March 2016

March 2016 issue

Past issues

Essays

Karl Marx (left) and Friedrich Engels. Mccluskey accuses Marx of economic pessimism on Malthusian grounds

Relax, economic pessimists: the sky will not fall

Deirdre McCloskey

Jeremy Corbyn (right) with Gery Adams (centre) and Ken Livingstone, who had invited the Sinnn Fein vice president to London on behalf of the GLC in 1983. ©Rex Shutterstock

Jeremy Corbyn: the politician who never grew up

An anti-racist music festival in London ©Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Is Britain a racist country?

President Richard Nixon dines with Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier, and Zhang Chunqiao, the Shanghai Communist Party Leader, during his visit to China in 1972 ©History/Bridgeman Images

Does leadership matter?

Jacob Zuma in 2013 ©Pacific Press/Pacific Press via Zuma Wire/Rex Shutterstock

Jacob Zuma must fall

Cameron's EU deal is wafer thin, but that's not the point

John Springford & Simon Tilford

Philip Hammond interview: we must maintain our international standing on a reduced budget

A right-wing nationalist protestor walks with abolish flag during a far-right annual march that coincides with Poland's National Independence Day in Warsaw on 11th November 2014. ©Jane Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images

The new nationalism: Eastern Europe turns right

Anton Shekhovtsov & Peter Pomerantsev

©tec_estromberg

Sorry Robert Gordon, economic growth is not over

Anatole Kaletsky

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Paul Brown/REX Shutterstock (4743493p) Participants in the London Electric Run 2015 5K charity fun run in association with Breast Cancer Care Electric Run, London, Britain - 02 May 2015

Is the notion of a cure for cancer too simplistic?

Regulars

The Generalist by Didymus: issue 240

Physics professor, Lisa Randall, is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science and co-author of a recent paper that suggests dark matter may have played a role in the extinction of the dinosaurs. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

If I ruled the world: Lisa Randall

Duel: should all immigrants learn English?

Clare Foges & Oliver Kamm

Barbara Castle supported the "no" campaign at an Oxford Union debate ©Ray Roberts/Rex Shutterstock

The way we were: the 1975 Referendum

Puzzles and Enigmas by Barry R Clarke: issue 240

Opinions

File photo dated 02/05/15 of former Labour leader Ed Miliband unveiling Labour's pledges carved into a stone plinth in Hastings during the General Election campaigning, as the party is being investigated by the elections watchdog over its failure to submi

Ed Miliband is right and wrong about poverty

A bus drives past people lighting fireworks on a street during the Eve of Chinese New Year in Beijing, Sunday, 7th February 2016. ©Andy Wong/AP/Press Association Images

China's dead supermarkets

Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, before the CBS News Republican presidential debate at the Peace Center, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/John Baz

US politics has been bought by the super rich

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne poses with a group students from The High School Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, who are on a politics study trip to London, outside the Chancellors official London residence 11 Downing Street, Wednesday, J

How optimistic is Britain?

London's skyline ©David Holt

London, 2016: where people cling to prayer, not politics

"Lovelocks" attached to Pont des Arts bridge in Paris by couples. The bridge crosses the river Seine.

Valentine's Day: a classic example of benevolent sexism

Jessica Abrahams

Arts & Books

Book review: A Life of Thomas De Quincey by Frances Wilson

Madrid never sleeps: When Franco died the city came to life. ©Francisco Ubeda Llorente/Valentina Rios Moreno www.lefreak.cl. Instagram @lefreakschic

Javier Marias's game of mirrors in Madrid

Charismatic and intransigent: Pierre Boulez in 2004 ©Louis Monier/Bridgeman Images

Pierre Boulez's path to total purity

Book review: Independence or Union by TM Devine

Book review: The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehsi Coates

Book review: Their Promised Land: My Grandparents in Love and War by Ian Buruma

Book review: What Goes Around by Emily Chappell

Should we be dealing with the Saudis? President Barack Obama welcomes King Salman bin Abdelaziz Al Saud to the White House in 2015 ©Rex Shutterstock

The art of Realpolitik

Jonathan Powell

Book review: Thomas and Mary: A Love Story by Tim Parks

Anthony Cummins

Book review: The Fate of the Jews 1933-1949 by David Cesarani

Book review: And Yet... Essays by Christopher Hitchens

Jessica Abrahams

Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex is the greatest single work of existentialism, argues Andy Martin. ©ITV/Rex Shutterstock

What does it feel like to be dead?

Book review: Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Society and Culture

Irritations: the essence of married love

Hoping that you're wrong

Uruguay: the new word in wine

Paris: heaven on earth

Wendell Steavenson

A plumber mends a broken sink ©Lisa S/Shutterstock

A budget for the self-employed