October 2021

October 2021 issue

The future of western power after Afghanistan, how to build a feminist foreign policy, and could the Green Party be the new progressive force in left wing politics? Plus, the dark work of artist Paula Rego, the chaos of England's exam system, Sally Ro...

Past issues

© Hayley Warnham

World

Nemesis: Why the west was doomed to lose in Afghanistan

And why it could be doomed for good—unless we learn from this catastrophic occupation unmoored from reality

Up Front

Illustration by Ian Morris

How to fix the NHS backlog

Signs protesting Critical Race Theory in Virginia. Photo: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

What you need to know about critical race theory

The Prospect editorial—Foreign fields and home truths

Letters: October 2021

Gove and Sunak. “The Cabinet still contains biggish beasts, with to-do lists to match.” PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Boris Johnson’s Cabinet is more heavyweight than you think

Stephen Collins’s cartoon: A new colleague

Stephen Collins

Jami mosque in Herat, Afghanistan in 2011. Credit: Alamy

Herat is the cultural heart of Afghanistan. Can it survive the Taliban?

In data: the changing face of trade unionism

David McAllister

Xi Jinping boards a destroyer in Shandong Province on the Yellow Sea. Photo: Xinhua / Alamy Stock Photo

The duel: Is China now the enemy?

Jonathan Eyal & Anatol Lieven

Essays

© Hayley Warnham

Nemesis: Why the west was doomed to lose in Afghanistan

Abandoned: the image of a woman at a beauty salon in Kabul, after the city fell to the Taliban in August. © Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

Towards a real feminist foreign policy

Jessica Abrahams

The world’s top 50 thinkers 2021: the winner

Tom Clark & Sameer Rahim & Philip Ball

Illustrations by Priya Mistry

Failing the test: the perversity of England's exams

Meet Ben Houchen, the unlikely mayor remaking Teesside—and the Tory party

Sebastian Payne

© SASCHA STEINBACH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The growth of green politics

Critical Thinkng

The allergy epidemic: is a cure on the way?

© Paula Rego The Dance 1988. Tate © Paula Rego

Paula Rego unflinchingly channels the anger of her times

Illustration by Kate Hazell

What it’s like to be a moth

Arts & Books

Psychic cover: Sebald, aged 22 in Manchester, with a waste paper basket over his head © Reinbert Tabbert

The arrival of the enigma: WG Sebald

Benjamin Markovits

Sort of desultory: Sally Rooney at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2017 © Pako Mera/Alamy Stock Photo

The banality of Sally Rooney

On the wane: council housing on the outskirts of Aberystwyth. ©Keith Moss/Alamy stock photo

Exposed: the frontline of the housing crisis

© Paula Rego The Dance 1988. Tate © Paula Rego

Paula Rego unflinchingly channels the anger of her times

Saved by the bankers

A gripping account of a life’s conclusion

Alex Peake-Tomkinson

In the rearview mirror: a history of the car

Zoe Apostolides

An optimistic vision for societal reform

A welcome return to democratic first principles

The best television in the UK this month

The best films in the UK this autumn

Drs Chris and Xand

The best new podcasts in the UK this month

Charlotte Runcie

Opera North's Carmen

The best classical and opera in the UK this month

Alexandra Coghlan

Policy & Money

Photo: Jennifer Mason / Alamy Stock Photo

Are fears of “stagflation” justified?

Photo: Stephen Barnes/Business / Alamy Stock Photo

The pitfalls of property investment

Photo: Reeldeal Images / Alamy Stock Photo

How to feel at home in the new normal of working life

And Finally

Boomers, Zoomers and Millennials might be noisier—but don't overlook Gen X

Hephzibah Anderson

© Illustration by Nick Taylor

David Hare: “I was twice asked to be on Strictly Come Dancing”

Prospect puzzle and crossword—October 2021