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Volume 119 Issue 1 January/February 2004

Cover Story

Imperial Catastrophe: Michael Mann, the leading historian of power, forecast the failure of the American adventure in Iraq. So what should happen next?

Columns

Editorial: L'Etat, c'est quoi?: Jacques Chirac certainly picks his fights
Bones of contention: Robert Foley on why science still needs anthropological remains
What the butler saw: Tom Baldwin sees some queer goings on behind closed doors
Reader's digest: Laurie Taylor has an appetite for the incomprehensible

Features

Kill me quick: Many of us would choose to take our own life rather than linger on till the bitter end. But whats the best way of going about it? Pádraig Reidy seeks a final exit
Back to the USSR?: In the wake of Russia's recent, widely criticised elections, Michael Binyon asks whether Putin is taking his country back to a Soviet past
'That's for the fellahs!': Laurie Taylor interviews Beryl Bainbridge: Beryl Bainbridge, who died on 2 July, talked to Laurie Taylor in 2004, about death, religion and the novelist's search for higher meaning
Bad News for Free Will: The Libet Experiments showed we have no control over our actions. Or did they? Alfred Mele still managed to write a critique of them
Gurus and gibberish: Francis Wheen on the snake-oils and quacks of our age
Ziggy Stardust: Orlando Radice learns about love from the grand old man of sociology
Stripping Assets: As speculation mounts about who will be the new owner of Britain's best-selling conservative broadsheet, the Daily Telegraph, so does disgust at the prospect of a 'pornographer' as proprietor. But how much do his detractors actually know about his business? Sally Feldman delves between the covers
The Bridge to Freedom?: Sam Washington and Phil Kemp spent months trying to find out more about the mysterious Church of Scientology. Their research won them a BBC File on 4 Investigative Journalism award. Here they reveal their troubling findings
Hammer and Crescent: A potential electoral force is emerging from the antiwar movement. But why is a supposedly progressive grouping making room for religious conservatives, asks Amanda Day?

Culture

God's goof - the universe: John Maddox reviews a godless collection
Critical humanism: Book Review: AC Grayling on Hope and Memory by Tzvetan Todorov
Rationalism for all?: Julian Baggini on a new book of rationalism
A dark heritage of fiction: by Sally Feldman
Jailhouse Reels: The release of Carandiru prompts Andrew Tudor to reflect on the prison movie genre
Dad-lit in Decline: by Chris Paling
Angels in America: The latest batch of US television shows heading our way has a distinctly mystic tone, warns Rob Greene
Graceful cynicism: Peter Kerr-Jarrett on the poetry of Catullus
In a country forecourt: Paul Barker on the new architectural landmarks: petrol stations