April 2019

April 2019 issue

How has the national broadcaster dealt with the biggest issue of our time? Plus: James Graham on John Bercow and Jennifer Williams on Manchester's housing boom (and homelessness crisis)

Past issues

Essays

What the Stanford Prison Experiment got wrong. Photo: Prospect composite

How the Stanford prison experiment gave us the wrong idea about evil

Stephen Reicher, Alex Haslam and Jay Van Bavel

How did the BBC cover the one political topic that overshadows all others? Photo: Prospect

Could Brexit break the BBC? The tensions, the bewildering question of ‘balance’—and how to get it right

Up-and-coming areas of Ancoats (L) and shoppers pass rough sleepers in Piccadilly Gardens. Photos: Joel Goodman

The Manchester paradox

Jennifer Williams

Worryingly Troubled Organisation: why the WTO is in serious peril

John Bercow by Tim McDonagh.

"I shouldn't really be saying this": John Bercow on Brexit, backbenchers and why nobody dreams of being speaker

There will be lessons to be learned from the success (or otherwise) of the new group. But they're not what you might expect. Photo: PA/Prospect composite

The empty centre: What the "non-ideological" Independent Group actually tells us about our changing politics

Regulars

Illustration by Nick Taylor

Gina Miller on why she loves her country—and free climbing

New Broadcasting House. Photo: Shutterstock

The Prospect editorial—Breaking point

Pupils from Eton sit on the wall during the annual St. Andrew's Day Eton wall game. Photo: PA

Are private schools a blight on English society?

Speed data: Is crime really on the rise?

Prospect puzzle and crossword: April 2019

Hannah Berry's cartoon: Walk a mile in someone else's shoes

Stephen Collins's cartoon: Jester subscriptions

Stephen Collins

Opinions

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech in Khartoum, Sudan in February © (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir/PA)

View from Sudan: Uprisings, a state of emergency and the long shadow of history

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd. Photo: REX SHUTTERSTOCK

Want to protect pensions? You need proper regulation

Photo: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Archive/PA Images

Policy report: pensions—how can we secure the future?

Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/PA Images

The government’s new pensions dashboard could get messy

Olivia Colman in The Favourite: queens are having a moment

Queens of all our hearts—why monarchs light up our screens

ack in 1989, the Chinese economy (accounting for inflation, differential prices and exchange rates) represented just 4 per cent of the world’s GDP as against 22 per cent for the US. This year, according to the IMF, China’s share will be 19 per cent and Am

Investment report: pensions—prepare rather than predict

A second referendum? Judge previously told Prospect "I don't think it would help." Photo: Shutterstock

Referendums versus parliament: when votes collide

Photo: Joe Giddens/PA Wire/PA Images

We have transformed the pension saving culture

Atlanticism is the Independent Group's key shared belief. Photo: PA

Forget Brexit—the Independent Group's split is really down to their belief in Atlanticism

Photo: Parrot Pascal/ABACA/Maxppp/PA Images

"Painful, tiresome and hopeless": How Brexit looks from France

Christine Ockrent

Arts & Books

John Kay on the uses and abuses of cost-benefit analysis. Photo: Prospect composite

The price of everything: what people get wrong about cost-benefit analysis

Flann O'Brien's letters make for

Clive James: What I'm reading, from Flann O'Brien to The Odyssey

The best podcasts for April 2019—The Dropout and David Tennant

Charlotte Runcie

You Know You Want This is a new collection by Kristen Roupenian © Pixabay

New stories by the "Cat Person" author mingle sexual disgust and thrill

Catherine Humble

Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve

The best television in April 2019—Game of Thrones and Killing Eve

Vintage illustration of a woman rowing a boat on rough seas

Striding into the ocean of motherhood

A scene from Sergei Loznitsa's Donbass

The best films in April 2019—The Sisters Brothers and Donbass

Catherine the Great: lover of philosophy, oppressor of serfs. By Fedor Rokotov © Wikimedia commons

When Diderot met Catherine

Rangeeli or Colours of Birmingham Parade which celebrates the South Asian heritage of the City Aaron Chown/PA

Why Birmingham is a multicultural success story

Russell Hargrave

Violonist Viktoria Mullova © Heikefischer-Fotografie.d

The best classical and opera in April 2019—Billy Budd and Viktoria Mullova

Alexandra Coghlan

Do androids dream of electric beats? Photo: Prospect composite

Can machines create?

General Lord Cornwallis, receiving two of Tipu Sultan's sons as hostages in the year 1793 © Robert Home/Wikicommons

The dreamers and conmen who conquered India

The great South African actor John Kani

Best theatre in April 2019—Kunene and the King and West Side Story

Michael Coveney

Time for repair? A damaged case housing a copy of Magna Carta in Salisbury Cathedral © PA/ Ben Birchall

Why Brexit might be our constitutional moment

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night Over The Rhone 1888

The best exhibitions in April 2019: Van Gogh and Renaissance nudes

Emma Crichton-Miller

There's no guarantee that the translations we get are the best possible ones—but that's not the point. Photo: PH

Between worlds: in praise of the literary translator

Louise Bourgeois and Couple 1 (1996) © COLLECTION THE EASTON FOUNDATION, ARTIST ROOMS: NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND AND TATE, GETTY IMAGES

The adventures of Louise Bourgeois, spider-woman

Emma Crichton-Miller

Society and Culture

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp (right). Photo: PA

Want to understand what motivates us to be selfish? Just look at football

Benjamin Markovits

Illustration by Kate Hazell

Ask a classicist: is Donald Trump more of a Caligula or a Nero?

Charlotte Higgins

Planting trees in the west Highlands. Illustration by Kate Hazell

Planting saplings in the west Highlands, it's hard to keep one's mind off the passing of time

From champagne to real pain, a marriage is a mix of the good and bad. Illustration by Kate Hazel

I guess I do? Why ambivalence in a marriage is no bad thing

Cathy Rentzenbrink