Issue No.
35
June 2010
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| Welcome to June’s review of books |
 Tim Black
There was a time when being left-wing and progressive meant demanding more. More production, more wealth, more stuff. Today it has been redefined to mean demanding less and being more interested in ‘protecting the planet’ and making people happy (with your own narrow definition of what happiness means). In this issue of the spiked review of books, we challenge this outlook. Sean Collins, in his review of Daniel Ben-Ami’s new book Ferraris for All, says more really is more and explains how growth has improved our lives and can continue to do so. I challenge the shallow socialism of hating Ryanair and argue that being ‘anti-capitalist’ today means being anti-development. And Rob Lyons reviews The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley, who comes at this issue from the right, and finds the book's positive approach to the future to be a breath of fresh air in today’s smog of misanthropy. We also have Tim Black on fecund fundamentalism, Nathalie Rothschild on aid, Guy Rundle on Hitchens, and more. Enjoy!
[Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
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