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Cover of New Humanist Issue 1 January/February 2004

Volume 119 Issue 1 January/February 2004

Cover Stories

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

Features

'That's for the fellahs!': Laurie Taylor interviews Beryl Bainbridge
Beryl Bainbridge talks to Laurie Taylor about death, religion and the novelist’s search for higher meaning
Kill me quick
Many of us would choose to take our own life rather than linger on till the bitter end. But what’s the best way of going about it? Pádraig Reidy seeks a final exit
Hammer and Crescent
A potential electoral force is emerging from the anti–war movement. But why is a supposedly ‘progressive’ grouping making room for religious conservatives, asks Amanda Day?
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
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
Ziggy Stardust
Orlando Radice learns about love from the grand old man of sociology
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

Culture

Critical humanism
AC Grayling reviews Tzvetan Todorov
Rationalism for all?
Julian Baggini on a new book of rationalism
Jailhouse Reels
The release of Carandiru prompts Andrew Tudor to reflect on the prison movie genre
A dark heritage of fiction
by Sally Feldman
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
God's goof - the universe
John Maddox reviews a godless collection
In a country forecourt
Paul Barker on the new architectural landmarks: petrol stations

Columns

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
Editorial: L'Etat, c'est quoi?
Jacques Chirac certainly picks his fights
The magazine for free thinkers