CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
PAUL BARKER is a senior fellow at the Institute of Community Studies
PAUL BROKS is the author of Into the Silent Land (Atlantic Books)
MATT CAVANAGH is a philosopher and former government adviser
JAMES CLARKE is research officer at the migration research unit at UCL
MARK COUSINS is the author of The Story of Film (Pavilion Books)
MICHAEL COVENEY is a theatre critic
MIKE DIXON is a research assistant at the IPPR
MARGARET DRABBLE ’s latest novel is The Red Queen (Viking)
JULIAN EVANS is working on the authorised biography of Norman Lewis
STEPHEN EVERSON is writing a book on metaphysics and the mind
DEAN GODSON is the author of Himself Alone (Harper Perennial)
DAVID HERMAN is a television producer and writer
RICHARD JENKYNS is professor of the classical tradition at Oxford University
ANATOLE KALETSKY is a columnist for the Times
TIM KING is a writer living in France
BEN LEWIS presented the BBC4 series Art Safari
GEOFF MULGAN worked in Downing Street from 1997-2004.
BHIKHU PAREKH is a Labour peer
NICK PEARCE is director of the IPPR
JONATHAN POWER writes on foreign affairs for the International Herald Tribune
MICHAEL PROWSE is writing a book about the social implications of markets
ALEX RENTON is a contributing editor to Prospect
JOHN SALT is director of the migration research unit at UCL
IAN STEWART is a professor of mathematics at Warwick University
ROSE TREMAIN ’s short story collection, The Darkness of Wallis Simpson is forthcoming from Chatto & Windus
NGAIRE WOODS is director of the global economic governance programme at Oxford University
PETER YORK is the author of Dictator’s Homes (Atlantic Books)
4PROSPECT May 2005
contents Issue one hundred and ten May 2005
OPINIONS 12Franco-Euro-flap
TIM KING France is no longer master of Europe, and the scramble for a “yes”vote in the referendum is near-hysterical.
14Dying brands
PETER YORK We still love the “legacy”retailers like M&S, but not enough to shop there.
15To catch a thief
DEAN GODSON Iraq’s intelligence service is dominated by ex-Ba‘athists.
ELECTION OPINIONS 18Apolitical economy
ANATOLE KALETSKY A synthesis of Keynesianism and monetarism plus the decline of industry has ended boom and bust.
20New model welfare
NICK PEARCE & MIKE DIXON Britain is developing a new Anglosocial model, liberal but social too.
COVER STORY 24Lessons ofpower
GEOFF MULGAN
After seven years at No 10, I still believe that government retains a great power for good. The danger is not from hubris, but that governments will believe the myth that they are condemned to mistrust and powerlessness.
21Emotional spasm?
MATT CAVANAGH Like the US left in 1968, a section of the British left wants to spite its own face.
22Not black and white
DAVID GOODHART & BHIKHU PAREKH The word “racist”is necessary but devalued. We need more rigour and realism in applying it.
ESSAYS 30Getting a life
MARGARET DRABBLE The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has been denounced for its mistakes and tendentiousness. But it includes an impressive variety of lives and the online version is a delight.
36Winner still takes all
MICHAEL PROWSE Why are so many Britons retiring on inadequate pensions?Why are trains still unreliable and most urban comprehensives so poor?Blame our winner-takes-all electoral system.