Issue No.
November 2009
|
|
|
by Ed Barrett
![]() |
 |
The crisis of Scottish football, part 147
by Duleep Allirajah
|
 |
![]() |
|
Never mind the guest presenters
by Patrick West
|
|
![]() |
|
Too many people? No, too many Malthusians
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Welfare: how help becomes a hindrance
by David Clements
|
|
![]() |
|
What’s stopping us from feeding the world?
by Rob Lyons
|
|
![]() |
|
Let’s give children the ‘store of human knowledge’
by Frank Furedi
|
|
![]() |
|
A climate scare in Trafalgar Square
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Modern Warfare 2 has not made me a terrorist
by Shane O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Election: up for grabs, but nothing to play for
by Mick Hume
|
|
![]() |
|
Undermining nursing care by degrees
by Brid Hehir
|
|
![]() |
|
Why Northern Ireland is a one-party state
by Jason Walsh
|
|
![]() |
|
There’s more to human character than sharing toys
by Jennie Bristow
|
|
![]() |
|
The truth about those unemployment stats
by Rob Lyons
|
|
![]() |
|
‘Poker is all about skill and self-control’
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
The ‘McCarthyism’ of the anti-smoking lobby
by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
|
|
![]() |
|
Communists can’t make cola
by Patrick West
|
|
![]() |
|
Why not just call it the Blub-o-drome?
by Duleep Allirajah
|
|
![]() |
|
Erasing David and the fight for privacy rights
by Tessa Mayes
|
|
![]() |
|
We must stop being tolerant of repression
by Wendy Kaminer
|
|
![]() |
|
Germany: still divided after all these years
by Sabine Reul
|
|
![]() |
|
Nutts to these anti-alcohol ‘experts’
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
‘Lettergate’ reveals the illiteracy of British politics
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Airbrushing ‘bad ads’ from public life
by Nathalie Rothschild
|
|
![]() |
|
Still no clear policy on nuclear energy
by James Woudhuysen
|
|
![]() |
|
It’s Europe, Dave, but not as we know it
by Mick Hume
|
|
![]() |
|
See? Mothers can be sex abusers, too
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Thirst: a vampire film for grown-ups
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Elevating environmentalism over ‘less worthy’ lifestyles
by Frank Furedi
|
|
![]() |
|
David Nutt is not the new Galileo
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
The right to privacy in the Age of Facebook
by Norman Lewis
|
|
![]() |
|
by Jennie Bristow
|
|
![]() |
|
The Noughties: 10 years of nostalgia
by Patrick West
|
|
![]() |
|
by Duleep Allirajah
|
|
![]() |
|
Autism: moving beyond the quest for a cure
by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
|
|
![]() |
|
Putting a forcefield around green ideas
by Nathalie Rothschild
|
|
![]() |
|
Fireworks: the killjoys’ pet hate
by Barry Curtis
|
|
![]() |
|
No, I’m the real Irish republican
by Jason Walsh
|
|
![]() |
|
Who elected these knights to rule parliament?
by Mick Hume
|
|
![]() |
|
American hippies vs the evil Japanese
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Giving the young a taste of freedom
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Why we must wipe out climate denialism
by Brandon O’Neal
|
|
![]() |
|
China’s too lenient: we need a no-child policy
by Nathalie Rothstein
|
|
![]() |
|
by Rob Loynes
|
|
![]() |
|
This ‘revolt of the experts’ is revolting
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Why New Labour is so dopey on cannabis
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Telling unfunny jokes should not be a crime
by Nathalie Rothschild
|
|
 |
|
Why pedagogy is in peril
by Jennie Bristow
|
|
 |
|
China and America: the economic Odd Couple
by Sean Collins
|
|
 |
|
The anti-smoking ‘truth regime’ that cannot be questioned
by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
|
|
 |
|
Farewell, Norman Levitt
by Stuart Derbyshire
|
|
 |
|
The drawn-out decay of the capitalist class
by Tim Black
|
|
 |
|
The legacy of Stieg Larsson
by Nathalie Rothschild
|
|
 |
|
Cooking up a new theory of evolution
by Rob Lyons
|
|
 |
|
Industry in a time of pessimism
by James Woudhuysen
|
|
 |
|
Martin Bell on MPs’ expenses
by Suzy Dean
|
|
![]() |
|
Go veggie to ‘save the planet’? Burger off!
by Rob Lyons
|
|
![]() |
|
Steve McQueen, without the car chase
by Patrick West
|
|
![]() |
|
In defence of terrace abuse
by Duleep Allirajah
|
|
![]() |
|
Why do they all want to hijack Churchill?
by Mick Hume
|
|
![]() |
|
Why they love to hate Mother Teresa
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
If comedians can’t be offensive, who can?
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Making a pig’s ear of the vaccination debate
by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
|
|
![]() |
|
Artists, resist this propagandist agenda
by Tiffany Jenkins
|
|
![]() |
|
The cheap thrill of global warming
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
‘Rescue’: a new PC term for repatriation
by Nathalie Rothschild
|
|
![]() |
|
NYC: the city that never smokes
by Basham and Luik
|
|
![]() |
|
The calm before the immigration storm?
by Guy Rundle
|
|
![]() |
|
The new divide in British politics: Us and Him
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
Hating Nick: a shared national experience
by Alex Hochuli
|
|
![]() |
|
‘Would the BBC give a platform to Hitler?’
by Patrick Hayes
|
|
![]() |
|
‘My name’s Josie... and I have a penis’
by Patrick West
|
|
![]() |
|
Life’s a beachball, and then you die
by Rob Lyons
|
|
![]() |
|
This isn’t a recovery. It’s an Obama Bubble
by Sean Collins
|
|
![]() |
|
‘Voltaire never saw concentration camps’
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
A tragi-comic censorship campaign
by Sarnath Banerjee
|
|
![]() |
|
They couldn’t manage a mail service in a post office
by Mick Hume
|
|
![]() |
|
What do family courts have to hide?
by Thomas McMahon
|
|
![]() |
|
An Afghan farce, produced in the West
by Tara McCormack
|
|
![]() |
|
Off with their head of state
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Climate change is not beyond questioning
by Stuart Blackman
|
|
![]() |
|
Recycling: an eco-ritual we should bin
by Rob Lyons
|
|
![]() |
|
The fight to re-enfranchise the electorate starts here
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
I am offended, therefore I am
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Stop presenting gays as whiter than white
by Mark Adnum
|
|
![]() |
|
We’re all Keynesians now? I’m not
by Sean Collins
|
|
![]() |
|
‘Welcome to the rohypnol conference’
by Emily Hill
|
|
![]() |
|
Giving animals human motivations: that’s Life
by Patrick West
|
|
![]() |
|
It’s not true that ‘black men can’t coach’
by Duleep Allirajah
|
|
![]() |
|
The self-destruction of the House of Commons
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
A naked assault on our right to privacy
by Nathalie Rothschild
|
|
![]() |
|
Jane Austen meets Sex and the City
by Emily Hill
|
|
![]() |
|
Why libertarians should support the right to die
by Wendy Kaminer
|
|
![]() |
|
Exit stage right, pursued by a banker
by Patrick Marmion
|
|
![]() |
|
New Labour’s phoney battle with fascism
by Tim Black
|
|
![]() |
|
Brighton bomb memories
by Mick Hume
|
|
![]() |
|
Circumcision: cut the crap
by Nancy McDermott
|
|
![]() |
|
Hey, union, leave us kids alone!
by Shane O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
How Hillary became Empress of Ireland
by Brendan O’Neill
|
|
![]() |
|
The wrong answer to climate change
by Gordon Hughes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Welcome to October’s review of books |
 Brendan O'Neill
At a time when those people formally known, and often feared, as ‘headmasters’ have been relabelled ‘lead learners’, and when schoolchildren are encouraged to interview their own teachers to see if they have the right attitude and skills, it is clear that education is being turned on its head. Formerly the arena in which adults passed on their knowledge to children, it is now more like a conversation between ‘equals’ about values and behaviour. In an interview about his new book Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating, Frank Furedi tells this month’s spiked review of books that the engine to the education crisis is the demise of adult authority. In a world where adults’ wisdom and moral fitness are continually called into question, education becomes a near-impossible task. We also have Sean Collins on the economic relationship between America and China, Dr Michael Fitzpatrick on the McCarthyism of anti-smoking, Tim Black on capitalism’s ‘morbid age’, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to Sept’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
Once upon a time, the family was seen by many as a haven in a heartless world, an 'institution' that was largely separate from public life and where adults were trusted to care for and nurture the next generation. Not anymore. Today, the family is seen as potentially the most heartless part of society, where neglect, stupidity or simply bad parenting on the part of mums and dads is turning out a new generation of screwed-up individuals. As Ann Furedi argues in this month's spiked review of books, the family is no longer 'other' than public life, but rather has become the site of massive state intervention and social engineering to ensure that parents do their jobs correctly. Is it time to launch a Parents' Liberation Movement? We also have Michael Fitzpatrick denouncing the trend to accuse anyone who questions scientific evidence of being a 'denier', Sean Collins on why Keynes is not the answer to the recession, Philip Hammond on the 'global ideology', Nathalie Rothschild on the Bluestockings, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to July’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
This month’s spiked review of books is devoted to the question of human-centred morality, or rather the lack of it today. Susan Neiman, author of Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists, tells us that philosophy, for too long a haughty and overly abstract academic pursuit, must rediscover its purpose of ‘enlarging a sense of what is possible in the world’. Jennie Bristow is impressed by a book published on the one-hundredth birthday of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which, while not providing all of the answers to today’s moral malaise, at least asks the right questions about the role of individuation and therapy culture in shrinking the sense of human possibilities. Dolan Cummings, meanwhile, offers a defence of a man now seen as an outdated and severe moralist yet whose thinking helped to shape the modern world: John Calvin. We also have Sean Collins on A-Rod, Daniel Ben-Ami on anti-consumerist overload, Rob Lyons on scepticism, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to June’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
Who really carried out 9/11? Who killed Princess Diana? Did Israeli lobbyists coax Bush’s neocon cabal to destroy large parts of the Middle East? These conspiracy-theory questions are frequently mocked by mainstream commentators, who look down on the ignorant cliques that spread warped stories about the world. Yet as Frank Furedi argues in this issue of the spiked review of books, at the same time many commentators buy into conspiratorial thinking - the idea that there is some hidden and ‘real’ agenda behind every headline and every politician’s utterance. Furedi calls for less simplistic ridicule of cranky conspiracy theories and more vision about how public debate might be humanised. Also this month we have Jennie Bristow on a self-confessed bad mother, Philip Hammond on what al-Qaeda has in common with environmentalism, Neil Davenport on China’s factory girls, Nathalie Rothschild on why travelling the world won’t save the world, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration: Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to May’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
This month we celebrate the second birthday of the spiked review of books. When spiked launched its monthly review in May 2007, we said it would be an arena in which writers could ‘take the pulse of our times and launch salvos in the battle of ideas’. ‘No books will be burnt, though the debate will get heated’, we promised. We hope we have kept our promise. In keeping with the review’s mission to dig deep into the issues of our day and put the case for free and very critical thinking, this month we have part two of Sean Collins’ essay on the 1930s, in which he challenges the conventional wisdom that the New Deal saved America. We also have Tim Black standing up for human ambition against John Gray’s wild-eyed misanthropy, Michael Fitzpatrick on why Engels was more than Marx’s sidekick, Rob Lyons on the politics of disease, Emily Hill on what’s really wrong with celebrity culture, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to April’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
In our era of global recession, everyone has started to look back to the 1930s. For some, mulling over the Great Depression is an exercise in ‘pessimism porn’: they’ve convinced themselves we are heading for the same dire poverty and hunger that many in the West experienced during that dark era. For others, it’s a search for cut-and-paste solutions from the past. Keynesian-style policies worked back then, they allege, so why not today? Rising above these lazy readings of the 1930s experience, Sean Collins’ important two-part essay – which kicks off this month – puts the case for properly analysing what caused the Great Depression, and what is similar and different today, and for going beyond the search for simple explanations to explore the deeper structural problems of the capitalist system. Also this month, we have Kenan Malik on the fatwa and free speech, Jennie Bristow on ‘Cyburbia’, Rob Lyons on the problem with Gaia, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to March’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
This month, the 25th anniversary of the British miners’ strike passed without much serious comment, save for some familiar bickering amongst left-wing writers about who was to blame for its defeat and surreal claims by right-wing commentators that it wasn’t really a ‘national clash’ since it only involved ‘troublemakers’. In this issue of the spiked review of books, Mick Hume puts the strike in its proper historical context, describing it as a civil war between the forces of the state and the working classes which divided Britain. That 1984-85 defeat of the labour movement – which occurred not for the want of heroism and stamina on the part of striking miners – went on to shape modern British politics and economics, argues Hume. We also have Dwain Chambers on the snobby sporting elite, Jennie Bristow on the truth about the therapy culture, Nathalie Rothschild on self-discovery in the Middle East, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to February’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
In this issue of the spiked review of books, Tim Black writes on the ‘art instinct’. Why do humans seem to need art? Why are we so stirred by it? Is it an evolutionary trait, where aesthetic appreciation has been hardwired into human minds, or is this ‘instinct’ better understood as part of man as social being rather than man as biological being? We also have Frank Furedi on Energise!, a new book that refuses to take the misanthropic, restraint-promoting politics of being green at face value, and instead proposes that we treat climate change as a discrete problem rather than an end-of-the-world morality tale. Sean Collins looks at the links between Nixonland (America at the end of the 1960s) and Obamaland (America today) and asks how the Culture Wars have shaped up since Nixon discovered America’s ‘Silent Majority’. Nathalie Rothschild enjoys Cosmo Landesman’s romp through his hippy family history and his musings on celebrity culture, and Stuart Derbyshire finds a new book on the link between ‘sex and war’ to be flaccid and dumb. There is much more, too. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to January’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
There are two big theories about the economic downturn. The first tells us that this is a financial crisis brought about by reckless, gambling bankers in our ‘age of greed’. The second suggests that the recession – and even old-fashioned austerity – might be a good thing, since it will reduce our destructive consumption habits. There’s even a new term for the pro-recession outlook: ‘austerity chic’. In this issue of the spiked review of books, we take a cudgel to both theories. Sean Collins points out that we’re living through a crisis of the real economy, and explains how the increasing role of finance from the 1980s onwards sprung from stagnation in productive industry. And Neil Davenport reminds us what austerity was like in the past, when it did not increase ‘spirituality’ and ‘solidarity’ but rather hunger and authoritarianism. We also have Mick Hume on reclaiming childhood, Tim Black on Russell Brand, Jennie Bristow on modern-day witch-hunts, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to December’s review |
Brendan O'Neill
What better as an intellectual sandwich-filler between the relaxation of Christmas and the excitement and anticipation of a new year than an ideas-packed spiked review of books? To get your intellectual juices flowing as we approach 2009, this issue tackles everything from autism and human rights, to earwax and professional revolutionism. Helene Guldberg interviews Dr Michael Fitzpatrick about his new book Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion, in which he argues that the quack industry, with its fruitless ‘war against autism’, is distancing parents from their children and even harming autistic kids. Philip Hammond explodes the myth of human rights as an unalloyed good on the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration. Guy Rundle says we should reclaim Sam Adams, America’s great but forgotten revolutionary. Nathalie Rothschild plays anthropologist to that strangest of tribes: ‘white people’. And Stuart Derbyshire explores the link between snot and earwax and what it means to be human. There's much more besides. Tuck in. [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to November’s review |
Brendan O'Neill
Over the past seven days, the spectre of childhood obesity has made a comeback, the UK government has launched a campaign to tell dads to get more involved in child-rearing, and the tragic case of Baby P has been cited as evidence that step-parents / single parents / young parents are harming kids and offending against common morality. It seems every problem faced by society can be blamed on bad, badly informed or slack parents. It is timely, then, that a second edition of Frank Furedi’s 2001 book Paranoid Parenting is being published. In this month’s spiked review of books, Furedi says the problems of mistrust of adults and expert intervention into family life that he described in 2001 have worsened, and says it is time we all challenged the parent-bashers. We also have Kenan Malik on the Rushdie Affair; Mícheál Mac Giolla Phádraig on the IRA; Rob Lyons on the super-rich capitalists stoking climate alarmism; and much, much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to October’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
As the ‘most important election in American history’ (aren’t they all?) speedily approaches, John McCain is held up as the traditional, militaristic, rugged leader in contrast to the effete Obama. But it’s a myth – and in this month’s spiked review of books, Sean Collins shoots it down. Surveying McCain’s life, times and politics, Collins finds that the Republican candidate has far more in common with Obama than many believe: from their self-celebration to their anti-ideological campaigning, from their above-party stance to their ‘personal touch’, McCain and Obama may look different but both are a product of the emptying out of American political debate and the rise of the ‘politics of therapy’. Also this month, we have Dr Michael Fitzpatrick on ‘bad science’, Philip Hammond on celebrity imperialism in Darfur, John Gillott on Einstein’s quantum wars, Nathalie Rothschild on immigrants in the land of the free, and much more. Enjoy! [Illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to August’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s will remember the AIDS scare and its aura of apocalypse – or ‘apocalypse from now on’, as Susan Sontag described it. There were the terrifying TV ads; the billboard posters warning people to wear a condom or ‘die of ignorance’; the transformation of the old playground refrain ‘eurgh, you kissed a girl’ into ‘eurgh, you’re going to get AIDS’. Fear of AIDS shaped the outlook of a generation; it encouraged restraint and chastity, on the basis of apparently fact-based fears rather than old-fashioned morality. But it was built on myth and misinformation. In this spiked review of books, Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, who has challenged the AIDS scare since the late 1980s, welcomes the ‘better late than never’ admission by former AIDS insiders that they ‘beat up the facts’. He also points out that on other issues, too – from obesity to climate change – science continues to be prostituted for propaganda purposes. We also have Frank Furedi calling for an injection of true morality into contemporary debate, Tim Black on the real Franz Kafka, Neil Davenport on conformist forms of rebellion, and much, much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to July’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
We’re often told that American politics is too divisive, too ‘hyper-partisan’. One reason why Barack Obama is currently being lauded during his JFK-style trip across Europe is because he is envisioned as a new kind of politician: open, inclusive and not too bitchy (and also because there are precious few politicos in Europe to get excited about). Yet as Sean Collins reveals in this month’s spiked review of books, the idea of America as politically super-divided is misleading; rather, it is the decline of serious political debate, and its replacement by petty lifestyle issues, that makes America’s ‘political landscape’ seem shrill and combative. Collins asks why Americans are forming ‘lifestyle tribes’, and what can be done to challenge it. We also have Mick Hume celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Alan Sillitoe’s still-exhilarating Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Dolan Cummings on scary corporate shills, Francis Phillips on Julian Barnes’ empty godlessness, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to June’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
After women’s lib, do we need some parents’ lib? In a striking new essay in this month’s spiked review of books, Jennie Bristow traces the historic shifts in the ‘woman question’ – from Engels’ and Mill’s understanding that women’s oppression was a product of the shortcoming of capitalism as a whole, to the rise of divisive ‘cultural’ and ‘victim feminism’ in the second half of the twentieth century. Bristow argues that, today, feminism, rather than challenging the nature of the family under capitalism, has ended up justifying greater state intervention in the home to protect women and children from men. It’s time for some family freedom. We also have an extract from Kenan Malik's new book Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate, looking at how twenty-first century sociobiologists are naturalising ‘racial feelings’; Sean Collins takes a journey through the post-American world; Guy Rundle dissects the controversy over Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke; and I write on the metamorphosis of George Monbiot. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to May’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
In May 2007, we launched the spiked review of books as an ‘arena’ where writers could ‘launch salvos in the battle of ideas’; we promised that ‘no books will be burnt, though the debate will get heated’. In keeping with our pledge to debate ideas – thoroughly and seriously – rather than write any of them off as ‘beyond this pale’, the current May 2008 issue of the review looks at important new books on irrational currents in contemporary society. Dr Michael Fitzpatrick asks if the radical backlash against alternative medicine is helping to enlighten debate, or stifle it. Frank Furedi reviews a crucial new text on the historical ‘war against babies’ and in favour of population control. Mick Hume asks why even respectable, sensible scientists can be labelled ‘deniers’ and ‘heretics’ in the debate about climate change. We also look at ‘Real England’, the truth about the ‘Obama-phenomenon’, Cherie Blair’s memoirs and much more. Enjoy – and please donate here to help keep the review alive and kicking. [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to April’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
This issue of the spiked review of books marks two anniversaries. The first is the fortieth anniversary of the tumultuous year of 1968. Frank Furedi looks back on his short career as a student radical and says he treasures ‘the feelings and experiences’ of the late 1960s. Yet he argues that probably the key driving force behind the shifts in the Sixties was not student radicalism itself, but the crisis and cowardice of the Western elites. Michael Fitzpatrick revisits Derry 1968, one of the forgotten uprisings of that year, when he says Ireland experienced a rare ‘moment of truth’. Philip Hammond traces the journeys of Bernard Kouchner and Joschka Fischer, who moved from manning the barricades in ’68 to overseeing or justifying the bombing of Yugoslavia and Iraq in the 1990s and today. The second anniversary concerns the spiked review of books itself: this is our twelfth issue. We launched the review a year ago in May 2007, as a place where writers could conduct ‘thought experiments’ and ‘launch salvos in the battle of ideas’. And as it becomes clear that the questions of authority, purpose and morality that burst on to the international stage in 1968 remain unresolved, we need just such a laboratory of ideas more than ever. [Cover illustration: Jan Bowman] |
| Welcome to March’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
You can wear a red one for AIDS, a pink one for breast cancer, or a blue one to show your concern about the troops still being in Iraq, child abuse, censorship on the World Wide Web, second-hand smoke, or the kidnap victims of Basque separatists (with only so many colours in the spectrum, some ribbons symbolise many different things). If a kitsch, one-quid ribbon doesn't suit your dress sense, how about a wristband instead? There's the white one to make poverty history (which everyone has stopped wearing - does that mean poverty is history, or that its trendiness as a campaign is history?), and the new yellow one to complain about Chinese pollution. Why is everyone tying themselves in knots with technicolour ribbons and wristbands? In this month's spiked review of books, Jennie Bristow explores the relentless rise of the 'ribbon culture' and what it reveals about our morbid and narcissistic society. We also have Richard Reeves talking about his new biography of a dead white male with something stirring to say - John Stuart Mill; Michael Baum on the war against cancer; Philip Cunliffe on the politics of chaos in the Middle East; and much, much more. Enjoy! [Illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to February’s review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
Do you suffer from Harried Woman Syndrome? Perhaps you have Compulsive Acquisition Disorder? Maybe you’re one of millions laid low by Affluenza, whose symptoms include buying lots of mod cons, trying to hide the signs of ageing and chasing the latest fashionable garb. In the past, they called it ‘getting on in the world’ when families got good jobs, bought nice homes and fast cars, and moved from the Realm of Making Ends Meet to the Kingdom of Living Comfortably. Now our desire for ‘stuff’ is described as a mental disorder, a habit we must kick ASAP. In this month’s spiked review of books, Daniel Ben-Ami - in a review of new books by Oliver James and John Naish - says he’s had enough of the theory of Enoughism, and puts the case for the creation of more wealth and comfort around the world. We also have Frank Furedi asking what role Big Business played in the development of environmentalism, Sean Collins on how There Will Be Blood waters down Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, a Celtic fan defending the right of Rangers fans to abuse him, and much, much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to January’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
Welcome to the first spiked review of books of 2008, in which we continue to wage a war of words against misanthropy and heretic-hunting. This month we have invited Alexander Cockburn to outline what many consider to be his eccentric views on climate change. Cockburn tells how he has been witch-hunted by modern-day ‘hysterics’ for daring to question the consensus. Damian Thompson explains why he has taken up the cudgel against ‘counterknowledge’ - the conspiracy theories and pseudo-science which, he argues, are spreading like wildfire in 21st century dinner-party circles. Meanwhile, spiked regular Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, who has fought a sometimes lonely battle for reason in the MMR-autism debacle of the past 10 years, revisits the British media’s anti-MMR mania. For spiked, the only way to challenge irrationalism is through a loud and rowdy and fully free battle of ideas. We also have Sean Collins on ‘hyperpartisanship’, Tim Black on ‘big ideas’, Daniel Ben-Ami on the origins of green miserabilism, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
Welcome to Dec’s
Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
Welcome to the December issue of the spiked review of books. In keeping with the Christmas spirit - well, the Christmas spirit as spiked sees it: secularised celebrations of the human spirit and material advancement - our lead review is Michael Fitzpatrick on Terry Eagleton’s insightful study of the gospels. Whatever today’s shrill New Atheists might argue, the New Testament is magnificently poetic, says Fitzpatrick - and the Kingdom of God turns out to be a ‘surprisingly materialist affair’, notes Eagleton. Yet the salvation drama in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John remains a ‘consolatory fantasy’; we would do better to look for hope in the open-ended nature of humanity rather than in the Good Book. We also have John Fitzpatrick paying stirring tribute to the Putney Debaters of seventeenth-century England (and to Geoffrey Robertson’s excellent new edition of their debates), whose heated discussions in a south-west London church echoed around the world. Plus: Toby Young on ‘loser lit’; Tony Gilland on the truth about climate change; Helene Guldberg on the medicalisation of shyness (and other normal emotions); and much more. Enjoy - and Merry Christmas from all at spiked! [Illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to Nov’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
Western officials waging a war against terrorism often claim to be engaged in a ‘battle of ideas’. But what ideas are they battling to defend? That is never made clear. Aside from a rhetorical championing of the Western ‘way of life’ (whatever that might mean) and ‘Western values’ (which no one dares define), big ideas are notable by their absence on this battlefield. This spiked review of books unpicks the terror phenomenon. I interview Frank Furedi about his new book Invitation to Terror. Elsewhere, Furedi argues that foreign policy is driven by incoherence, and ‘humanitarianism’ is the antithesis of humanism. In defence of the Terror, Dolan Cummings reviews a new edition of Maximilien Robespierre’s speeches, and finds that, for all the claims that Robespierre is the father of modern terrorism, he was incorruptibly committed to liberty and progress: a million miles from today’s webcam jihadists. Plus: the dogma of transparency, the Motherhood Wars, the world’s biggest miserabilist, and more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.]
|
| Welcome to October’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
Earlier this month, David Cameron, leader of the UK Tory Party, told his party conference: ‘The next Conservative government will begin a revolution…’ Make sure you are sitting comfortably before I tell you what the Cameroonian Revolution will consist of: the use of tax incentives to encourage Brits to use low-energy lightbulbs and eco-friendly windmills in order to save on electricity. So, when Cameron uses the word ‘revolution’, he means the number of revolutions it takes to screw in a bulb rather than a revolution in ideas, thought, action. At a time when politics feels flat and uninteresting, Mick Hume looks back to the Russian Revolution in this issue of the spiked review of books: to a time when metaphorical lightbulbs lit up in the minds of men and women who envisaged new ways to organise society. This is no Red-eyed nostalgia trip; rather Hume re-reads John Reed to see if there are lessons for today from that ‘torrent-like’ rising 90 years ago. We also have Frank Furedi on the Israel lobby, an exclusive on five books on terrorism that Britons are not allowed to read, and much, much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to Sept’s Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
It is often said that we live in a ‘globalised age’. Apparently, cross-border threats such as smog and terror require internationalist solutions, the coming together of minds and men from around the world to fix our broken world. Yet, as we explore in this issue of the spiked review of books, it is a faux-internationalism, built on the emptying out of political debate and the circumvention of the public. Frank Furedi explores how the outsourcing of authority denigrates democracy. Faisal Devji examines why Osama bin Laden – ‘the ventriloquist’ – conducts his war of words in a global landscape. And James Heartfield reads two new New Labour diaries and discovers that Blairites much preferred jollies abroad to engagement at home. We also have Ann Furedi on the abortion wars, Andrew Calcutt on The Specials, Nathalie Rothschild on the many myths of Hollywood, and much more. Enjoy... and make the review itself global; send a link to your friends and foes. [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to August’s spiked review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
There is a new law of politics; we might call it the Law of Intended Curmudgeonliness. It rules that the more that life improves – the wealthier, healthier and safer we become – the more that miserabilists will fret about the dangers we face. Money makes us unhappy, they claim; affluence gives rise to ‘affluenza’; world travel tramples local communities underfoot, etczzz. The August issue of the spiked review of books is devoted to breaking this law. Daniel Ben-Ami counterpunches the critics of economic growth and puts the case for infecting all of humanity with 'affluenza' (that is, liberating everyone from the ‘realm of necessity’). Helene Guldberg argues that childhood is not as fraught or frightening as some believe. Peter Smith celebrates the benefits of increased international mobility. We also have Michael Fitzpatrick on why communism survived for so long, Dolan Cummings on the true spirit of Enlightenment, and studies of the heart and the brain and the role they play (or don’t play) in making us human. Enjoy… [Cover picture by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to the July Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
‘What character- ises man is his extreme abundance of imagination.’ So said José Ortega y Gasset. This issue of the spiked review of books is a celebration of that imagination - and a call for it to be liberated from the ball-and-chain of today’s misanthropic outlook. Josie Appleton dips her toe into Alan Weisman’s intriguing thought experiment: his study of what the world would look like without the guiding hand of human rationality. Frank Furedi, taking on two new heavyweight books on the crisis of moral authority, says political thinking should strike free from the ‘prison of the present’. The studies of the lives and works of Thomas Jefferson and Henryk Grossman show that different men in different times, through preparing for war or applying analytical tools, have been able to imagine, and make, better worlds. Please enjoy the abundance of ideas herein.... [Cover picture by Jan Bowman.] |
| Welcome to the June Review of Books |
Brendan O'Neill
‘Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds....’ So said Darwin, explaining why he wasn’t interested in ridiculing the religious (or bashing the Bible-bashers, one might say). That outlook — illumination over ridicule, knowledge over kneejerkism — is the theme of this second issue of the spiked review of books, what we might call the Ball-Busting Issue. Taking Darwin’s lead, Michael Fitzpatrick shows that today’s cheap shots against religion by ‘the New Atheists’ are frequently a cover for the atheists’ own moral disorientation. Mick Hume says the bizarre defence of ‘chicken’s rights’ calls into question the very idea of human superiority over beasts. And James Heartfield explains how New Leftish attacks on technology have slowed industrial growth and sustained disease and destitution in the Third World. spiked kicks against the pricks in power - but often the radical critics of the powers-that-be deserve a kicking, too. |
| Welcome to the spiked review of books |
Brendan O'Neill
First there were the Culture Wars; now we have the Book Review Wars. In the US, authors are ripping into newspapers for their ‘industry-wide scaling back of book reviews’. Books sections were once a place where arguments were had and thought experiments conducted. Where the news pages told us what was going on in the world, and the opinion pages explained why, the books section provided an arena for writers to take the pulse of the zeitgeist and to launch salvos in the battle of ideas. It is in this spirit that spiked launches its new monthly review of books, a space where no books will be burnt though the debate will get heated. Switch off the Oprah Book Club, dry your tears over your paper’s shrinking books section, and welcome to the must-read for readers everywhere. |
|
