Faith146;s politics

In Europe, as debate over Turkey8217;s inclusion in the EU warmed up, the media was arguing over whether that country is secular enough. Everyone agreed that PM for two years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has wrought enormous change. He has dramatically traded his own reputation of Islamic firebrand for that of zealous reformer. Turkey8217;s Kurds have more rights now; the penal code is recast to make it less harsh; the economy is opened up and healthier. But in Europe, scepticism persists. Newsweek put its finger on it: Erdogan is still seen as far too 8216;8216;socially conservative, religious and proudly nationalistic.8217;8217; It cited Erdogan8217;s recent flip flop over the law to criminalise adultery.

And as Australia prepared to choose between a two-term PM and his younger, fiesty challenger, the issues were national security, the economy8230; and secularism. In the Sydney Morning Herald, columnist Miranda Devine took stock of the loud pre-poll furore over a party that calls itself Family First. The party is violently opposed to gays, lesbians, abortion, internet pornography. And in an election in which the 8216;8216;Bible-belt preferences8217;8217; were predicted to be crucial, an 8216;8216;aggressively secular8217;8217; media did not baulk from making itself a player. Devine wondered whether the media8217;s unabashed antagonism was provoked by the deeper fear that religion is everywhere on the rise. And that after four decades, 8216;8216;godless secularism may be on the wane8217;8217;.

Somewhere there

In the run-up to elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, many have wondered if a little democracy is better than none at all.

Time went to Kabul to get inside Karzai8217;s campaign and reported on an invisible candidate imprisoned in his own palace. Afghans and Karzai have had only the rare and unscheduled encounters when the President was able to duck past his American security protectors. According to UN officials, a third of the country is still in the grip of Taliban fighters or the infamous warlords. Karzai was not waiting for the vote either. He was relying on a victory through brokered deals with the strongmen. Like General Abdul Rashid Dostum, whose campaigning style was to sit on a 8216;8216;thronelike chair in his rose garden and scowl at a line of deferential tribal elders, officials and militia commanders who will be expected to deliver votes8230;8217;8217;

Being stranded

Shahrukh Khan is a miraculous success story indeed 8212; from godfatherless outsider to King Khan of Bollywood. But his arrival is beginning to sound more scripted with every retelling. There he was on Time8217;s cover, his familiar soundbytes peppered the story inside.

Tucked away more unobtrusively in the same magazine, Pico Iyer8217;s essay looked at Bombay anew and saw a hope and a horror that involves us all. The city, where only the underworld can assure you of the civilised amenities and services, where the government has receded, where you survive only if you break the law.

Iyer wrote of the world8217;s cities being reclaimed by the countryside. And the coming together of all their denizens. Not in the 8216;8216;global village8217;8217; of our cosy dreams, but in the 8216;8216;planetary metropolis8217;8217; where everyone only feels stranded. And yet, 8216;8216;who would not want to be among the bright lights of a hub?8217;8217;