January/February 2024

January/February 2024 issue

The collapse of US hegemony, who will run Gaza when the guns fall silent, and the fight against fake drugs. Plus, Eliot Higgins profiled, our annual list of the world’s top thinkers and a brief encounter with Miriam Margolyes

Past issues

The head of a melted Statue of Liberty, made of green wax

America’s undoing

Triumphant at the end of the Cold War, the United States pledged to lead humanity in a new world order. Two conflicts—in Gaza and in Ukraine—have exposed that it has never been weaker

Editor's Picks

Palestinians in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, search through rubble for survivors of Israeli bombardments on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023 Credit: © Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

All that remains

Illustration by Carlo Cardenas

The World’s Top Thinkers 2024: ideas for a world on the brink

Badenoch: a subtler politician than her critics allow? Illustration by Tim McDonagh

Is Kemi Badenoch a new kind of Tory?

Matthew d’Ancona

© Jeffrey Blackler / Alamy

Under the spell of the franchise

Illustration by Michael Rea

Miriam Margolyes: ‘I call myself the poor man’s Joanna Lumley’

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Clerical life: Giving a same-sex blessing was the ultimate joy

People

Image: John Watson

Just Stop Oil’s Morgan Trowland: ‘This is more important than our individual lives’

Miles Ellingham

Image: Sahar Afshar

On the font lines

Image: John Watson

How Jacqueline Alnes escaped fruitarianism

Image: Christian Owens

The tech CEO who stepped down at 29

Columns

Illustration by Vincent Kilbride

What I’m teaching my students about AI

Ethan Zuckerman

Illustration by Andy Smith

Goblin mode is out. Monk mode is in

A slogan without substance? David Allen Green writes that the Rwanda plan was flawed from the outset. Image: PA/Alamy

Why the Rwanda policy was always likely to fail

The rubble of the Yassin Mosque. Is Israel’s action in Gaza in accordance with "just war" principles? Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

Is Israel waging a just war?

Carol Vorderman’s diary: I’m counting down to Tory wipeout

Carol Vorderman

Regulars

Steve Bell’s Christmas carol

The Prospect Grid: January/February 2024

Letters: Jan/Feb 2024 edition

Stephen Collins: The rest is extinction

Stephen Collins

Illustration by Michael Rea

Miriam Margolyes: ‘I call myself the poor man’s Joanna Lumley’

The Generalist: January/February 2024

Features

The head of a melted Statue of Liberty, made of green wax

America’s undoing

Palestinians in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, search through rubble for survivors of Israeli bombardments on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023 Credit: © Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

All that remains

Illustration by Carlo Cardenas

The World’s Top Thinkers 2024: ideas for a world on the brink

Badenoch: a subtler politician than her critics allow? Illustration by Tim McDonagh

Is Kemi Badenoch a new kind of Tory?

Matthew d’Ancona

Photography for Prospect by Paul Black

Eliot Higgins: the man who verifies

Image: Sergey Borisov / Alamy. Composite by David McAllister / Prospect

13 years of failure

New homes are built for Ilford Borough Council in 1947. Image credit: Harry Shepherd/Getty Images

Could Harold Macmillan solve today’s housing crisis?

Photography for Prospect by Sarah Lee

A law unto herself

Duncan Campbell

© Shutterstock, Alamy

Bad medicine

Chinese warships and airplanes now regularly cross the median line of the Taiwan Strait—an unofficial buffer. Image: Eyepress News/Shutterstock

In Taiwan, China is covertly preparing for battle

Elizabeth Green

Culture

Illustration by Amyisla McCombie

Sarabande: a new short story by Oliver Soden

An engraving of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle

In dreams I walk with you

Francesca Peacock

Busted: Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at his court hearing in New York in February. Image: Stephanie Keith / Bloomberg

The Great Crash 2023

The last laugh: Mário de Andrade in 1930. Image: Benedito Junqueira Duarte / Acervo FBN

Mário de Andrade, the troll of the tropics

David McAllister

© United Archives Gmbh / Alamy

I ain’t got time to bleed

Scott Jordan Harris

Illustration by David McAllister / Prospect

There’s too much television

Imogen West-Knights

Let’s hear it for the Scala

© Jeffrey Blackler / Alamy

Under the spell of the franchise

A different kind of love song

Classical notes: The sound of gunfire

Prospect’s books of the year 2023: Politics & Reportage

Prospect’s books of the year 2023: Ideas

Prospect’s books of the year 2023: Lives

Prospect’s books of the year 2023: History

Lives

Illustration of Tilly Lawless by Clara Nicoll

Sex Life: I ask my client “can you come three times in an hour?“

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Mindful life: Why I love cycling with a group of middle aged men

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Farming life: A perfect storm

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Clerical life: Giving a same-sex blessing was the ultimate joy

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Young life: What my bedroom says about me

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Sheila Hancock: “I don’t care if I’m cancelled. Death will do that soon anyway”

Illustration by Clara Nicoll

Sporting life: The nourishing nature of cricket

Michael Brearley