CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
MICHAEL AXWORTHY ’s book on 18thcentury Iran is forthcoming
RAYMOND CARVER is the author of Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? (Vintage)
MARK COUSINS is the author of The Story of Film (Pavilion Books)
STEPHEN EVERSON is writing a book on metaphysics and the mind
CARLO GÉBLER ’s books include The Siege of Derry: A History (Little, Brown)
DAVID GOODHART is editor of Prospect
MICHAEL GRUBB is with the faculty of economics, Cambridge University, and edits the journal Climate Policy
JONATHAN HEAWOOD is editor of the Fabian Review
PARAG KHANNA is the global governance fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC
MAREK KOHN ’s book A Reason for Everything is published by Faber
BEN LEWIS presents BBC4’s Art Safari
ALEXANDER LINKLATER is deputy editor of Prospect
ALEX MCBRIDE is a criminal barrister.
GEOFF MULGAN is director of the Young Foundation and a visiting professor at UCL and LSE
JAN-WERNER MÜLLER teaches politics at Princeton University
BHIKHU PAREKH is a professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster
LISA RANDALL is author of Warped Passages (Allen Lane) and a professor of physics at Harvard University
ALASDAIR ROBERTS is the author of Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age , published in December by Cambridge University Press
HELEN SIMPSON ’s short story collection Constitutional is forthcoming from Jonathan Cape
ROGER SMITH is the director of Justice, a human rights organisation
IAN STEWART ’s collection of enigmas and puzzles, The Mayor of Uglyville’s Dilemma (Atlantic Books), will be published in November
ERIK TARLOFF is a novelist and writer
GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT is the author of The Strange Death of Tory England (Allen Lane)
MICHAEL WILLIAMS is director of Asia in the UN department of political affairs
4PROSPECT September 2005
contents Issue one hundred and fourteen September 2005
COVER STORY
24Reclaiming the story
ALEXANDER LINKLATER Prospect is launching a major new annual award designed to honour Britain’s finest story writers and to reestablish the importance of the short story as a central literary form. The National Short Story prize will be the largest award in the world for a single story.
ESSAY 26Principles ofa story
RAYMOND CARVER From Chekhov to James Joyce, the short story has defined modern fiction.
OPINIONS 12Cook ofthe Balkans
MICHAEL WILLIAMS Robin Cook’s finest hours on the political stage came in the Balkans.
12The loss offaith
MICHAEL AXWORTHY Our commitment to the values on which our society is based has been hollowed out.
14Stick to the target
MICHAEL GRUBB The most recent attempt to undermine Kyoto does not make sense.
DEBATE 18Can the Human Rights Act undermine national security?
DAVID GOODHART VSROGER SMITH The Human Rights Act is a welcome constraint on government. But can it threaten our ability to fight terrorism?
ESSAYS 30Cricket’s final over
GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT Despite the interest generated by a thrilling Ashes series, English cricket is dying and will soon cease to be a national sport. Was this inevitable?Or have the authorities hastened its end?
36British commitments
BHIKHU PAREKH Becoming a British citizen involves more than just rights and duties. Immigrants to Britain must develop a moral and emotional commitment to this country.
INTERVIEW 42Charles Tilly
GEOFF MULGAN America’s most prolific and interesting sociologist is unknown in Britain, which shows how far the discipline has faded here.
