Skip to main content
Read page text
page 4
Regulars p. 3 Editor’s Note p. 6 The Q&A Syria expert Robin Yassin-Kassab p. 9 Witness Contributions on the Brexit referendum p. 71 Crossword Set by Chaliapin p. 74 Endgame I’ve got that shrinking feeling By Laurie Taylor Contents Autumn 2016 p. 72 The Big Question Is eternal life possible, or even desirable? p. 73 Quiz Set by Chris Maslanka columns p. 8 Cosmos Why is the Sun hot? By Marcus Chown p. 16 History Who gets to feel guilty? By Reni Eddo-Lodge p. 70 In a Word “Crisis” By Michael Rosen Toby Lichtig on “effective altruism”, page 18 “Instead of being a pleasure, eating has become an elaborate ritual” Sally Feldman, page 52 Features p. 18 Ethics Should your decision to give to charity be led by the head or the heart? By Toby Lichtig p. 22 Reportage How Pakistan’s madrasas became incubators for extremism – and the fight to win them back By Samira Shackle p. 26 Technology Don’t put your trust in Big Data By James Bridle p. 32 Cover story Why American-style protest tactics are coming to an abortion clinic near you By Rosa Ellis p. 36 Justice On the US Supreme Court, conservatives have the upper hand – for now By Richard Scorer p. 40 Rights The dangerous myth of the “self-hating” homophobe By Alex Macpherson t z r e iswi vo n n i e : st e pha p. 44 Science The 100-year story of how gravitational waves were discovered By Tosin Thompson co t io n t ra i l lus v e r 4 New Humanist | Autumn 2016
page 5
ulture p. 48 Architecture Rebuilding after nuclear disaster By Owen Hatherley p. 52 Food The cult of celebrity diets By Sally Feldman p. 56 Ideas What’s wrong with ancient wisdom? By Michel Petheram p. 60 Literature Why you might already be living in a dystopia By Ray Filar Books p. 66 Reviews Niki Seth-Smith on the refugee crisis; Alice Bloch on Martha Nussbaum; Sarah Ditum on Victorian intellectuals; Richard Smyth on death in nature poetry p. 55 Janet Sutherland p. 59 Lyuba Yakimchuk p. 63 Kit Fan p. 65 Ahren Warner ontributors Anthony Barnett is the author of Blimey, it could be Brexit (available to download at opendemocracy.net) Alice Bloch is a radio producer, with a background in studying the former Yugoslavia James Bridle is a writer and visual artist whose work is collected at shorttermmemoryloss. com Marcus Chown is the author of What a Wonderful World (Faber & Faber) Andrew Copson is chief executive of the British Humanist Association Sarah Ditum is a columnist and book reviewer Rosa Ellis works in communications for a trade union Sally Feldman is a trustee of the Rationalist Association and a former editor of Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour Ray Filar is a writer and editor who specialises in politics, subcultures and mental health Cal Flyn is a Scottish journalist and the author of the memoir Thicker Than Water (William Collins) Max Goldman is development officer at Sense About Science Owen Hatherley is the author of Landscapes of Communism (Allen Lane) and The Ministry of Nostalgia (Verso) Toby Lichtig is an editor at the Times Literary Supplement Alex Macpherson writes on popular culture for a range of publications Chris Maslanka sets the New Humanist quiz and is the author of several puzzle books Reni Eddo-Lodge is writing a book on race, politics and popular culture ichel Petheram writes on philosophy and history Michael Rosen is a poet and novelist, as well as a former Children’s Laureate Martin Rowson is a widely published cartoonist and illustrator Richard Scorer is a lawyer and author of Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis (Biteback) Niki Seth-Smith lives in Athens and is cofounder of the online magazine Precarious Europe Samira Shackle is assistant editor of New Humanist Richard Smyth is the author of the novel Wild Ink (Dead Ink Press) Laurie Taylor is president of the Rationalist Association Tosin Thompson is a science journalist and actor ew Humanist, ISSN 0306-512X, is published four times a year by the Rationalist Association © 2016 New Humanist Printed by Blackmore Ltd, Dorset The views expressed in New Humanist are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Rationalist Association New Humanist | Autumn 2016 5

Page Text

View plaintext

Regulars p. 3 Editor’s Note p. 6 The Q&A Syria expert Robin Yassin-Kassab p. 9 Witness Contributions on the Brexit referendum p. 71 Crossword Set by Chaliapin p. 74 Endgame I’ve got that shrinking feeling By Laurie Taylor Contents Autumn 2016

p. 72 The Big Question Is eternal life possible, or even desirable?

p. 73 Quiz Set by Chris Maslanka columns p. 8 Cosmos Why is the Sun hot? By Marcus Chown p. 16 History Who gets to feel guilty? By Reni Eddo-Lodge p. 70 In a Word “Crisis” By Michael Rosen

Toby Lichtig on “effective altruism”, page 18

“Instead of being a pleasure, eating has become an elaborate ritual” Sally Feldman, page 52

Features p. 18 Ethics Should your decision to give to charity be led by the head or the heart? By Toby Lichtig p. 22 Reportage How Pakistan’s madrasas became incubators for extremism – and the fight to win them back By Samira Shackle p. 26 Technology Don’t put your trust in Big Data By James Bridle p. 32 Cover story Why American-style protest tactics are coming to an abortion clinic near you By Rosa Ellis p. 36 Justice On the US Supreme Court, conservatives have the upper hand – for now By Richard Scorer p. 40 Rights The dangerous myth of the “self-hating” homophobe By Alex Macpherson t z r e iswi vo n n i e

: st e pha p. 44 Science The 100-year story of how gravitational waves were discovered By Tosin Thompson co t io n t ra i l lus v e r

4

New Humanist | Autumn 2016

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content