MARCH & APRIL 2012
REGULARS 5 Editorial Marketplace of outrage 6 Godless globe 9 Witness Kenan Malik,
Sarah Ditum, Musa Okwonga 12 Yours sceptically Readers’
letters 49 Chris Maslanka’s Quiz 50 Endgame Laurie Taylor flashes his inner muse
FEATURES 14 You can’t read this article
Nick Cohen’s ten-point plan to beat the censors 16 No argument Paul Sims reports on a new front in the war on science in America 18 Interview: Alain de
Botton The best-selling philosopher thinks atheists can take a lot from religion. Caspar Melville meets him 22 A risk worth taking A year after the Fukushima meltdown nuclear power is safer than ever, says Angela Saini 25 Our man in Marseille
Matthew Adams meets the surreal Jonathan Meades 28 The culture bandwagon
Forget the selfish gene, it’s our altruism that made us, says Mark Pagel 32 Not waving Even atheists can be saved, says an anonymous alcoholic 34 University blues
Laurie Taylor meets Stefan Collini, who is fighting for the soul of higher education 39 Stayin’ alive Can we cheat death? Stephen Cave counts the ways 42 Poised on the edge Cuttingedge cosmologist Lisa Randall talks to Manjit Kumar
[9]
Kenan Malik on how we lost our right to speak . . .
WHAT’SWRONGWITH
FREE SPEECH?
. . . and Nick Cohen on how to get it back
[14]
[39]
Four ways to beat the Reaper
[18]
Temples, rituals and sin for the godless?
COLUMNS
13 Q&A: Tom Watson We hack into the thoughts of the campaigning MP 24 Elizabeth Wilson Why I like
Tarot cards 38 Chown’s Cosmos A sense of perspective
BOOK REVIEWS
44 Jonathan Rée goes rogue on cultural psychology 45 Charles Haynes enjoys a portrait of Mumbai’s slums 45 Poem Alan Brownjohn 46 Caspar Melville on the disappointments of Gil Scott-Heron 48 Andrew Mueller hears Nick
Coleman’s pain 48 Philip Womack is undazzled by Norway’s new star
[42]
Lisa Randall’s mind-bending multiverse
Lisa Randall’s mind-bending multiverse
