archive

Acceptable in the 80s

From Plus, what happened before the Big Bang? Alvin Toffler on a Bigger Big Bang: We may soon be smart enough to understand how insignificant we might be in the cosmos (and more). From Cosmos, is the ultimate fate of our universe dependent on an utterly inexplicable form of dark energy? It has been five decades since CP Snow warned that this mutual incomprehension threatened the survival of western civilisation — so what has changed? A recent visualization of scholarly research based on online user patterns offers a fresh perspective on C.P. Snow's landmark treatise on science and the arts. From TAP, progressivism goes mainstream: New research on ideology refutes the conservative myth that America is a "center right" nation; and Ezra Klein on the argument over inequality: The myth of individual exceptionalism may undermine society on the whole. From FT, a review of books on Margaret Thatcher (and more and more). Three decades after Margaret Thatcher came to power, Iain Macwhirter considers the legacy of a political leader who changed our world. Acceptable in the 80s: Thatcher was no friend of culture, yet by provoking such strong opposition, did she give the arts a shot in the arm? A review of “There Is No Alternative”: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters by Claire Berlinski.