April 2016

April 2016 issue

Past issues

Essays

Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern ahead of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Bringing peace to Northern Ireland was one of Blair's greatest achievements © Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

Blair could have been great

Ferdinand Mount

VANDALIA, OH - MARCH 12: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to attendants at a Campaign Rally on March 12, 2016 in Vandailia, Ohio. Today was the first rally after violence broke out in a Trump Rally in Chicago yesterday which canceled

What would Trump do?

Illustration by Pedro Demetriou

Europe divides the country into two tribes like no other issue

crowned King of Italy in 774. Just over a quarter of a century later he became Holy Roman Emperor

The end of sovereignty

"Transported to another place": VISUALISE developed the Thomas Cook Google Cardboard app © VISUALISE

Virtual reality technology is already changing our lives

Bladwin said Giovanni's Room was about "what happens if you are so afraid that you finally cannot love anybody" © Rosemay/Dahan

Baldwin's complex fate

France's clampdown on radical Muslims could be storing up trouble

Christopher de Bellaigue

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Palm Beach County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at the Mar-A-Lago Club, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. ©Wilfredo Lee/AP/Press Association Images

How the Republicans could stop Donald Trump

Laurence H Tribe

Playing his tune: Alan Rushbridger was one of the best newspaper editors of his generation, but lacked commercial success ©Amy T. Zielinsky/Getty Images

Who guards the Guardian?

Regulars

Can Britain pay its pensions bill?

Alexei Sayle ©Clara Molden/CamaraPress

If I ruled the world: Alexei Sayle

Puzzles and Enigmas by Barry R Clarke: issue 241

©Robert Harding/Rex/Shutterstock

The way we were: Shakespeare: loved and loathed

The Generalist by Didymus: issue 241

The Duel: Should the Church of England be disestablished?

Linda Woodhead & Lucy Winkett

Opinions

French National Front president Marine Le Pen, right, smiles with Italy's Northern League leader Matteo Salving during the Europe of Nations and Freedom movement meeting in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016.©Antonio Calanni/AP/Press Association Images

What are the chances of a Frexit?

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel pictured on the first day of an EU summit meeting, Thursday 17 March 2016, at the European Union headquarters in Brussels. ©THIERRY ROGE/Belga/PA Images

In praise of “Project Fear”

Anatole Kaletsky

Women smoke cigarettes at a shopping center in Moscow, Russia ©Misha Japaridze/AP/Press Association Images

Putin's soviet anti-smoking campaign

How did China forget its good manners?

Carolyn Kaster/AP/Press Association Images

Brexit would not damage UK security

Richard Dearlove

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives to give a speech on the European Union to the Resolution Foundation at St John's Smith Square in London. ©Anthony Devlin/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Brexit won't mean Scottish independence

Arts & Books

Two fans dressed as Don Quixote (left) and his sidekick Sancho Panza in Spain last year © Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images

Don Quixote and the invention of doubt

'Voyage Around the World', a French poster from the late 19th century © Private Collection; Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images

Pierre Bayard: genius, or dinner party contrarian?

Wendell Steavenson

Book review: The Life Project by Helen Pearson

How words shape our world

Book review: This Orient Isle by Jerry Brotton

Book review: What Works: Gender Equality by Design by Iris Bohnet

Jessica Abrahams

Ageing and death have long obsessed Don DeLillo © Jean-Christian Bourcart/Getty Images)

A cryogenics cult: Don DeLillo's "Zero K"

Elaine Showalter

Book review: Aeneid Book VI by Seamus Heaney

Charlotte Runcie

Book review: The Age of Genius by AC Grayling

Book review: A Girl in Exile by Ismail Kadare

Anthony Cummins

Book review: The Perfect Bet by Adam Kucharski

Book review: Essays on Literary Culture & Public Debate by Stefan Collini

Society and Culture

An omelette foldover ©Masoud Shafaee, Wikimedia Commons

The best omelette in the world

Wendell Steavenson

©mattbuck/wikimedia commons

A message on negative interest

©Gilles Messian/wikimedia commons

Rising prices for wine investors

"David Bowie went—we all noticed that" © Photobra|Adam Bielawski/wikimedia commons

Time's immemorial work

©yanugkelid/shutterstock

The secret life of a therapist