News and curiosities

The art market Friezes over

Marc Bijl's Triumph (proposal for a memorial to the Iraq war), left, was one of thousands of works on display at the Frieze art fair in London's Regent's park in mid-October. In its five years of existence, Frieze has established itself as a major fixture on the art world calendar, giving rise to inevitable complaints about extortionate prices, charlatan artists, super-rich gullibility and so on. Some of the works on display this year seemed to embody these concerns: one of the most talked-about was a "flea market" of artists' cast-offs—Elizabeth Peyton's leather couch, clothes belonging to Warhol "superstar" Baby Jane Holzer. Elsewhere, the Chapman brothers drew pictures on fivers or tenners presented to them—thus instantly multiplying the money's value. But the biggest story took place elsewhere, at the auctions held by Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips to capitalise on all the money washing through town. The houses took in over £175m, but this was short of what they'd hoped for, and several works remained unsold, including a Damien Hirst spot painting (estimated value: £2.5m) and two Warhols. This represented a major setback for a market that rose 50 per cent in the first half of 2007 alone, prompting the question: is the art bubble finally about to burst?

Britain—land of 59m paupers

In his obsessive pursuit of ever wider selections of people to classify according to their wealth, Philip Beresford (compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List) has fallen into a trap, writes Harvey Cole. In The Richest of the Rich, Beresford and his collaborator William Rubinstein attempt to pick out the richest Britons over the last 1,000 years. Surprisingly, the top 16 were all dead before 1440. The top 20 contains only one living person—steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who scrapes into 20th place.

The winner is one Alan Rufus, who arrived with William the Conqueror and plundered the north. Beresford and Rubinstein credit him with a fortune, at his death, of £11,000 at 1093 prices—and claim this to be worth £81bn in today's money.

This conjuring trick is explained by their calculation that Rufus's fortune was worth over 7 per cent of national income, which would amount to £81bn today. This is self-evidently ridiculous. In 1093 the population of England was little more than a million. If all those million were assumed to have the same share of national wealth now as they did then, about 59m people would, by definition, have nothing at all.

Mixed Lessings

A predictable chorus of adulation greeted the announcement that Doris Lessing (pictured, right, with Nye Bevan in 1960) had been awarded the Nobel literature prize. Literary editors praised her "visionary power" and "colossal bibliography" (as if longevity and rate of output are in themselves virtues); a cast of the literary world's great and good were canvassed for approval. But there was a faint air of hypocrisy about all this, because almost no one was prepared to point out what most people think, which is that for the last 25 years, most of Lessing's novels have been unreadable—as reviewers have often pointed out. Instead, sly euphemisms were deployed to make a virtue of Lessing's falling-away: she was someone who "never rested on her laurels," who maintained a "sublime indifference to conventional wisdom." Thus her disastrous lurch into turgid sci-fi mysticism was reformulated as proof of her originality and fearlessness. None of this is to say that Lessing isn't an important writer, or that her early works—particularly The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook—were undeserving of the praise and influence they had. But the decision to award Lessing the Nobel now, when she has long ceased to be a writer of real quality and importance, seems an odd one. It is a shame she didn't get it earlier.

Neocon nepotism

In his essay on Robert Kagan's revisionist history of US foreign policy, Michael Lind points out that while neocons preach democracy, they often practice nepotism: Kagan's father Don is a prominent neocon, while his brother Fred was one of the architects of the Iraq "surge."

Just as Prospect was going to press, the spotlight fell on another neocon dynasty when John Podhoretz was appointed editor of the neocon-friendly monthly Commentary. John's dad Norman was the journal's last-but-one editor, and is still "editor-at-large," regularly contributing gung-ho essays to its pages in which he urges fiercer prosecution of what he calls "World War IV," and calls on President Bush to bomb Iran. John—author of Bush Country: How George W Bush Became the First Great Leader of the 21st Century—will take up the reins in January 2009.

Prospect prizes

Congratulations to Alan Hakim, overall winner of our competition asking readers to suggest a contemporary custom that will strike future museum visitors as bizarre. His answer? Bottled water. "We have survived for millennia by drinking only when we were near a source of water; now it seems we are doomed to instant dehydration if we are parted from it for a single minute." Other prize-winning suggestions included non-electronic keys and the internal combustion engine: these all win a free membership to Wellcome Collection's members' club.

Meanwhile, Prospect, in conjunction with the Franco-British Council, is launching a creative writing prize for young people for the best short story with a French theme. You can find out more and download an application form here.

Moving with the times

A minor revolution in the world of German newspapers: the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the industry's grand old lady, has decided to publish a photo every day on its front page. Despite falling circulation, the heavyweight FAZ previously looked down on papers that waste precious front-page space on mere pictures—only 33 have appeared there since 1949, on special occasions like the election of German Pope Benedict XVI. Announcing the change with appropriate self-importance, Germany's paper of record described its new look as "crisper and fresher," language associated with relaunches the world over. It also claimed to have already won the support of "the vast majority of readers." But that didn't include one 30 year old, who wrote that while the relaunch was evidently aimed at his age group, front-page pictures are "entirely superfluous." The FAZ is the last major German paper to make the switch, only 41 years after the London Times caved in and joined its more eye-catching competitors.

Matthew Taylor

Does Matthew Taylor, ex-policy adviser to Tony Blair, now busy shaking up the RSA, have Robert Maxwell-esque tendencies? Just as the former owner of the Daily Mirror used to love plastering his picture all over the paper, so Taylor appears no fewer than eight times (if you include one picture of the back of his head) in the first edition of the new RSA Journal. In early October, Taylor's old think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, won the seventh Prospect think tank of the year award (it won the first award, under Taylor's leadership, in 2001). But the Guardian's David Walker, chair of the judges, said he looked forward to the IPPR having to compete next year against a few new think tanks, including the European Council on Foreign Relations and the RSA itself, which Taylor has been converting into a tank.

Fewer Scots?

Recent research by the Constitution Unit suggests an obvious solution to the West Lothian question: reduce the number of Scottish and Welsh MPs. Judging by their incoming and outgoing postbags and the hours they spend on constituency work, the honourable members have had considerably less to do since devolution. However, the study also showed how valuable they are to Labour whips. Labour is heavily over-represented in Scotland and Wales, and its Scottish and Welsh MPs are nearly twice as likely to vote the party line than their more independent-minded English counterparts. It seems unlikely, then, that a Labour government contemplating a possible reduction in its majority will shed such loyal lobby fodder any time soon.

Rama reprieved by Indian government

The Hindu god Rama made a dramatic entrance into Indian politics this September when the government denied his existence in a submission to the supreme court, writes Dhiraj Nayyar.

At issue is a project to dredge the first ever navigable channel between India and Sri Lanka. The problem is a 48km limestone shoal known to many as "Rama's bridge," substantial parts of which would need to be destroyed if the dredging project is to proceed. This prospect has appalled Hindus, to whom the bridge is sacred—indeed, according to the epic poem the Ramayana, it was built under the guidance of Rama himself, who then used it to cross into Sri Lanka with an army of monkeys. According to the Archaeological Survey of India, however, not only is there no scientific evidence to suggest the structure is man-made, there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support the occurrence of events or existence of characters in the Ramayana.

At least, this was what they said before the government withdrew its submission in a "spirit of inclusiveness and high democratic tradition" after a public and political outcry. With some people claiming the state had overstepped its authority by commenting on matters of faith, and others noting that politicians have never been averse to rousing popular religious sentiments when it suits them, the fact that India still lacks a secular, uniform civil code is sure to come under scrutiny. At least for now, however, it seems the gods retain an influential vote in the world's largest democracy.