21 June 2004
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Cover story
The lost tribes
The Church of England, the unions, the political parties - even our football team - have let us down. Yet our need to belong makes us look for new allegiances, whether they be book clubs or the Kabbalah cult. It can also make us putty in unscrupulous hands
Features
Blair gets ready to say ''sorry''
There won't be a direct apology, because the PM still believes he was right on Iraq, but his advisers' escape plan involves expressions of regret for misleading the country
The rise and rise of the media star
Kilroy-Silk may be the start of a new phenomenon: the television presenter as politician. The two roles require similar cheek and similar ignorance
Strange case of the army ''suicides''
When four young soldiers were found dead at the Deepcut barracks in Surrey, their parents called for an investigation. Why won't the government make the results public?
For better, for worse
Valentina and Karim are in love, but romance isn't allowed at an asylum-seeker's wedding
Why are you all so interested in sex?
British teenagers go in for lots of bonking in order to establish their individuality. But in Sweden, it would be pointless because nobody would notice
Don't let the neighbours find out
How do you reform sex offenders? Can they be reformed at all? Shirl Marshall thinks they can and her methods are simple: food and hugs. Peter Stanford reports
Regulars
Mark Thomas knows where Mrs T should be buried
The UK is selective when it comes to judging a nation's human rights record. That's why it supports Turkey, with its vital oil interests, against the Kurds, who have nothing
Darcus Howe has some advice for Trevor Phillips
If Trevor Phillips takes on the police, he will need to watch his back
Competition
Win vouchers to spend at any Tesco store
Culture
Bloody poor show
Why is theatre failing to address contemporary political realities? With few notable exceptions, argues Ian Flintoff, dramatists have forgotten the language of shock and replaced it with shocking language
Sitting for sanity
Art - Richard Cork on how Alice Neel painted her way out of mental breakdown
Theatre
Michael Portillo - Eternity in an hour
Theatre - A complex historical journey is delivered with flawless timing. By Michael Portillo Protestants Soho Theatre, London W1
Film
Miranda Sawyer - Bit of a gamble
Film - An implausible romance is saved by a winning cast. By Miranda Sawyer The Cooler (15)
Television
Andrew Billen - Laying on of hands
Television - The guru who thinks he's God is exposed as far from divine. By Andrew Billen Secret Swami (BBC2)
The Fan
The fan - Hunter Davies opens his Mateus Rose too early
I open some Mateus Rose at half-time and spot the vicar in an England shirt
Books
Sex and the single reader
Observations on literature
A one-man avant-garde. B S Johnson was a byword for literary experimentation. His novels came with blackened pages, or had holes cut into them. Was this tormented figure of the 1960s a misunderstood genius, or merely a self-dramatising boor?
Like a Fiery Elephant: the story of B S Johnson Jonathan Coe Picador, 486pp, £20 ISBN 033035048X
Worshipful mind
Desperately Seeking Paradise: journeys of a sceptical Muslim Ziauddin Sardar Granta Books, 354pp, £16.99 ISBN 1862076502
Fiction - A good yarn
At Risk Stella Rimington Hutchinson, 393pp, £12.99 ISBN 0091799961
Abodes of genius
Building Jerusalem: the rise and fall of the Victorian city Tristram Hunt Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 432pp, £25 ISBN 0297607677
Eternal power
The Struggle for Labour's Soul: understanding Labour's political thought since 1945 Edited by Raymond Plant, Matt Beech and Kevin Hickson Routledge, 300pp, £18.99 ISBN 0415312841
Deadly heat
The Long Summer: how climate changed civilisation Brian Fagan Granta Books, 284pp, £20 ISBN 1862076448
Alone in the desert
The Secret Life of Laszlo Almasy: the real English patient John Bierman Viking, 304pp, £16.99 ISBN 0670914177
Fiction - The old fools
It So Happens Patricia Ferguson Solidus, 212pp, £7.99 ISBN
