A new issue of Catalyst is out. From The American Interest, defining prosperity: Philip Auerswald and Zoltan J. Acs on why opportunity matters more than growth; and Tyler Cowen reviews the film "The End of Poverty". Drunken Nation: Nicholas Eberstadt on Russia’s depopulation bomb. From Parade, Sen, James Web on why we must fix our prisons. The Vatican says women owe their liberation to the washing machine — could that possibly be true? More on Snark: It’s Mean, It’s Personal, and It’s Ruining Our Conversation by David Denby. Visionary with a sharp edge, chronicler of all our dystopias, and rock's favourite novelist, JG Ballard cast his shadow right across the arts (and more and more and more and more). From TLS, John Shakespeare on how Philip Larkin rewrote the first, indiscreet article about him to appear in the British press. From THES, the spirit of greatness: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto recognises the strength of the US is in its people; in restoring oratory and rhetoric to a central role in public life, Barack Obama has shown how words and bearing can touch lives and change minds; and the knack, and how to get it: Reading seems a simple task — but Bob Blaisdell, a teacher of English and a voracious reader, knows just how tough it can be.