C O N TR IB U TO R S T O TH IS IS SUE

MARINA BENJAMIN is the author of L iv in g at the E nd o f the World (Picador)

ROBERT CHANDLER is apoet and translator. He is translating aselection of stories byAndrey Platonov (Harvill)

IAN CHRISTIE isdeputy director of the independent think-tank Demos JE REMY CLARKE is afreelance writer

NIGEL CLIFF writes for The Times on the arts

JULIAN CRITCHLEY is aformer Conservative MP DUNCAN FALLOWELL is anovelist and travel writer. A longer version of this article originally appeared in Opera

WINSTON FLETCHER is director of Bozell UK Holdings

TIMOTHY GARTON ASH is the author of History o f the Present: Essays, Sketches and Despatches from Europe in the 1990s (Penguin) to bepublished this spring

VACLAV HAVEL is president of the CzechRepublic

DAVID HERMAN is theproducer of Channel 4’sTheSundays

PETER HO DAVIES wasborn andraised in Britain and teaches creative writing at the University ofOregon in theUS. The story printed herewill bepart of a forthcoming collection, Equal Love

ARMANDO IANNUCCI writes aregular column for the Guardian

SIMON JENKINS is acolumnist for the Evening Standard and The Times

RICHARD JENKYNS isafellowof Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and the author of Virgil’s Experience (OUP) PETER LAM PL is anentrepreneur and philanthropist, andfounder of the Sutton Trust NIGEL LAWSON isaformer Chancellor of the Exchequer

NICK MARTIN-CLARK is afreelance journalist

ANNE McELVOY isassociateeditor of the Independent

LEO McKINSTRY is aBelfast-born journalist and author

JOHN PLENDER writes for the Financial Times

HELENA SMITH is theAthens-based correspondent for the Guardian/ Observer

MARTIN WALKER is theauthor of The President They Deserve: The Rise, Falls and Comebacks o f B ill Clinton (Fourth Estate)

PETER WAYNE is serving a27-month sentenceat Elmley prison

GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT is the author of The Controversy o f Zion

2 PROSPECT January 1999

contents

Issue thirty-seven January 1999

OPINIONS 10 Down with Charles HELENA SMITH Prince Charles is too self-absorbed to beagood ambassador. 1 1 ...Up with Gerry LEO McKINSTRY An Ulster protestant changes his mind about Gerry Adams. 12 Bemused Britain ARMANDO IANNUCCI Sometimes this can beavery confusing country.

14 Good news from Russia ROBERT CHANDLER There is more to Russia than the mafia and decaying nuclear warheads.

16 Intellectuals in politics VACLAV HAVEL AND TIMOTHY GARTON ASH Can intellectuals hold office and remain critical mirror-holders?

SPECIAL REPORT Peter Lampl on how to open access to Britain’s elite education

ESSAY “Monica’s year”has been great farce, but what does it tell us about ourselves? By Geoffrey Wheatcroft

1998 illustrates the twin political problem of our age: the brutality of the right and the dishonesty of the left PAGE 28

17 A pornographic culture DAVID HERMAN Our sex culture has enslaved us, not liberated us.

18 Debate: That damn dome MARINA BENJAMIN AND SIMON JENKINS Is the dome agreat adventure or an over-centralised anachronism?

ESSAYS 3 4 Return of sociology IAN CHRISTIE Sociology is entering anewgolden age, but not in sociology departments. It is alive in thinktanks, consultancies and the media.

Entrance to Britain’s top private day schools could be according to ability, not income. PAGE 52

Eye on the world.