CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
ANON isaCatholicpriest
THOMAS BARLOW isascientist
MICHAEL SHAW BOND is an editor at New Scientist and is writing a book on the 19th-century explorer, WilliamMilton
RITA CARTER isamedicalwriter andauthorofMapping the Mind (WeidenfeldIllustrated)
TIM CONGDON ismanagingdirector ofLombardStreetResearchanda formermemberoftheTreasurypanel ofindependentforecasters
FIANN COOMBS isafreelancewriter at theEconomist IntelligenceUnit, specialisinginRussiaandcentral Asia
GAVYN DAVIES ischiefeconomist ofGoldmanSachsandchairedthe LicenceFeeReviewPanel
THOMAS DE WAAL istheco-author, with CarlottaGall, ofChechnya: A Small Victorious IVar (Pan)
ALEKSA DJILAS isawriterlivingin Belgrade
SUSANNAH FIENNES isanartistworking inNewYork
CHRISTOPHER HAMILTON is theauthor ofLiving Philosophy (Edinburgh UniversityPress)
CAR HILLS isawriterlivinginLondon. Heislookingforapublisher
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF is theauthor ofVirtual JVar (Chatto&Windus) andpresenterofthethree-partseries Future IVar (BBC2)
KATE KELLAWAY writesforthe Observer
JO-ANN MORT iseditorofNot Tour Father’sMovement: Inside the AFL-CIO (Verso)anddirectorofcommunications fortheUStextile union(UNITE). Theviewsexpressedhereareherown
CHARLES MURRAY istheBradleyFellow at theAmericanEnterpriseInstitute
MICHAEL PROWSE iscompletingabook onpolitical philosophy
ANTHONY SAMPSON istheauthorof Mandela: The Authorised Biography (HarperCollins)
JULIE SCHUMACHER is theauthorof The Body is JVater (Bard)and Experiment for Chaos (AvonBooks). Shelives inStPaul,Minnesota
WILLIAM SKIDELSKY isawriterliving inLondon
BELLA THOMAS worksintelevision
STELLA TILLYARD isabiographerand historian, andtheauthorofAristocrats (Chatto&Windus)
2 PROSPECT April ‘2000
contents
Issue fifty-one April 2000
OPINIONS 10 Lament for England ALEKSA DJILAS I was bombed in Belgrade and I have only hurtful words to bomb back.
1 1 Drugs for the people RITA CARTER The NHS can’t stop us from getting hold of the “lifestyle” drugs we want.
14 A Catholic purge? ANON The appointment of an “Irishman”as head of the English Catholic church could signify a lurch to the right.
ESSAYS 28 Genetics o f the right CHARLES MURRAY The controversial American social scientist predicts that the view of human nature emerging from the new genetics will vindicate the assumptions of the political right, and confirm the influence of heredity on life outcomes.
DEBATE 16 Does “new media” make the licence fee redundant? TIM CONGDON AND GAVYN DAVIES Can the BBC survive in the age of new media?
ESSAY M ic h a e l P r ow s e on a n ew su rvey o f B r it ish in d u s tr y
The right gene?
31 Russia’s swamp THOMAS DE WAAL Vladimir Putin's declared ambition is to restore Russia to great power status. But how should the west respond to this weak, aggrieved post-superpower?
MY STORY 42 Get out of the kitchen WILLIAM SKIDELSKY I once believed—passionately—in cooking as an art form.
British industrial decline does not date back to the 19th century, but to the lack o f competition in the 1960s and 1970s, and the failure to join Europe in the 1950s. PAGE 32
SPECIAL REPORT 52 The backlash against NGOs MICHAEL SHAW BOND In a global world without aglobal government, NGOs have stepped in to fill the gap. But have they become too big for their boots?
