CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
SAMUEL BRITTAN is a c o m m e n t a to r o n th e Financial Times
PETER BRUCE is e d i t o r o f th e Financial Mail in J o h a n n e s b u r g
JEREMY CLARKE is a f r e e la n c e w r i t e r
BARRY COX is f o rm e r d i r e c t o r o f th e IT V a s s o c ia t io n
JOHN EATWELL is th e a u t h o r w i th L a n c e T a y l o r o f International Capital Markets and the Future of Economic Policy ( I P P R )
SARAH GELLNER is a f r e e la n c e j o u r n a l i s t a n d w r i t e r b a s e d in M e x ic o C i ty
DAVID GOODHART is e d i t o r o f Prospect
JOHN GRIBBIN is a v i s i t in g fe l lo w in a s t r o n o m y a t th e U n iv e r s i ty o f S u s s e x . H i s l a t e s t b o o k is Almost Everyone's Guide to Science (W e id en f e ld & N ic o lso n )
FRED HALLIDAY is p ro f e s s o r o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e la t io n s a t th e L S E
GUNTER HOFMANN w r i t e s fo r Die Zeit
KATHRYN HUGHES is a w r i t e r
DANIEL JOHNSON is an a s s o c ia te e d i to r o f t h e Daily Telegraph
ANATOLE KALETSKY w r i te s fo r The Times
PAUL KRUGMAN is th e a u t h o r o f The Accidental Theorist (N o r to n )
ROBERT MATTHEWS is a s c ie n c e c o r r e s p o n d e n t fo r th e Sunday Telegraph
GEORGE MONBIOT is a c o lu m n i s t on th e Guardian and e n v i ro nm e n ta l c am p a ig n e r
JOHN NAUGHTON is a fe l lo w o f W o l f s o n C o l le g e , C am b r id g e
PAULINE NEVILLE-JONES is v ic e -c h a irm a n o f N a t W e s t C o r p o r a t e a d v i s o r y
DAVID OWEN is t h e P a r i s c o r r e s p o n d e n t o f t h e Financial Times
JOHN PLENDER w r i t e s fo r th e Financial Times
ROBERT B REICH is p r o f e s s o r o f so c ia l a n d e c o n om ic p o l ic y a t B r a n d e i s U n iv e r s i ty
MARTIN TAYLOR is g r o u p c h i e f e x e c u t iv e o f B a r c la y s B ank p ic
RICHARD THOMAS w r i t e s fo r th e Observer
NICOLAS WALTER is a c o n t r i b u t o r to George Orwell at Home: Essays and Photographs (F r e e d o m P r e s s )
PETER WAYNE is s e r v in g a 2 7 -m o n th s e n t e n c e a t E lm le y p r i s o n
GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT is a w r i t e r
BRIAN WINSTON is h e a d o f th e s c h o o l o f c o m m u n ic a t io n a t th e U n iv e r s i ty o f W e s tm in s t e r a n d a u t h o r o f Media, Technology and Society (R o u t le d g e )
2 PROSPECT November 1998
c o n t e n t s
Issue thirty-five November 1998
OPINIONS 10 Getting a life KATHRYN HUGHES Biography is going the way of fiction.
12 Oskar and I DAVID GOODHART Will Germany’s new finance minister become my hero again?
13 ...and his latest book GUNTER HOFMANN Husband and wife team up for Germany’s Red-Green manifesto.
14 Equality versus democracy RICHARD THOMAS Labour is quietly putting equality before democracy.
16 Debate: A digital death? BARRY COX AND JOHN NAUGHTON
Will digital television mean the end of public service broadcasting?
ESSAY
Daniel Johnson on the “box office”historians
R O U N D T A B L E : T H E C R I S I S
JOHN PLENDER JOHN EATWELL SAMUEL BRITTAN PAULINE NEVILLE-JONES ANATOLE KALETSKY MARTIN TAYLOR
Martin Taylor of Barclays Bank
Is financial liberalisation to blame? If so, can you have the benefits without the costs? Is this the moment to create new institutions for the global economy, or does fire fighting come first? PAGE 37
PLUS PaulKrugraan on the confidence game PAGE 34
British historians write the most readable books on Europe, but have the young stars of the 1990s, led by Niall Ferguson, gone too far? PAGE 25
ESSAYS 30 Trouble we’re in ROBERT B REICH
America is now wealthy beyond the imagination of the first readers of Galbraith’s Affluent Society. Yet it has grown more miserly. What’s to blame?
34 The confidence crisis PAUL KRUGMAN The need to restore investor confidence has prevented the IMF from applying sensible economic measures to the Asian crisis.
