December 2018

December 2018 issue

Timothy Garton Ash says Britain could pull back from the Brexit brink and lead EU reform from within. David Allen Green says that if we must leave, there is a better way to do it. Plus: a new exhibition punctures the clichés around Islamic art

Past issues

Essays

Photography by Holly Revell.

As you like it: discovering the irreverent, colourful theatre of the Alternative Miss World

Jessica Abrahams

Protesters hold a banner with pictures of missing people during the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Photo: PA

Exhuming Franco and the digging up of the present

Is killing ever justified?

Andy McNab and Mark Kurlansky

Martin Rees: what are the limits of human understanding?

A billboard for the Rockstar Games' "Red Dead Redemption II" in New York. Photo: PA

Serious fun: how video games grew up—and became an art form to rival Hollywood

Illutration by Jamie Wignall

Brexit: an island on the edge

Timothy Garton Ash

3D-Rendering Chess figure Europen and british figure; Shutterstock ID 449170747; Publication: -; Job: -; Client/Licensee: -

The Brexit endgame

Exclusive poll: public now thinks EU referendum was “unfair and illegitimate”

Brexit and parliament: what the "meaningful vote" will really mean

Photo: Leon Harris/eyevine

Looking at the world as a whole: Mary Midgley, 1919-2018

Regulars

A flag flown by pro-EU protesters taking part in a march in London. Photo: PA

The Prospect editorial: Crunch time on Brexit

David Butler answers Prospect's Brief Encounter questions. Illustration: Nick Taylor

David Butler: The quality of politicians at the moment is depressing

Hannah Berry's cartoon: let yourself shine

Click to enlarge

Stephen Collins's cartoon: a Christmas virus

Stephen Collins

The Prospect Puzzle: December 2018

The Prospect Crossword: December 2018

Opinions

Left out in the cold? May at an EU-ASEM summit in Brussels. Photo: AP/Shutterstock

Brexit and isolation on a dangerous planet

When it comes to heat energy, Britain's emissions are not falling

Shadow energy minister: Britain's not as clean as it thinks

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

Pensions are stuck in a doom loop

Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/DPA/PA Images

Driverless cars: when a crash is unavoidable, who should they save?

Photo: Christophe Gateau/DPA/PA Images

Thirty-three times per month? Misperceptions about the sex lives of others

For two months last year, Britain's power supply was coal-free

Energy minister: UK's carbon footprint is smallest since the Industrial Revolution

NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images

Investment: Aiming off

Solar energy: cheap, green and popular—so why doesn't the government like it?

Green energy: Britain's bad example

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab. Photo: NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images

March of the incompetents: why are politicians so useless?

A supporter of the left-wing presidential candidate for the Workers Party (PT), Fernando Haddad, reacts after the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election. Photo: PA

Calling Bolsonaro "the tropical Trump" lets Brazil's bigots off the hook

Arts & Books

Julia Davis: wickedly funny

The best podcasts in December 2018—My Ocean and Dear Joan and Jericha

Charlotte Runcie

Holbein's portrait of Thomas Cromwell that hangs in the Frick Gallery

Who was the real Thomas Cromwell?

Watership Down and My Brilliant Friend—the best television in December 2018

Three Identical Strangers

Three Identical Strangers and Roma—the best films in December 2018

Ukip Leader Nigel Farage mixes with the audience after delivering a speech at a rally in Broadstairs, Kent, in 2015. Photo: PA

Facing down the whitelash

A Black Lives Matters peace march in Sheffield, UK in 2016. Photo: Pa

Minorities report: why the debate over identity politics isn't going away

Gordon Brown, one of Jason Cowley's subjects Copyright by World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/Photo by Andy Mettler +++No resale, no archive+++

At the heart of the action

David Patrikarakos

City of London: bane of the country

What's the point of the City?

Richard McNeill Douglas

Hansel and Gretel at the Royal Opera House

Hansel & Gretel and Bach's Christmas Oratorio—the best classical and opera in December 2018

Alexandra Coghlan

Richard II and A Christmas Carol—the best theatre in December 2018

Michael Coveney

Lost histories: the chief black eunuch of the Ottoman Harem, 1912 © Wikipedia

Adventures with the Ottomans

A cast of Trajan's Column being treated at the V&A

Casts at the V&A and Albert Irvin—the best art and exhibitions in December 2018

Emma Crichton-Miller

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi at the UN in September 2018 © Li Muzi/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

Why the Arab Spring failed

Steve Bloomfield

Illuminating: light falls through the gallery’s specially- designed windows; right, a 14th-century Mamluk lamp. Photo: British Museum

Object lessons: how a new exhibition challenges old clichés about Islamic art—and people

Friedrich Hayek © Flickr

Why the free market is a post-truth institution

Helena Kennedy, author of "Eve Was Shamed." Photo: via Prospect

In her defence: how lawyer Helena Kennedy fights for women's rights

Society and Culture

Virginia Woolf, not looking terribly exercised about her income. Credit: Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University

The way we were: writers take stock

Portugal knock the Netherlands out of the 2006 football World Cup. Image; Wkimedia Commons

Why playing sport—when there are clear winners and losers—prepares you for real life

Benjamin Markovits

Hirsute heroes of history. Illustration: Kate Hazell

What your beard says about you (and the Romans and the Greeks)

Charlotte Higgins

Cold water swimming is good for your mental health. Illustration: Kate Hazell

The beginner's guide to cold water swimming

Coping with Christmas. Illustration: Kate Hazell

A Christmas survival guide

Hephzibah Anderson