Volume 124 Issue 3 May/June 2009

Editorial: Faith in freedom: When it comes to threats to our freedoms we all need to pay attention

Cover Story

Mills and minarets: The proving grounds for the government's policy to prevent home-grown Jihad are the industrial towns of the North. Paul Sims investigates

Truth matters: Conspiracy theories can be hilarious, but reality is a better story says David Aaronovitch

Not all that is solid: The traditional cloth-cap economy has melted into one which is fluid, global, insecure and indifferent to people and communities. A useful story if you want to manufacture uncertainty, says Kevin Doogan, just not true
Not with a bang but a simper: Fear, resentment and complacency have undone English liberty, says Michael Neumann
Shadow boxing: Cultural relativism and Western chauvinism share one basic principle, claims Kenan Malik: a loss of faith in universal values
Red alert: Is it a symbol of submission or of authority? Of glamour, lust or danger? Sally Feldman uncovers the myriad shades of lipstick
Free market faith: Globalisation is leading to more belief, not less. Caspar Melville talks to the editor of The Economist about his new book tracing the rise and rise of religion
Freedom's foghorn: Happy Birthday Tom Paine: Jan 29. Here's something we prepared earlier...Roger Davidson marks the 200th anniversary of the passing of Tom Paine, an inspirational ego
Yield of dreams: Don't swallow the scaremongering claims of the anti-GM lobby, urges Angela Saini. Modified foods are a rational alternative to mass starvation
Sphere of influence: Blogs can be sloppy and vitriolic, admits Owen Hatherley. But they are also a breeding ground for original voices

Gothic revival: Outsider, troublemaker, genteel bum – Nick Mamatas celebrates the legacy of Edgar Allan Poe, the master of the perverse
The art of phwoar: Free websites like Pornhub mean that explicit sex films are only a click away. But are they any good? Michael Bywater offers a classical critique

South Africa's Brave New World by RW Johnson: Stephen Howe on a monumental, snarling study of post-apartheid South Africa
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: Philip Womack is blown away by Hilary Mantel's historical epic
The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition: Marcus Chown learns how the Catholic Church silenced Galileo
The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? by Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank: Nina Power tires of Slavoj Žižek and his monstrous essays
The Pure Society: From Darwin to Hitler by André Pichot: Benjamin Noys discovers the modern mutations of eugenics