Victory City (Penguin Books) by Salman Rushdie In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on Salman Rushdie and his publishers for his novel The Satanic Verses, claiming his depiction of a Muhammad-like figure was blasphemous. The international writers’ organisation PEN was instrumental in the campaign calling for Rushdie’s protection and for his inalienable right to free expression to be recognised. Later, I became director of English PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee and witnessed for myself Rushdie’s dedication to persecuted writers worldwide. He was always a signatory on our petiti ..read more

The recent release to the public of a wave of new art and writing tools, such as DALL-E and ChatGPT, has been greeted with an outpouring of alarmist rhetoric. The software, based on artificial intelligence, responds to prompts like “create a picture of a woman eating salad and laughing” or “write a poem in the style of Lewis Carroll” by searching the web for examples and building on these to create an approximation: an image (though often disturbingly mangled) or something like a poem (at least in the sense that it rhymes). Sometimes the prompt works well and the production can seem magical ..read more

On 22 April 1915, a cloud of noxious gas drifted from German lines towards the Allied troops entrenched on the Ypres battlefield. The soldiers were wholly unprepared, with no masks to protect them. Not wanting to be caught offguard again, the Allies dispatched a chemist to the battlefield, to shed light on this devestating new weapon. Of course, by the time John Scott Haldane and his team arrived the gas had long since dispersed. But subtle clues were left. They noticed a discolouration of the brass buttons on the unfortunate soldiers’ uniforms. Something had reacted with the zinc and copper ..read more

It is said that the ancient Greek painter Zeuxis died while laughing at his completed likeness of an ugly old woman. The Flemish artist Quinten Massys survived the painting of “The Ugly Duchess” (about 1513), but it might have been a close shave. Certainly plenty of people have at least smirked at her in the years since. This is because, and there is no getting around it, she appears ridiculous: bulging forehead, protruding ears, puckered mouth, hairy mole on her cheek, huge horned headdress and shrivelled bosom. She looks beseechingly upwards, clutching a tiny withered rosebud. When the pain ..read more

In my favourite scene from their animated film Yellow Submarine, the cartoon Beatles see a submarine, identical to theirs, going in the opposite direction. “There’s someone in it. Look!” one remarks. “And they’re waving,” says another, “It’s a group of fellas.” They wave back, realising that it’s themselves, going backwards in time. I’ve thought often about how strange it must feel, being Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr, seeing their years as the Beatles – one phase of their long lives – take on a perpetual existence. And, quite unexpectedly, I’ve found myself contributing to that spinning medi ..read more

Of all the billion-dollar physics experiments, I’m particularly fond of those that have a “does what it says on the tin” name: the Extremely Large Telescope, the International Space Station . . . and now there’s a new one to add to the list: the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. The DUNE project will investigate the neutrino – the tiniest of fundamental particles, meaning “the little neutral one” in Italian. It is being constructed one mile deep below Sanford Lab in South Dakota. Neutrinos are so tiny that they barely interact with anything and simply glide straight through you, through t ..read more

The summer 2023 issue of New Humanist is on sale now! Subscribe here to the print edition for as little as £27 a year. You can also buy a single copy for just £7.45. Available in all good newsagents. Church and state After the coronation of King Charles III as head of state and supreme governor of the Church of England, we look at the relationship between Church and state in Britain today. No more tax breaks Emma Park asks why we're still handing out tax breaks to religious charities, who need to be judged for what they do, not what they preach. "Everyone who pays taxes or votes in England a ..read more

Last month, Ghana became the first country in the world to approve a highly effective malaria vaccine, an achievement 80 years in the making. Known as R21, it is the first for malaria – or indeed any parasitic disease – to exceed the World Health Organization’s 75 per cent efficacy target. Parasites are much more complex than viruses or bacteria, so this is a major breakthrough. Preliminary results from final-stage trials have not yet been published, but Ghana has already cleared the vaccine for use in children aged 5-36 months – the group at highest risk of death from malaria. Nigeria follow ..read more

As New Humanist went to press last week, the Public Order Act had just become law, introducing new police powers to restrict protests in the UK. It comes on the back of high-profile demonstrations in recent years that have seen groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Black Lives Matter take actions such as blocking roads, airports and printing presses in a bid to raise public awareness and push politicians into action. Some of the new restrictions came into effect just days before the coronation of King Charles III, ahead of anticipated anti-monarchy protests. The government ..read more

Sleep is a hot topic these days. Popular science books promise to uncover why we do it at all, while exploring its importance for a healthy life. Self-help manuals seek to teach the art of sleeping well amidst the stresses of modern life. Wearable devices and mobile apps monitor quality and quantity, nudging users to make adjustments to their bedtime routines. Meanwhile, last summer’s heatwave produced endless variations of top tips for ensuring the right amount of sleep in sweltering temperatures. These examples do not just point to an increased curiosity for an activity that, after all, mak ..read more