unhappy gay leaders. Much liberal I-told-you-so-ing came next, including a rather heavy-handed parody of Warren’s expected remarks from Linda Hirshman, now fast-approach 30,000 views on the Huffington Post. Now further controversy, as it seems Warren has been found touching up his church’s website, in the process removing some choice language warning off  “unrepentant” homosexuals from his congregation. Indeed, the church’s entire FAQ section seems lost to history, and with it some helpful on missing Biblical dinosaurs, whether pets go to heaven, and the thorny problem tithing on gross or net pay—unless, that is, you happen to have access to Google’s cache. (Briefly: dinosaurs “may have actually been mentioned” in the Bible, your trusty hound will wait for you in the clouds, and gross.)

These rows have a certain Christmas silly-season vibe. Nonetheless, they bring into focus the sometimes slippery beliefs of more modern church leaders. This time last year I visited Saddleback, to research a piece for Prospect on the rise of progressive evangelicals (Closing the God Gap, Prospect October 2008.) During the visit I was struck by the difference between the church’s formal and aesthetic belief systems. Sitting in what for want of a better phrase one might still call pews, Warren’s church seems fairly liberal. He isn’t exactly progressive on the genital issues, but he doesn’t go on about them either. Yet, look at the small print of the feedback cards tucked into the chair in front of you, and you’ll see that Saddleback is formally (if not obviously) linked to the Southern Baptist convention, a fierier outfit with rather firmer and more public views aboutwhat is, and what isn’t, a valid “alternative lifestyle.” And, yet, if you look at the congregation—supremely relaxed in beach shorts and T-shirts—it’s pretty clear that they aren’t there to denounce the sinners and the gays either. So, if the church and its followers are mostly liberal, and aren’t actively prejudiced against homosexuals, does it really matter that they say they are on paper?

Continue reading ‘Don’t worry about Rick Warren’s less gay website’

Prospect Public Intellectual 2008 Top Trumps

Published
by
David Killen
on December 23, 2008
in Arts and culture, Economics, Foreign affairs, In the news, Inside Prospect, Media, Middle east, Philosophy, Religion and United States
. 1 Comment

In our Christmas edition, Prospect announced the results of our Public Intellectual of 2008 contest - won by General David Petraeus. Just for fun, we decided to mark the event with a special Christmas treat - some original Prospect public intellectual top trump cards. Enjoy, and have a happy Christmas from all at Prospect!

Continue reading ‘Prospect Public Intellectual 2008 Top Trumps’

Power’s world: the McCartney interview

Published
by
Jonathan Power
on December 23, 2008
in In the news and Prospect affairs
. 11 Comments

Whatever Paul McCartney says or does is news. In September, when he went to give a concert in Israel—making up for the Beatles concert that the Israeli government forbade at the last moment, 43 years ago—he was attacked by some pro-Palestinian critics for ”singing to the enemy.” No matter the ”enemy” audience was perhaps 20 per cent Arab, or that he also used his trip to visit Edward Said’s music school on the West Bank. When he sang, he also—in his trademark low-key, non-preachy way—pointed his audience in the direction of compromise and healing.

One of the prices of Paul’s fame is to see his honest words and thoughts twisted almost out of recognition. I saw this happen close up last week when my long conversation with him was published in Prospect. It seems that the press has a mindset about the McCartney-John Lennon relationship that demands anything that Paul says be squeezed into a mould—even if the words don’t really fit at all. Continue reading ‘Power’s world: the McCartney interview’

Prospect’s Paul McCartney interview: a free preview

Published
by
Tom Chatfield
on December 21, 2008
in Arts and culture and Media
. 0 Comments

A pre-political Paul, pictured at school

Our 5,000-word interview with Paul McCartney has been making headlines around the world this month, with newspapers from Toronto to New Zealand cherry-picking Sir Paul’s claims about introducing his fellow Beatles to the Vietnam war. The interview itself is part of the content we only make available in full to subscribers. But, to let all our readers see behind the news reports into the conversation that actually took place, we’ve just made the first 1,000 words of the piece available to everyone for free on our website. You can read them here; and can find out, among other things, how Sir Paul looks back today on his reactions to 9/11 and how, despite his pacifism, he would have been prepared to defend his own country.

You can, of course, read the piece in full by buying the latest issue of Prospect from any major newsagent in the UK until the end of January 2009; or by taking out an online subscription to access every article in every issue of Prospect from anywhere in the world instantly. Or you can borrow a copy from one of your generous Prospect-reading friends…

Sex and slimebags in Cairo

Published
by
Susan Greenberg
on December 20, 2008
in Arts and culture, Books and What we're reading
. 0 Comments

The Prospect Reading Group met recently to discuss Alaa Al Aswany’s novel, The Yacoubian Building. This report was put together by a member of the group, the writer Mary Ann Hushlak:

Readers found themselves hesitating at first about this book, because the first 50-odd pages dwell so much on sex and slimebags. But once the politics were brought into the relationships, it all became rather more interesting. Even so, we asked ourselves, was it credible that most of the relationships revolved around exploitative sex? Was it soap opera or was it reportage? Was the building truly important or just a device? Had the author constructed a novel, or a series of interconnected short stories, and did that matter?

The Yacoubian building itself is described as an Art Deco apartment built in downtown Cairo when “downtown” was a sophisticated part of the city. Now, the storerooms on the roof are rented to poor immigrants, who live cheek by jowl with pre-1952 revolution cosmopolitans and military officers in the downstairs apartments. The building is, in effect, the equivalent of a noisy street. What the building is not is a ‘character’, in the way that it is in Nicholas Rinaldi’s Between Two Rivers or in George Perec’s masterpiece, Life: A User’s Manual. In these latter novels, the focus is on the interior life spent in the apartments. In The Yacoubian Building, life faces out to the world. Continue reading ‘Sex and slimebags in Cairo’

Prospect online this week: books, clothes, celebrities, words

Published
by
Tom Chatfield
on December 19, 2008
in Prospect affairs
. 0 Comments

Let's all toast a golden year for political accessories…

Just before shutting up our online shop for the Christmas period, Prospect has four new pieces for your heterogeneous holiday delight. In books and politics, former spcial advisor to Tony Blair, Patrick Diamond, reviews a new history of the Attlee years, and weighs the consequences of Attlee’s legacy for the modern Labour party. On the other side of the Atlantic, Radio 4 writer Adam Rosenthal takes a lighter look at the golden crop of verbal coinages the US elections have seen this year. In response to last month’s piece by Toby Young on the modern cult of celebrity, historian Jonty Olliff-Cooper tells us all about a Victorian celebrity cult that puts the worst excesses of the present to shame. And, last but not least, writer and critic Hettie Judah takes a look at the world of fashion in Antwerp, and an exhibition celebrating 20 years of perhaps the most influential and innovative designer you’ve never heard of…

All thoughts and comments welcome below. And, although we’ll be blogging from time to time over the festive period, I’ll take this opportunity to wish very best seasonal wishes to all our readers from the whole editorial team.

The fine art of the literary prize

Published
by
Tom Chatfield
on December 18, 2008
in Arts and culture and Books
. 7 Comments

Must all have prizes?

As the judges for the 2009 Booker prize are announced, it’s time, once again, to ponder the merits of the swelling class of event to which it belongs—the modern literary award. Which is exactly what I’ve been doing in an essay for our latest edition. I’m fascinated by the whole notion and culture of the literary prize (indeed, much of the inspiration for my own career began with winning a few local competitions; and I’m one of the judges of the VS Pritchett prize for short stories this year, the winner of which will be published by Prospect). Like most of the authors and publishers I spoke to during my research, though, I’m also thoroughly ambivalent about its role in the world of books; and about what this role suggests for the future of literature in print.

If, on the grand scale, literature is about enduring excellence, there can seem something at best rather arbitrary and at worst downright self-serving about the business of prize-givings. As James Wood rather magnificently put it, looking back on his own stint as a Booker judge:

…prizes have become a form of reviewing: it is prize-lists that select what people read, prize-lists that make literary careers. Bookshops order novels based on the prizes they have won or been shortlisted for. Nowadays, a whole month before the shortlist is announced, scores of novelists are effectively told that their books have not been the “big books” of the year, because they are not to be found on the longlist. Soon, no doubt, we will have the long-longlist, and the long-long longlist. Some wonderful books win the Booker, of course, just as the flypaper occasionally catches some really large flies. But it means - or should mean - nothing in literary terms.

Which neatly summarises most of the problems with contemporary prize culture. And yet—it also summarises the critical and commercial landscape within which books are now being published (or not) and read (or not). And if prizes are a flawed concept, they’re also as old an institution as written literature itself, and one that currently sustains much of the best that’s out there; not to mention, on a more modest level, many young or marginal authors for whom writing is a deeply uncertain career. Great literature may speak for itself. But it needs to be written to be read; and not all would-be writers are able to eke out their days indefinitely in garrets. Continue reading ‘The fine art of the literary prize’