June 2021

June 2021 issue

Why we need to reform the Crown, the rich history of Chinese people in the UK, why governments can’t just keep borrowing and a profile of Cressida Dick. Plus Edward Said’s confusion, how to fix government sleaze and we ask whether meritocracy has ...

Past issues

Society

Roadmap to a republic

Why the monarchy can’t just ‘carry on’ after Elizabeth II

Illustration by Ian Morris

Monarchy

Why the Crown is at a crossroads

In an hour of legal and constitutional flux, events may soon force the monarchy to become more—or less—powerful

Ilustration: Tim McDonagh

Politics

Line of duty: What does Cressida Dick really want?

The first female and first openly gay Metropolitan Police commissioner is known to be cool-headed. But with challenges coming from all political sides, will that last?

Not short of an opinion: Nigel Farage and Nick Ferrari on LBC. © Jamie Wiseman/Daily Mail/Shutterstock, YouTube

Society

Rise of the British shock jock

Right-wing radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh softened up America for the Trump era. Could the UK’s own new breed of polarising presenters do the same here?

Professor of error: Edward Said in Quincy, France Credit: Bloomsbury

Culture

Disorientated: the confusions of Edward Said

The dangers of imprisoning culture in political theories

Up Front

Illustration by Ian Morris

Why the Crown is at a crossroads

In data: local elections vs Westminster

The Prospect editorial—recasting the Crown

Letters: June 2021

Illustration by Ian Morris

How to fix government sleaze

Photo: Mark Thomas / Alamy Stock Photo

Is the shadow chancellor on her way out? This is what you need to know about Anneliese Dodds

Ahead of any second independence referendum, Project Fear will march again—with good reason. Image: iweta0077 / Alamy Stock Photo

We will soon see another outing for Project Fear. Good

The Panama Canal’s narrowness has led to attempts to widen it—but at the expense of an uptick in accidents. Photo: © Richard Dunwoody/Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo

After the Suez blockage, is there danger on the Panama Canal?

Image: Myriam Borzee / Alamy Stock Photo

The duel: Should we give up on meritocracy?

Adrian Wooldridge & Daniel Markovits

Essays

Roadmap to a republic

Ilustration: Tim McDonagh

Line of duty: What does Cressida Dick really want?

Discontent: a bus set alight during riots in Belfast this April. Image: REUTERS / Jason Cairnduff

Unionism, nationalism and Northern Ireland’s unrequited love

Feargal Cochrane

© Spencer Wilson

Does government debt matter any more?

Before the New Jerusalem: Workers gather at London docks in hopes of finding work in 1931 © Fox Photos/Getty Images

Justin Welby: how to build a new Beveridge

Not short of an opinion: Nigel Farage and Nick Ferrari on LBC. © Jamie Wiseman/Daily Mail/Shutterstock, YouTube

Rise of the British shock jock

© Mark Henley/Panos Pictures

The hidden stories of Britain’s Chinatowns

Critical Thinkng

Photo: PRISMA ARCHIVO / Alamy Stock Photo

The missing Benin Bronzes

A pillar of western thought, or flawed political thinker? An 18th-century engraving of David Hume. Image: Science & Society Picture Library/Getty images

The Hume paradox: how great philosophy leads to dismal politics

Photo: Zindagi Tamasha (Circus of Life)

The battle for Pakistan's cinema

The sensory capabilities of sharks, and other “elasmobranch” species like rays and skates, are truly remarkable. Illustration: Kate Hazell

What it's like to be a shark

Arts & Books

Photo: PRISMA ARCHIVO / Alamy Stock Photo

The missing Benin Bronzes

Professor of error: Edward Said in Quincy, France Credit: Bloomsbury

Disorientated: the confusions of Edward Said

Can do: Jeremy Heywood briefs the prime minister David Cameron in 2011. Photo: Tom Stoddart Archive/Getty Images

Yes, really, Prime Minister: Jeremy Heywood, master of Whitehall

Jonathan Powell

Photo: Ricardo Maldonado Rozo/EPA-efe/Shutterstock

A Romanian master's fantastical visions

Miriam Balanescu

A highly skilled interviewer, Jane Garvey speaks to ordinary people who have been through something astonishing that changed their life forever. Photo: Life changing

The best new podcasts in the UK this month

Charlotte Runcie

Bryn Terfel fills out some famous breeches in Verdi’s delicious adaptation. Photo: © Grange Park Opera

The best classical and opera in the UK this June

Alexandra Coghlan

England international footballer Jermaine Jenas fronts the documentary on stop and search. Photo: Channel 4

What to watch on television this month in the UK—BBC's Three Families and the Crime of the Century

The folly of the Cuban missile crisis

The Duke of Queensbury, Commisioner to the Scottish Parliament, presents the Act of Union to Queen Anne. Credit: Alamy

Why tax is actually taxing

Jonathan Portes

Joanna Scanlan in After Love. Photo: Ran Studio

The best films in the UK this summer

Between worlds: Giles Fraser at a makeshift church in Calais' refugee "jungle". Credit: REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/Alamy

How Giles Fraser lost and then found himself

Author Jessie Greengrass Credit: Andrew Eaton/Alamy

Fierce attachments in Jessie Greengrass’s The High House

Alex Peake-Tomkinson

Policy & Money

Photo: Susan Norwood/Alamy Stock Photo

Bottle the best of the Covid response—and then grasp the moment for change

Photo: Roger Garfield / Alamy Stock Photo

The NHS has faced a public health catastrophe—compounded by a decade of cuts

Photo: Ben Pipe / Alamy Stock Photo

When should investors “buy British”?

Photo: Guy Corbishley / Alamy Stock Photo

Policy report: as it emerges from its darkest hour, where does the NHS go next?

Photo: Panther Media GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

How justified is the hydrogen hype? What investors need to know

And Finally

Jackie Weaver: “I’ve read—and understood—the standing orders”

Prospect puzzle and crossword—June 2021

Much as we naysayers like to self-identify as realists, negativity saps our sense of agency and takes a toll on the soul. Illustration: Hannah Berry

Audacity of nope: How lockdown divided pessimists and optimists

Hephzibah Anderson