Monthly Archive for February, 2008

Crime and punishment

Published
by
Tom Chatfield
on February 27, 2008
in Inside Prospect
. 1 Comment

Britain’s prison population now stands at 82,000. We’re locking up more people than ever, and the number seems set to rise no matter who takes power at the next election. But is this increase a cause of falling crime rates, or an unhelpful response to the public’s fear of crime and desire to punish?

In his essay for Prospect this month, philosopher Jonathan Wolff addresses the motivations behind the statistics, and asks what the role of prison within a justice system can and should be. To understand what is going on, he suggests, we need to understand sentencing policy in its historical context, and to ask why it is that individuals choose to commit a crime in the first place. Any answers will be bound up with how people conceive of their relationship with society, and what underpins their fears and ambitions.

Let us know what you think here.

Free to read at Prospect online

Published
by
Tom Chatfield
on February 27, 2008
in Inside Prospect
. 0 Comments

Our latest issue is now live on the web—and there’s plenty of free material to read in addition to the three lead articles heading our landing page.

By way of introductions, why not savour David Goodhart’s editorial, as well as our correspondents’ comments on the last issue at our letters page? Then, appetite whetted, you can turn to our news and curiosities, which bring word of the furies wracking Britain’s scientists, the surprising promiscuity of Cambridge’s young philosophers, what James Wood does when he gets a bad review, why Brits are now richer than Americans, and how the Chinese people are getting their own back on the state’s propaganda machine.

For the more philosophically minded, AC Grayling’s question under discussion this month is whether it is impossible to prove a negative, while I steer my words column across the fine line between sympathy and empathy. Plus there’s our monthly puzzle competition, and the unmissable “in fact,” which includes data on the rate at which Britain’s houses are losing rooms, how much sherry Andrew Motion earns, Cumbria’s homicide rate, Harry Truman’s middle name and where Marlboro cigarettes get their name from.

All your comments and suggestions are very welcome here, as ever.

Cameron and polygamy

Published
by
Mary Fitzgerald
on February 27, 2008
in British politics and Religion
. 0 Comments

The furore caused by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s widely (mis)quoted comments on sharia law dominated the first in a series of RSA lunchtime events yesterday, held in conjunction with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

David Cameron gave the keynote speech, arguing, much as David Green does in this month’s issue, that accommodating sharia law in Britain (to any greater extent than it already is) would institute a “legal apartheid” —only reinforcing the “cultural apartheid” which already exists in parts of the country. Invoking testimonies from recent visits to Bradford and Derby, he claimed the “state multiculturalism experiment” has failed: it has resulted in the alienation of minority communities, and reinforced difference where there should be consensus. What we need instead, he said, is a more robust sense of shared national identity.

Despite his claim that such an idea comes “naturally” to Conservatives, there is of course virtually no distinction between the main political parties on this issue. Cameron himself praised David Blunkett’s introduction of citizenship ceremonies, and nearly all the points made in his speech echoed the noises that Labour policy wonks have been making for quite some time.

Indeed, there seemed to be more (polite) distance on the issues discussed between the members of the EHRC delegation than between the line taken by Labour and the Conservatives. The event was chaired by the EHRC’s new communications director, Kamal Ahmed, and led by Trevor Phillips, and the main feature of the discussion was a rather timid disagreement about architecture. Cameron (borrowing chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s metaphor), argued that Britain should not be like a hotel, as it is now, but a “house we build together”. Ziaddin Sardar took exception to the analogy, and proposed instead a “garden” – one that is not owned by anyone, and is able to grow organically, in any direction.

But in the end it was clear that everyone did at least agree on one matter: none knew what the Archbishop meant to say in his speech, nor in his subsequent “clarifications.”

In fact, the only real frisson worth mentioning came from the Conservatives’ own ranks, when, in the question and answer session, Cameron appeared to misspeak himself and come our in favour of polygamy—causing panic among the blue-rinse delegation in the audience. He quickly corrected himself.

What should have caused much more concern, however, was when the Tory leader argued we have “much to learn” about citizenship ideals from the America. The US is a country that is still deeply culturally segregated, and where the “value” of patriotism has been so deeply inculcated in its citizens that they dutifully re-elected their Commander-in-Chief, even after it was obvious he had led them into a disastrous war.

Then again, we British did the same, and we don’t even have the excuse that we grew up to pledging allegiance to our flag every morning.

Might Ken be dethroned?

Published
by
Tom Nuttall
on February 27, 2008
in British politics
. 2 Comments

What with the continued limp spectacle of the Brown government and, by contrast, the excitement and glamour of the US presidential primaries, British politics feels rather dull at the moment. So it is perhaps surprising that media interest in the upcoming London mayoral election has been so lacking. After all, one of the points of introducing direct elections for city mayors in Britain was to revitalise flagging interest in politics by introducing a direct link between voter and candidate. And this year, not only do we have two very charismatic and lively candidates in the form of Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, but for the first time since the institution of mayor was introduced, Ken faces a serious challenge.

Indeed, according to the most recent proper poll (scroll down; the story at the top refers to private polling) Boris Johnson is actually now the clear favourite to become London’s mayor in May—an astonishing development, at least to those like me who find it inconceivable that a candidate like Johnson could attract serious levels of support across a city as diverse as London. And it’s clearly not only me, since despite this new poll, Livingstone remains the clear favourite in the betting markets. If you don’t want to wake up to a Mayor Johnson, it might be worth sticking a bob or two on him to sugar the pill should he manage to pull it off.

The Staggers in crisis

Published
by
Tom Nuttall
on February 27, 2008
in British politics, Inside Prospect and Media
. 22 Comments

What’s happening at the New Statesman? Despite a handsome, and very expensive, relaunch back in 2006, the magazine’s circulation continues to stagnate—in the last round of ABC audits it was even overtaken by some rag called Prospect—and the recent departure of John Kampfner means the magazine has been through seven editors in 20 years.

Yet while the Staggers has, well, staggered, the magazine’s counterpart on the right, the Spectator, has flourished, selling almost three times as many copies. Some take this to be a sign that the NS has simply failed to shake off its slightly fusty, Fabiany image and make itself relevant in the modern age. But in a new web exclusive for Prospect, David Herman argues that the flailing fortunes of the Statesman are symptomatic of broader ruptures within the British left, which came to a head over Iraq and continue to define much of the political conversation. Read the piece here.

Alternative Oscars

Published
by
David Herman
on February 26, 2008
in Arts and culture
. 2 Comments

1. Best moustache — Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood”

2. Best performance by a wife of Tim Burton — Helena Bonham-Carter in “Sweeney Todd”

3. Most revealing demographic — 19/20 actors nominated for actor/actress in leading or supporting role are white.

4. 2nd most revealing demographic — 15/20 actors, etc, etc. are under 50.

5. Most revealing aspect of British media coverage of the Oscars — the amount of attention paid to actresses’ dresses

6. 2nd most revealing aspect British media coverage — emphasis on the fact that the 4 Oscar-winning actors are all European (because the big British film, ‘Atonement’, sank without trace).

7. 3rd most revealing, etc, etc. — we forgot to mention that all six of the nominated directors are American.

8. Strangest omission by British media coverage — Roger Deakins, British cinematographer, nominated TWICE for Achievement in Cinematography and could have received a third nomination for his work on ‘In the Valley of Elah’.

9. Best achievement by an actor in 2007 — Philip Seymour Hoffman for performances in ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ (nominated for actor in a supporting role), ‘Savages’ and ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’

10. best achievement by a director with a film in contention this year who has been directing for over 50 years — Sidney Lumet, who directed ‘12 Angry Men’ in 1957 and ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’ in 2007.

11. Dustin Hoffman award for best performance in a film about someone disabled/with dementia/very ill — Mathieu Amalric in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (locked-in syndrome), Julie Christie in “Away From Her” (dementia), Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (mental illness), Daniel Day-Lewis (”There Will Be Blood”), Johnny Depp (”Sweeney Todd”) & Javier Bardem (”No Country for Old Men”) (all murderous psychopaths) and Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will be Blood” (a bit of a limp).

12. Laurence Olivier award for best shouting — Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will be Blood”

13. Best film for female roles — “There Will Be Blood” (yes, I know, that’s the point — one of many reasons why it’s ridiculously over-rated)

14. Films about natural resources, land and the rise of American capitalism which are a million times better than “There Will Be Blood” — “Chinatown” and “Once Upon a Time in the West”

15. Best eye make-up — Helena Bonham-Carter in “Sweeney Todd”

16. Best soundtrack that wasn’t nominated — “Juno”

17. Best scene in a lawyer’s office — opening scene of “Michael Clayton”

18. Best Clinton joke at the Oscars — “Julie Christie was absolutely amazing in ‘Away from Her’ … a moving story of a woman who forgets her own husband,” Jon Stewart said. “Hillary Clinton called it the feel-good movie of the year.”

19. Worst speech at the Oscars — Marion Cotillard

20. Largest number of pretty actresses in a film about ‘locked-in syndrome’ — “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

Kosovo craziness

Published
by
Tom Nuttall
on February 26, 2008
in Elsewhere on the web
. 3 Comments

Putting in an early bid for the “putting the parodists out of business” blog post of the year award comes this entry from Melanie Phillips, decrying the west’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence. The money quote comes in the very first sentence:

The decision by Britain, America and certain other European countries to recognise Kosovo as an independent state is mind-blowingly stupid and suicidal and of a piece with their obvious determination to capitulate in the war for civilisation.

 … but the rest’s not half bad either.

Developing new worlds

Published
by
Tom Chatfield
on February 25, 2008
in Science and technology
. 0 Comments

As I type, about five thousand miles to my west one of the largest events in the computer world is winding down in a bloodbath of after-parties. The event is the Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering at which the great and the good of computer gaming talk about the future of their industry—and about just how significant they are these days. And 13,000 hungover attendees in San Francisco are now pretty significant by any standards.

Within my lifetime, computer gaming has grown from a (male, teenage) geek’s slightly shameful hobby to a (unisex, all-ages-welcome) global industry that’s in the same league as movies and music. And still it grows: the US market alone was worth $18bn in 2007, an increase of 43% on 2006, while the global industry is now worth over $30bn. At some point during my lifetime it will, I believe, become the biggest media industry in the world.

An old friend of mine has been involved in the gaming industry for the last decade, and is currently out at the GDC, networking his socks off and blogging regularly on some of the conference’s main speaking events. Even for those who know about games, there’s plenty of food for thought in his write-ups. As an amateur enthusiast, though, his account of one particular conference talk struck a chord with me—on “gaming’s future via online worlds.”

It’s a fascinating area because, for many people, the social possibilities presented by web 2.0 are at once wonderful and limited; useful for exchanging lots of information with friends and acquaintances; for meeting like-minded enthusiasts in any field; for wasting a bit of omgwtf? browsing time; but nothing that allows one really to bond or meaningfully meet others, or to have lasting, rewarding fun. Games change all this. Just as playing and watching sport provides an international common ground that nothing—including religion—can quite match in terms of bringing people together, so the constraints, rewards and discipline of gaming provide an environment in which you can rapidly gain a strong sense of who other people are (and whether you like them or not).

Increasingly, of course, there’s less and less of a clear divide online between “serious,” “social” and “play” spaces. But it is astonishing how gaming can rewrite many of our assumptions about what constitutes a “meaningful” interaction with others—like seeing them face-to-face, or having a social background in common—and how the experiences of learning and competing together can make for firmer friendships than any amount of backslapping down the pub.

It’s a theory I’m looking forward to putting to the test. Next month, my wife and I are having a friend from North Carolina to stay with us for a fortnight. The three of us play together on the same World of Warcraft server, but I’ll never actually have met him in the flesh until we pick him up at Gatwick. Here’s hoping the great Brad Paisley doesn’t prove too precise a prophet…

Bruce Forsyth at 80

Published
by
David Herman
on February 22, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

Today Bruce Forsyth is eighty. He started in showbusiness during the second world war with a song and dance act and has reinvented himself countless times. What is interesting about his career is the way it reflects shifts in British showbusiness through the mid- and late-20th century.

Forsyth belongs to that generation born in the 1920s and early 1930s (Dickie Henderson, Morecambe and Wise, the two Ronnies, Roy Castle and Des O’Connor) who started out in variety and burst into television in the late 1950s and early ’60s. His big break came, inevitably, presenting the great TV variety show, ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’ (ITV). Except for Morecambe and Wise, none of these personalities were great comedians, singers or dancers. They could do a bit of everything and had enough personality to feed the growing TV entertainment shows of the 1960s and ’70s (’Sunday Night…’, ‘The Generation Game’, The Golden Shot’). Family shows, put out at peak time on Saturdays and Sundays, these were a strange hybrid of game shows, with enough comedy and music to please the 10 million+ viewers.

The heyday of this kind of performer, complete with catchphrase (’Nice to see you…’, ‘Didn’t they do well?’, ‘Good game, good game’, ‘Bernie, the bolt’, ‘What do you think of it so far?’, ‘You can’t see the join’), was from the late 1950s to the late ’70s. It’s no coincidence that Forsyth left ‘The Generation Game’ in 1977, a year after Morecambe and Wise left the BBC for ITV. TV executives wanted something new and different. The old entertainers came under fierce attack from alternative comedians. Forsyth himself was the subject of a particularly nasty and unfunny onslaught by Peter Cook on the 1978 Derek and Clive album, ‘Ad Nauseam’ andanother from ‘Not The Nine ‘Clock News’. Forsyth continued presenting game shows on ITV through the `1980s and ’90s, and even returned to ‘The Generation Game’ for a second stint (1990-94) and then made it back to the big-time with ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ on BBC 1 (2004-), enough of a celebrity to be the subject of gags from a new generation of TV stars like Jonathan Ross.

Just as Variety gave way to TV, so song ‘n’ dance entertainers gave way to comedy. Just as the old entertainers took over TV shows in the Sixties, so comedians have taken over all kinds of factual genres in the 1990s and 2000s: travel programmes (Michael Palin and Victoria Wood), wildlife shows (Bill Oddie), drama (Lenny Henry in ‘Hope and Glory’, Dawn French in ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’), arts programmes (Griff Rhys Jones, an Omnibus on ballet presented by Jennifer Saunders), countless quiz and game shows.

Once reviled for their cosy, safe humour, love of golf and bright pullovers, Forsyth has been rediscovered by a new generation for his ability to give huge TV audiences a good time. Like Des O’Connor (now presenting ‘Countdown’), he’s still there, the last of a great generation of British entertainers, who made the transition from vaudeville and variety to TV.

An Award for the Oddest Book Title of the Year Award.

Published
by
John Kelly
on February 22, 2008
in Arts and culture, Books and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Often I fawn in abject admiration at a very good publishing idea. Sometimes I own up to it. This is one. I am normally allergic to awards (horrible food in underground ballrooms, frocks like tents, Spitting Image old newsreaders making rentaspeeches etc.) and would normally only put on a dinner jacket for an East End boxing night, but the Bookseller’s Diagram Award for Oddest Book Title of the Year more than merits a trip to Moss Bros.

The shortlist includes such gems as ‘I was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen,’ ‘People who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: from King Canute to Dr. Feelgood,’ ‘How to Write a How to Write Book,’ ‘Cheese Problems Solved’ and ‘Are Women Human?’ Regrettably, none of these titles were offered to Prospect to review. ‘If You Want Closure in your Relationship, Start With Your Legs,’ the last title on the shortlist, would certainly appeal to the sensible bluestockings who own up to reading our magazine and we often debate cheese problems, so publicists are clearly missing a trick. You can vote online for this joyous initiative and I urge you to do so.

Perhaps we can start an award for the oddest named shops that could equally be book titles. My favourites, seen on a recent trip oop north, are ‘The World of Living Fires,’ ‘The House of Shoes’ and ‘The Booze Nest.’ ‘Wig World’ on Stroud Green Road would encourage me to ‘live a little’ with its permanent 3 wigs for a tenner special offer. I can feel an Odd Book coming on . . . ‘The Folk Art of Ice Cream Vans cries out to be published’ . . .Stop me before I go to lulu.com.