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January 2009

Standpoint is published monthly by Social Affairs Unit Magazines Limited, a subsidiary of the Social Affairs Unit (Registered Charity No.281530). The views expressed in Standpoint are those of its individual authors, not those of the Social Affairs Unit Magazines Ltd and its Directors or those of the Social Affairs Unit and its Trustees and Director

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As well as the print magazine's content, StandpointOnline features a variety of blogs and web-only essays and articles.

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More Popular than Jesus: The Hubris of the Music Industry

IAN BOSTRIDGE AND TIM BLANNING

January 2009

The tenor Ian Bostridge and the historian Tim Blanning discuss popular and classical music with Standpoint editor Daniel Johnson

Daniel Johnson: Ian, is it possible to combine celebrity with musical integrity? Your face is visible on the London Underground and everywhere we look. Is it possible for a musician nowadays to become a household name and yet still be serious about his work?

Chávez's Secret Fan Club

VANESSA NEUMANN FROM CARACAS

January 2009

‘In his decade as president, Chávez has parlayed socioeconomic resentment into near-invincibility. But Venezuela's decay, and the chinks in his armour, are there for all to see’

And there it was: my grandfather's house, empty and decaying. I had lived there while doing summer jobs. It was here that my grandfather had entertained Gabriel García Márquez and former US Secretary of State James Baker. Sitting outside the rusting gates, I tried to recapture my past for my new husband, and in doing so to explain what has happened to my homeland, Venezuela, in the 10 years under President Hugo Chávez. Today, more people die violently every week in Caracas than in Baghdad.