May 2015

May 2015 issue

A jumble of promises, Hollande's golden boy, the roots of IS, Clive James on acting and what we should really do about inequality

Past issues

Essays

General election 2015: are the upstart parties here to stay?

Has Narendra Modi cleaned up India?

Fading from view

Emmanuel Macron: "He has skilfully climbed into the upper echelons of the French system, making very few enemies along the way." © Lemouton Stephane/ABACA/Press Association Images

Can this man save France?

Christine Ockrent

What does Britain need from the next five years?

Skyscrapers in London's Canary Wharf business district rise above a neighbouring housing estate. © Bloomberg/Getty

What we should really do about inequality

Marlon Brando before and after make-up for his role as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. © Paramount Pictures and other respective Production Studios and Distributors.

Serious face, centre stage

Regulars

If I ruled the world: Steven Berkoff

© Vin Ganapathy

Short story: A Mistake

The generalist by Didymus

Harold Wilson at No 10 in 1964, during his first stint as Prime Minister. © George Freston/Stringer/Getty

The way we were: polling day

Enigmas and Puzzles by Barry R Clarke

In this month's Prospect: the politics of the cash register

Opinions

Psychosis: when young people hear voices

Nigeria's most recent election was "an instance of an election revealing something good." © Sunday Alamba/AP/Press Association Images

When honesty is the best policy

The Ark Royal carrier (pictured) faced the "immediate" axe in cost-cutting measures announced by PM David Cameron and was decommissioned in 2011. © Sang Tan/AP/Press Association Images

Defence spending must be a priority

Richard Dearlove

David Cameron and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in 10 Downing Street in June 2014. © Facundo Arrizabalaga/AP/Press Association Images

How China really sees us

Gordon Brown's portrait in 10 Downing Street, slightly below Blair's. © Dan Kitwood/PA Archive/Press Association Images

What if... Gordon Brown had called an election in 2007?

©Sandy Young/PA Archive/Press Association Images

General election 2015: We're happier than you think

Arts & Books

Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, leader of IS. © Balkis Press/ABACA/Press Association Images

The roots of Islamic State

Philip Glass: the popular radical

Alexandra Coghlan

American novelist Saul Bellow, centre, receives his Nobel Prize in Literature from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf in Stockholm on Dec. 10, 1976. © Peter Knapp/AP/Press Association Images

Saul Bellow's women problem

Sarah Churchwell

American novelist Saul Bellow, centre, receives his Nobel Prize in Literature from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf in Stockholm on Dec. 10, 1976. © Peter Knapp/AP/Press Association Images

Saul Bellow's women problem

Sarah Churchwell

A modern view of the Easter Rising in 1916: Things Remembered, Things Forgotten (Metempsychosis), 2005, by Daniel Clarke

Portrait of Ireland as a young nation

Marlon Brando before and after make-up for his role as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. © Paramount Pictures and other respective Production Studios and Distributors.

Serious face, centre stage

Book review: Do It Like a Woman by Caroline Criado-Perez

Jessica Abrahams

Book review: The Challenge of Things: Thinking Through Troubled Times by AC Grayling

Jonathan Derbyshire

Book review: God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

Anthony Cummins

Book review: Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble by Antony Beevor

Book review: The Vital Question: Why is Life the Way it is? by Nick Lane

Society and Culture

If I ruled the world: Steven Berkoff

Fading from view

Psychosis: when young people hear voices

In this month's Prospect: the politics of the cash register