Special report

70Science wakes up to sleep Science has made strides to explain why sleep matters. New studies reveal how health, creativity and memory all depend on a good night’s rest. PHILIP HUNTER

Columns

12Matters of taste Mince and other thrift foods. ALEX RENTON

19Washington watch Palin’s dynamite in Georgia. TUMBLER

20Letter from Georgia The Ossetian tragedy. THOMAS DE WAAL

41This sporting life An austerity Olympics. DAVID GOLDBLATT

59Crisis watch The world’s worst banker? JONATHAN FORD

64China café A Chinese Christmas carol. MARK KITTO

66Lab report Cosmic rays and dark matter. PHILIP BALL

73Brussels diary Juncker savages Brown. MANNEKEN PIS

96Confessions How to get a job in Bamalot. AARON BANKS

Regulars

6Letters 8News & curiosities 10Grayling’s question AC GRAYLING 10Enigmas & puzzles IAN STEWART 94The generalist 95The list

Forthcoming

ADAM ZEMAN on the brain

ALEXANDER LINKLATER gets inside the mind of the teenager

CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE on Iran today

Should Britain join the euro? The next issue of Prospect will be published on 29th January

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74The Ghost Since my father died, something has been wrong with my son. At least, I hope it’s something wrong with him. TOBY LITT

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Reviews

82As good as Heaney Clive James’s most enduring claim to greatness is not his novels, satire or journalism, but his exquisite essays and poems. JULIAN GOUGH

84The courage to be afraid Dexter Filkins has produced an astonishing book about Iraq—one that tells us everything we don’t want to know. TOM STREITHORST

85Desert storms The prophet Muhammad’s love life is a sensitive subject. But was the book Random House decided not to publish worth all the fuss? SHEREEN EL FEKI

87Tomorrow Ishall be sober Kingsley Amis was one of the great drinkers of the 20th century—opinionated, blustering, offensive, and rarely less than hilarious. SAM LEITH

Arts columns

80Widescreen Stop normalising porn! MARK COUSINS

88Performance notes Anniversary fever. MARTIN KETTLE

93Smallscreen Niall Ferguson’s lame one-liners.

PETER BAZALGETTE

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Web exclusives

The full story on Prospect ’s 2008 public intellectual of the year— who the judges voted for and why JAMES CRABTREE regrets the lack of female public intellectuals IAIN DUNCAN SMITH replies to David Goodhart on social mobility ADAM ROSENTHAL analyses the language of the US elections JONTY OLLIFF-COOPER on fame and Frederick Gustavus Burnaby

Online archive

Revisit our past coverage of some of the topics covered in this issue.

Education

PETER LAMPL tries to open up elite education

ANTHONY SELDON & ADAM SWIFT debate private schools

Literary prizes

ROBERT WINDER & PAUL BILIC assess the Prix Goncourt JASON COWLEY on judging the Booker and the state of fiction LESLEY CHAMBERLAIN wonders if women need the Orange prize

The Bible

MATTHEW D’ANCONA vs GRAHAM STANTON on the reliability of the Gospels

EDWARD SKIDELSKY reviews the Bible repackaged by Canongate

Prospect JANUARY 2009 5