October 2019

October 2019 issue

Britain has spent three years refusing to face up to Brexit reality—in a new exclusive essay, Peter Foster goes behind the scenes of the fiasco. Plus: Wendell Steavenson on HS2 and Prospect's 2019 Top Thinkers revealed.

Past issues

Essays

© NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON, PAINTING COURTESY TERESA SMITH

How the untimely death of RG Collingwood changed the course of philosophy forever

Why there's more to the anti-vaxxing narrative than meets the eye

Illustration by Michelle Thompson.

Prospect world's top thinkers, 2019: the top ten

Prospect's World Top Thinker 2019, Caucher Birkar. Photo: Prospect composite

Top thinker Caucher Birkar talks maths, migration—and how his older brother taught him calculus

Jordan Peterson was one of the figures readers said we'd missed. Photo: PA

The world's top thinkers 2019: who we missed

What went wrong? What might have gone differently? And just how grave is the outlook if we do crash out? Photo: Prospect

Fiasco: the inside story of the Brexit talks

Illustration: Tim McDonagh

Fixer or fighter? Inside the political personality of Len McCluskey

Donald Macintyre

A costly folly—or a vital infrastructure project? The inside story of HS2. Photo: Prospect composite

The waiting room: is there a future for HS2?

Wendell Steavenson

Springtime for Weimar: Eduard Thony’s 1921 depiction of German decadence. Photo: © Granger/Shutterstock

Britain’s Reichstag Fire moment

Richard J Evans

Regulars

Editorial—A democracy in crisis

Caroline Lucas, illustrated by Nick Taylor.

Caroline Lucas: "Supporting calls for a referendum was the biggest mistake of my political life."

the crowd gathers before the awards in parliament’s Churchill Room

Think Tank Awards 2019—the full results

Alex Dean & Prospect Team

Economics and investment report: the uncertainty principle

Photo: Ting Shen/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

Economics and investment report: finding shelter in a currency storm

Cyber resilience—Prospect’s new supplement

Letters: October 2019

The duel: is praying a waste of time?

Oliver Kamm and Dawn Foster

In data: How Britain's anxiety over fake news skyrocketed

The Prospect puzzle and crossword: October 2019

Hannah Berry's cartoon: test results

Click to enlarge

Stephen Collins's cartoon: a different perspective on the tech dystopia

Stephen Collins

Opinions

The European Court of Human Rights. The European Convention. Photo: Rainer Jensen/DPA/PA Images

The UK is complicit in torture

At the current rate of progress, the UK will not reach net zero before 2099

Climate report: we need a Green Industrial Revolution

Rebecca Long-Bailey

Climate report: it’s time to decarbonise capitalism

Students in Port Talbot celebrate their A-Level results. Photo: © GARETH EVERETT/HUW EVANS PICTURE/SHUTTERSTOCK

The university admissions system doesn’t make the grade

England's Jack Leach and Ben Stokes (right) celebrate victory during day four of the third Ashes Test match. Photo: PA

The best way to sum up the joy of cricket? Politicians don't have to pretend to like it

Photo: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire/PA Images

Life-long learning: how to tool up modern Britain

The case for a life-long learning guarantee

The indignity of a pacer train. Photo; Richard Woodward/PA Wire/PA Images

Northern transport: everyday improvements matter as much as fast new lines

Boris Johnson's Conservatives are likely to enjoy the greatest Conservative majority since 1987. Photo: Rui Vieira/PA Wire/PA Images

Northern transport: correcting a shameful London bias

Kevin Hollinrake

Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Archive/PA Images

Trade report: seize every opportunity available

Photo: SOPA Images/SIPA USA/PA Images

Trade report: new deals can boost every corner of the UK

A customer raises a glass to Barack Obama during a celebration in 2008. Photo: PA

Are we seeing the death of political optimism?

Chamber of Commerce presentation of the book Putin Vita of a Tsar with Matteo Salvini. Photo: PA

How Matteo Salvini became Putin’s man in Europe

A person wearing a Boris Johnson 'head' digs a mock grave outside Downing Street. Photo: PA

Those who seek to reform our democracy should learn from one particular example

Arts & Books

Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great, Criminal Justice and the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin—top television programmes for October

A scrap-work screen by William Macready and Charles Dickens. Photo: Josie Elias, National Galleries of Scotland.

How the art of collage is making a comeback

Emma Crichton-Miller

From Blood Wedding to the Last King of Scotland, the theatre to book now for October

Michael Coveney

Ear Hustle is a compelling insight into the workings of San Quentin State Prison.

Ear Hustle—and other podcasts to try now

Charlotte Runcie

From Judy to Monos, the new films to look out for this October

Orpheus and Eurydice at the ENO.

It's Orpheus Season! The best classical music to book now for October

Alexandra Coghlan

Peter Suschitzky with Girl at a Window.

From Nam June Paik to Rembrandt's Amsterdam: the best art exhibitions to book for October

Emma Crichton-Miller

Colson Whitehead in 2011

What the Nickel Boys saw

Anthony Cummins

Crusaders in a wood from rusaders in flight in a wood. Image taken from the 14th century Chroniques de France ou de St Denis

A compelling take on the Crusades—from religious eccentrics to homicidal maniacs

Amitav Ghosh returns to the Sundarbans in Gun Island, his latest novel. Photo: © Zvonimir Atleti, Alamy Stock Photo

Can fiction take on climate change?

A protest in Ramallah again Donald Trump's peace plan Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

The agonies and consolations of being Palestinian

Matt Rowland Hill

One of Nussbaum's heroes—Adam Smith Source: Wikipedia

Cosmopolitanism sounds good in theory, but can it work?

Maria Ressa, who runs the Rappler online news website in Jakarta John Nacion/starmaxinc.com/Starmax/PA Images

On the frontline of the war on truth

Boris Johnson and his cabinet © Aaron Chown/PA Wire/PA Images

What every cabinet minister needs to know

Emmy Noether and Galileo's discoveries broke ground in mapping how maths corresponds to the Universe. Photo: Science History/Alamy Stock Photo, SSPL & Getty Images

Can maths predict the universe?

Benjamin Moser's new biography seems irritated that its storied subject hasn't lived up to the 'good life'. Photo: TT News Agency/Press Association Images

Making monsters out of molehills: reading the life of Susan Sontag

Lisa Appignanesi

Society and Culture

Illustration by Kate Hazell

Rituals, OCD and a trip to Luxembourg: how my friend conquered one of his greatest fears

Cathy Rentzenbrink

The way we were: the arrival of autumn

Flowery language: decoding the classical origins of botanical terms

Charlotte Higgins

“I felt a freedom I’ve never felt before”. Illustration by Kate Hazell

Riding the Colorado Trail, I began to see the point of living an ultralight life

Gareth Bale playing for Real Madrid. Photo: Carlos Sanchez Martinez/Zuma Press/PA Images

The curious science of sports salaries

Benjamin Markovits

"Neither of my parents has ever managed to buy." Illustration by Kate Hazell

What happens to family life when so many parents can only rent, not buy?

Hephzibah Anderson