August 2018

August 2018 issue

What would really happen if the UK stayed in the EU? Zoe Williams, Nick Clegg and more give their views. Plus: inside the world of child prodigies—and rediscovering Oscar Wilde's "lost" years in Paris

Past issues

Essays

Stop Brexit, fix climate change?

Illustration by Tim McDonagh

The UN's human rights chief has had enough

Milton Keynes, capital of culture

British Prime Minister and French President attend an official dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Photo: PA

Why Emmanuel Macron would welcome "Bremain"

Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive/PA Images

If Brexit stops, the red bus could become (a bit) more accurate

Little maestros: the strange world of the child prodigy

© TIM GRAHAM/GETTY IMAGES

The House of Lords is even more absurd than you think

Hersh in the Dispatch offices, Washington DC, in 1970. Photo: MAGES COURTESY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

Whatever happened to Seymour Hersh?

Steve Bloomfield

How going ahead with Brexit could help the far-right thrive

A view of the City of London at night, from Blackfriars Bridge. Photo: Richard Gray/EMPICS

Stay in the EU, and London becomes the world's indisputable financial centre

Let's stay in Europe—and lead on a new defence policy for the continent

The "Brexit Bange"r is driven around Parliament Square, in Westminster. Photo: PA

Reversing Brexit would turn the country against itself

Chris Bickerton

Bright blue sky shines through the opening onto the central courtyard inside the European parliament building in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/PA

How can we reverse Brexit when Europe doesn't want us back?

Wolfgang Munchau

A passionate Clegg making his point to Tom Clark. Photo: Prospect

Nick Clegg: How we can stop the clock on Brexit and stay in

Tom Clark and Alex Dean

Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a Remain rally. Could his government allow us to stay in Europe? Photo: PA

The Left road to Europe: why a Corbyn government is the route to Remain

Regulars

UK services personnel, 1954-2018. The forces have been shrinking for decades

Speed data: Britain’s diminishing armed forces

President Nasser of Egypt is served the head of Anthony Eden on a plate. The Suez crisis caused fury in parliament. Photo: GRANGER HISTORICAL PICTURE ARCHIVE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Parliamentary turmoil from the 1830s to today

Should big tech be broken up?

Vince Cable and John Kay

Tamara Rojo: I wish I could have dinner with Sergei Diaghilev and Ninette de Valois

Stephen Collins's cartoon: David Cameron and the Brexit chat group

Stephen Collins

Opinions

Britain's busses are in crisis—and no-one seems to care

Jennifer Williams

A police officer stands in front of screens erected in Rollestone Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Photo: PA

Ex-MI5 chief: Salisbury is only the tip of the iceberg

Prime Minister Theresa May during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at Chequers. Photo: PA

How is Theresa May still Prime Minister?

An environmental externality? Photo: © NEENAWAT KHENYOTHAA/REX SHUTTERSTOCK

We need a new economics with the Earth at its core

When the world feels hopeless, the garden offers a sense of stability. Photo: Prospect composite

Gardening at the end of the world

Ella Risbridger

Arts & Books

Three Choirs Festival

Sheku Kanneh-Mason at Edinburgh and Three Choirs Festival—classical highlights in August 2018

Alexandra Coghlan

Edwin Lucas and the view from the Moon—the best art in August 2018

Emma Crichton-Miller

A rare Samuel Barber and Monteverdi's final masterpiece—the best opera and ballet in 2018

John David Washington (right) and Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman

Spike Lee's swagger and the return of a Polish master—the best films of August 2018

Nothing to lose but their chains: a woman in a US prison © Wikimedia commons

The graphic truth about US prisons

Grenfell and gender politics: the best podcasts of the summer

Charlotte Runcie

On the move: a gypsy caravan © Jeremy Bolwell

From Cornish lay-bys to Oxford University, Damian Le Bas has created a cinematic portrayal of Gypsy Britain

Beggars and betrayers: the best theatre in August 2018

Michael Coveney

The curious history of the maze

How economists predicted the wrong financial crisis

How India's billionaires captured the country

Oliver Bullough

Visible hands: a statue of Adam Smith in Edinburgh © Wikmedia commons

Why Adam Smith wasn't a heartless neoliberal

String theory is a fashionable theory but unprovable

A scientist's crisis of faith

Sotheby's employee Chloe Stead holds 'Self Portrait with a Black Eye' by British artist Lucian Freud. Photo: PA

The gilded gutter: inside the lives of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon

Wilde about Paris: the sex, drink and liberation of Oscar Wilde's “lost” years

Protesters demonstrate against President Trump's immigration ban at Portland International Airport. Photo by Alex Milan Tracy/PA

Great empire, little minds: the American mythology that enabled Donald Trump

Society and Culture

Yes—but who are you handing it to?

The art of throwing good money after bad

For your next tipple, why not try a bottle of the sweet stuff?

Meet the Syrian chef who refused to be a refugee

Wendell Steavenson

I recalled the words of my old seminar leader: “All we can do is listen and try to understand.”

When it comes to mental health, the best strategy can be to have no strategy

Some languages carry greater opportunities for offence than others

What can you do if your language is sexist?