CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
BRYAN APPLEYARD writes for the Sunday Times
HOWARD BRENTON is aplaywright and author, most recently, of Hot Irons (Methuen)
RUPERT CHRISTIANSEN is anopera critic of the Daily Telegraph
JEREMY CLARKE is afreelance writer
JUDITH FLANDERS is working on a biography of theMacdonald sisters
KIM GORDON is aChina communications specialist at the University of Westminster who spent part of his childhood inChina during the Cultural Revolution
BEA GREEN is amagistrate who lives in London and France
ISA GUTPREIS is the pen nameof a NewYork-basedcorporatefinancier
RICHARD HOGGART is the author of The Usesof Literacy (1957) and former Warden of Goldsmiths’College
NANCY HYNES is afreelance writer
TONY JACKSON is management editor of the Financial Times
KATE KELLAWAY writes for the Observer
RICHARD LAYARD is director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE
PANKAJ MISHRA is awriter based in Simla andNewDelhi
MADSEN PIRIE is president of the Adam Smith Institute
FREDERIC RAPHAEL is awriter
MORDECAI RICHLER is the author, most recently, of Barney’s Version (Chatto & Windus)
MATT RIDLEY is ascience writer
JOHN RITCH is USambassador to the United Nations Organisation in Vienna, which includes the International Atomic EnergyAgency
EDWARD SKIDELSKY is awriter
EDWARD SMITH plays cricket for Kent
WILLIAM WALLACE is aReader in international relations at the LSE.
NICOLAS WALTER is acontributor to George OrwellatHome:Essaysand Photographs (Freedom Press)
PETER WAYNE is near the end of his sentence at alocation that must remain secret
JAN ZIELONKA is professor of political science at the European University Institute in Florence
2 PROSPECT March 1999
contents
Issue thirty-nine March 1999
OPINIONS 10 Cutting a deal ISA GUTPREIS Investment bankers are just glorified estate agents.
12 Sticking up for trickle-down TONY JACKSON Trickle-down may not lead to equality, but it is a step in the right direction.
14 Getting depression JUDITH FLANDERS Depression is an illness with no cure or explanation.
WITNESS Edward Smith on cricket among the gangstas o f Los Angeles
DEBATE 16 Debate: Arrogant science? MATT RIDLEY AND BRYAN APPLEYARD Should we embrace the benefits of the new science of genetics or will it deprive us of our humanity?
ESSAY W illiam W allace and Jan Z ielonka on American contempt for Europe
Can sport still have a moral purpose? In a crime-ridden ghetto of Los Angeles, a Victorian form of cricket is turning potential gangstas into gentlemen. PAGE 42
ESSAYS 26 The show trial FREDERIC RAPHAEL Why is David Cesarani so eager to heap odium on Arthur Koestler? Can biographers not have motives? Should they not, too, be deconstructed?
35 Culture comes home NANCY HYNES What is the purpose of anthropology now that everybody talks about culture? Can it mediate clashes between civilisations?
Eurobashing is back in fashion in the US. America is torn between wanting Europe to share a larger burden of global leadership, and fear of a new global rival.
Cultureorcivilisation?
