January 2018

January 2018 issue

What are the big ideas that will shape our world in 2018? From sex to politics, our future issue looks ahead to how our lives will change. Plus: Christmas dinners, Orwell, and the Biblical origins of harassment.

Past issues

Essays

Alan Johnson: How George Orwell formed my politics—and predicted our post-truth world

King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands opens the Judicial Complex Zaanstad (JCZ) in Westzaan, The Netherlands, Tuesday September 6, 2016. The JCZ is the largest and most modern prison in the Netherlands, commissioned by the Ministry of Security and Just

How the Dutch fixed a prisons crisis—and what Britain can learn from that

Photo: ANDY AITCHISON

I predict a riot: Britain's prisons are failing and the government has no plan

©Alex Williamson/Getty Images

The great globalisation lie

Why the future of food is fake

Stephanie Boland

Welcome to the post-digital world

From the rise of Jeremy Corbyn to Trump and Brexit, it's time to expect the unexpected. Photo: PA

Change is the new normal—welcome to the era of political volatility

Labour General Election posters supporting Gordon Brown in his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency office in Cowdenbeath, 2010. Photo: PA

We're all in debt to Gordon Brown's borrowing

Robert Skidelsky

The new Chancellor in 1997. Photo: PA

Gordon Brown's biography reminds us why he is one of the giants of recent political history

Jonathan Freedland

Britain's involvement in Yemen is making the situation worse

Intimacy rebooted: why we shouldn't fear the rise of sex tech

In future, pricing will be personalised to our shopping habits. Photo: PA

The future of shopping: pricing gets personal

Regulars

Click to enlarge

Stephen Collins's cartoon: David Davis and Dr Who

Stephen Collins

The Prospect editorial: Face it, then fix it

The thing I wish I was better at? Cooking. Photo: Pexels

Tina Brown: My biggest regret? Going into business with Weinstein

Opinions

FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee about bureau oversight. Photo: PA

If Donald Trump doesn't already fear Robert Mueller, he should

Generation "no thanks": the stats that show young people are giving up on sex, drugs and booze

A roast turkey and sprouts. But is it time to admit Christmas Dinner has had its day? Photo: Pexel

Has Christmas dinner had its day?

Henry Dimbleby & Zoe Williams

Foxe's Book of Martyrs shows Tyndale being throttled and burned in Antwerp.

A man of his words: how William Tyndale shaped our world

An open letter to President Macron: post-Brexit, the future of Europe is on your shoulders

Richard Dearlove

Dystopian fantasies like "The Handmaid's Tale" dominate popular imagination. Photo: EVERETT COLLECTION INC / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

The happiness industry is a symptom of the sad state of society

Politics, film, the media: in each, a culture of insecure work is exploited by abusers.

If 2017 was the year of me too, 2018 must be the year of real change

Jair Bolsonaro speaks at a rally. Photo: PA

The Tropical Trump: what the rise of Jair Bolsonaro means for Brazil

Lucinda Elliott

Poster-truth politics: the Gordon Brown posters for the election that never was

Arts & Books

The classical music to book now for 2018

Alexandra Coghlan

From Annie Baker to Pinter: the plays to book now for early 2018

Michael Coveney

Van Dyck Anton (1599-1641). Paris, musée du Louvre. INV1236.

From Blake's visions to Gursky's block of flats: the art to see in the new year

Emma Crichton-Miller

Frances McDormand as "Mildred Hayes" in THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. Photo by Merrick Morton, courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures.

From Barack Obama to a tale of maternal grief: the films to see in January

Mary Beard’s new book charts the deep-rooted history of keeping women silent

Jessica Abrahams

Ali Smith’s "Winter" runs hot in the cold

Rebecca Swirsky

War in 140 characters: how social media has democratised conflict

Hussein Kesvani

Roddy Doyle’s Smile is a dark echo of his Booker Prize-winning novel

Never Forget: a new book explores why the West needs to remember its history—with pride

The Appearance of The Collage No. 10 by Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov (2012)

Even as Stalin persecuted them, Soviet artists dreamed of a perfect future

The thing I wish I was better at? Cooking. Photo: Pexels

Tina Brown: My biggest regret? Going into business with Weinstein

The Beast of Eden: the Biblical roots of today's sexual harassment scandal

Finishing touches: Richard Rogers’s company designed the Lloyd’s of London building, in 1986. Photo: PA

Behind the façade: Richard Rogers' autobiography is an exercise in self-congratulation

BL3281560 Anthony Powell 1974 by Godwin, Fay (1931-2005); British Library, London, UK.

Anthony Powell was a beady observer of his own caste

Society and Culture

The government needs to do more to help the self-employed

Whistler's portrait of his mother.

Why are psychologists so interested in your mother?

Our new digital lexicon needs a style guide. Photo: Pexel

Updog, Juggalos and "kk": why the internet needs its own style guide

A plaque to Stanley Baldwin in Bewdley. Photo: Wikimedia commons

The way we were: how Prime Ministers used to resign

A roast turkey and sprouts. But is it time to admit Christmas Dinner has had its day? Photo: Pexel

Has Christmas dinner had its day?

Henry Dimbleby & Zoe Williams

Sacré Buerre! How rumours of a shortage caused a French run on butter

Wendell Steavenson

The political history of British boozing