July 2016

July 2016 issue

Past issues

Essays

Protestors dressed as robots demand a universal basic income at the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, Switzerland, on 30th April

A universal basic mistake

Tom Kibasi & Jon Cruddas

A member of the Lebanese security forces stands in front of a billboard depicting Rafic Hariri during a ceremony on 14th February 2015 marking the 10th anniversary of his assassination ©Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

Skyscrapers amid the rubble

Wendell Steavenson

John Whittingdale was "motivated by tribal instinct to cut the BBC in favour of its more politically reliable commercial rivals" ©Carl Court/Getty Images

Reprieve for the BBC?

Blair: "his own party is still grappling painfully with his legacy and with whether it needs to appeal to the centre ground" ©Ben Stansall/Getty Images

Blair: the reckoning

World without end: a production of Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung, the last opera in the Ring Cycle, at the China National Opera House in Beijing in 2015 ©Jin Liangkuai/Xinhua/Alamy Live News

Richard Wagner and the Valhalla state of mind

Commander-in-chief in waiting? Hillary Clinton is optimistic about America's ability to defend its interests abroad ©Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Hillary's game

The First World War: "The 'glory' that is celebrated lies not in the magnitude of victory but in the scale of loss" ©City Archive Bruges

The day that killed optimism

An abandoned car plant in Detroit: "by the end of 2008, one-third of all the jobs in US manufacturing at the peak had gone, the bulk of them in less than a decade" ©Bryan Mitchell/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The shock of free trade

Regulars

Stephen Collins's cartoon: The oligarch

Stephen Collins

A final foreword—"Brexit"

Puzzles and Enigmas by Barry R Clarke: issue 244

The Generalist by Didymus: issue 244

Prospect recommends: The best science exhibitions this month

©Malcolm Dunbar/Picture Post/Getty Images

The way we were: Eccentric weddings

Investing in an era of low growth

William Eggleston's Untitled, c1975 ©Eggleston Artistic Trust

Prospect recommends: The best art exhibitions this month

Emma Crichton-Miller

Prospect recommends: The best plays this month

Michael Coveney

The Duel: Is it anti-Semitic to boycott Israel?

Jonathan Rosenhead & Alan Johnson

©Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

If I ruled the world: Alain de Botton

Alain De Botton

The Royal Albert Hall, where the BBC Proms will open on the 15th of July ©David Iliff

Prospect recommends: the best classical music this month

Alexandra Coghlan

The English National Opera performs Jenufa ©Robert Workman

Prospect recommends: The best opera and ballet this month

Opinions

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., Tuesday, June 14, 2016 ©Chuck Burton/AP/Press Association Images

A three-part crisis

Anatole Kaletsky

Beijing, China, 1st May 2016. Homosexuality is not taboo in ©Andy Wong/AP/Press Association Images

China's gay children

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the men's singles final at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Sunday July 12, 2015 ©Alastair Grant/AP/Press Association Images

Tennis: the best sport

William Skidelsky

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Deputy Tom Watson. ©Anthony Devlin/PA Wire/Press Association Images

When politics gives out a bad smell

Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney. Central Banks "are not quite out of bullets" argues Kate Barker ©DYLAN MARTINEZ/WPA Rota/Press Association Images

The stuck economy

David Davis, MP for Haltemprice and Howden ©English PEN

Interview: David Davis—"I can imagine running for Tory leader again"

Chancellor George Osborne (right) and Prime Minister David Cameron take questions after delivering speeches on the economic impact of the UK leaving the European Union at B&Q headquarters in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, 23rd May 2016 ©Daniel Leal-Oliva

George Osborne: Quitting is simply not the British way

Prime Minister David Cameron speaks to supporters during a Britain Stronger In Europe campaign event at the Oval cricket ground in London ©Dylan Martinez/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Richard Dawkins: Ignoramuses should have no say on our EU membership—and that includes me

Richard Dawkins

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks on stage after winning the highly contested New York primary on April 19, 2016 in New York City, NY, USA. Clinton, who had enjoyed a large lead over her rival Bernie Sanders only months ago, saw tha

What Hillary can learn from Bernie

Arts & Books

Book review: The Way We Die Now by Seamus O'Mahony

A children's bumper car ride in Ukraine abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 ©Alexey Furman/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

On eating a radioactive sandwich

Book review: Enver Hoxha: The Iron Fist of Albania by Blendi Fevziu

Yiannis Baboulias

Book review: Local Glories: Opera Houses of Main Street by Ann Satterthwaite

Book review: Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

Charlotte Runcie

Book review: Culture by Terry Eagleton

David Lagercrantz has been accused of "betraying literature" by Henning Mankell ©Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

The man who stirred a hornets' nest

Book review: Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story by Matti Friedman

Book review: Naked Diplomacy: Power and Statecraft in the Digital Age by Tom Fletcher

David Patrikarakos

Book review: Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi

"You should hope that this game will be over soon": a satirical cartoon depicts the Third Estate carrying the Clergy and the Nobility on its back ©Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Was the Terror necessary?

Charles Williams

Dhaka, Bangladesh: smaller countries could become a major part of global growth ©Getty Images

How poor nations become rich

Society and Culture

Beijing, China, 1st May 2016. Homosexuality is not taboo in ©Andy Wong/AP/Press Association Images

China's gay children

©Kamira/Shutterstock

Leith on Life: The feeling of being watched

Kibbeh, minced meat with bulgur or rice

Matters of taste: Armenia's culinary heritage

Wendell Steavenson

Kibbeh, minced meat with bulgur or rice

Matters of taste: Armenia's culinary heritage

Wendell Steavenson

Book review: Culture by Terry Eagleton

©Nadezhda/Shutterstock

Wine: Greek wine's triumphant odyssey

Freud's couch ©Robert Huffstutter/Wikimedia Commons

Life of the mind: The importance of the couch

©David Teamen/Shutterstock

DIY investor: 50 shades of beige