July 2020

July 2020 issue

The US’s poor performance in tackling Covid-19 versus China’s apparent success in locking it down has led some to believe that the liberal model can never be as effective as an authoritarian one. But there’s plenty in liberal democracy still wor...

Past issues

Essays

How Monty Don became the nation's gardener

Britain's next great health crisis is already here

Trump has pulled the US apart. That doesn't mean Biden can beat him

Workers at Fort Derrick, Maryland, which was forced to shut last summer after it failed inspection standards ©Greg Mathieson Sr/Shutterstock

Covid-19 didn’t escape from a lab—but the next deadly virus could

Peter Frankopan

A girl walks past a slogan painted on a wall reading "Stop Ebola" in Monrovia on August 31, 2014. Liberia on August 30, 2014 said it would deny permission for any crew to disembark from ships at the country's four seaports until the Ebola epidemic ravagin

The Ebola epidemic warned us what was coming. Why didn't we listen?

Katherina Thomas

Venezuela's two presidents

Covid-19 has merely accelerated the great geopolitical reality of the 21st century: the rise of Xi's China and the decline of Trump's America © Reuters/Kevin Lamarque & Shutterstock; Xie Huanchi/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

Coronavirus, the rise of “acceptable authoritarianism” and the battle for democracy

Steve Bloomfield

Nationally-focused: Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was the first European leader to close borders—and he didn’t wait to consult EU partners. Photo: CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock

Young, brash and egotistical—the continent’s new generation of leaders scorn today’s EU, but might just save Europe

Regulars

Click to enlarge

Stephen Collins's cartoon: Doing science—maverick style

Stephen Collins

The Prospect editorial—Planet waves

Letters: July 2020

The Prospect puzzle and crossword: July 2020

Hannah Berry’s Cartoon: Incredible murmurations

Brief Encounter, Lee Child: "I like ironing. I hate Mozart. I've never read Jane Austen"

According to a recent study, the over-80s are more than 500 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than the under-40s

Three charts that show the risk of coronavirus to the old

The duel: could Covid-19 kill off the EU?

Bruno Maçães , Anu Bradford

Opinions

Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, right, talks with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi before their delegation-level meeting in New Delhi, India. Photo by Manish Swarup/AP/Shutterstock

Could China and India be heading for war?

Raffaello Pantucci

Citizens stroll around the Baocheng road night market stall in Wuhan, which has recently reopened © Photo by YFC / Costfoto/Sipa USA)

The remarkably short slide from me worrying about relatives in Wuhan to them worrying about me

Why a rise in home working will have big implications for investors

Klaus Ohlenschl�ger/DPA/PA Images

Investment report: chasing yields in a new world

The rainbow floral display outside the University College Hospital at Euston Road in London, as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Picture date: Monday April 27, 2020.

What effects will Covid-19 have on jobs, social care, cities? A politicians' symposium

Risks on the frontline: ethnic minorities make up almost half of NHS medical staff. Photo: Ben Cawthra/Shutterstock

The Covid race riddle defies skin-deep simplicities

Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images

Why truth will have its revenge

Can employers expect their workers to risk public transport? Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire/PA Images

Desperate bosses and vulnerable workers: We face an imminent "clash of the reasonable"

Schumpeter’s virus: How “creative destruction” could save the coronavirus economy

Barry Eichengreen

Arts & Books

Mind the gender gap: Why it's time for an equality revolution in parenting

Dickens at work

The mystery of Dickens remains unsolved

The best theatre to watch online this July 2020—Hamilton on Disney and a Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic

Michael Coveney

View of the Milky Way taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope

Why the universe still glows from the Big Bang

Checkerspot butterfly Photo: Wikimedia commons

A dazzling and disconcerting tour of our migratory world

Behavioural scientist Pragya Agarwal Photo: Handout

Shortcuts to stereotypes

Supreme Court judges including Lord Reed, the current president, and Lady Hale the previous incumbent, leave the court together Photo: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/PA Images Attend Annual Judges Service At Westminster Abbey In London

Judges aren't our enemies—they're the best defence we have

The best television to watch in July 2020—The Salisbury Poisonings and El Presidente

Chinese leader Xi Jinping inspecting a poverty reduction centre in Wuzhong City Photo: PA Images/(Xinhua/Ju Peng)

Has China won? Not yet

The best podcasts this July 2020—Louis Theroux's Grounded and Rule of Three

Charlotte Runcie

DH4F3C indian musician ravi shankar playing sitar India

While my sitar gently weeps

The best films to stream in July 2020—A White, White Day and The Booksellers

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jenny Goodall/Daily Mail/Shutterstock (4744416a) Abubaker Deghayes The Father Of 18 Year-old Abdulah Deghayes Speaks Outside His Home In Saltdean Brighton. Abdulah Was Killed In Syria Earlier This Month. Abubaker Deghayes The Fa

Why do British Muslims become jihadists? The answer is more complex than you might think

Empty main auditorium at the Royal Albert Hall.

The best opera and classical music in July 2020—BBC Proms and Bavarian State Opera

Alexandra Coghlan

A still from the 1963 film of William Golding's Lord of the Flies © Two Arts/Cd/Kobal/Shutterstock

Reasons to be cheerful: despite what we see on the news, things are getting better all the time

The best online art in July 2020—Young Rembrandt on the BBC and Léon Spilliaert at the RA

Emma Crichton-Miller

Society and Culture

The way we were: Virginia Woolf and George Orwell on hot English summers

Not so soulless after all: In praise of lockdown-era artificial plants

Caroline O'Donoghue

Gordon Ramsey, Christina Wilson arriving at the Grand opening of Gordon Ramsey Hells Kitchen at Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino

Celebrity chef culture was getting out of control. Then the pandemic hit

What would Ovid make of coronavirus?

Charlotte Higgins

The joys of birdwatching under lockdown

Yolo Boomers and electric scooters: The rise of lockdown-era "reverse parenting"

Hephzibah Anderson