Borderland

If you tried to explain to a Martian why countries

Letters

Your piece on the UK’s failures in managing the pandemic

Tax

You won’t repair a broken economy without taxing the rich more. This is how to do it, says James K Galbraith

QAnon

An unhinged conspiracy leapt from a wacky corner of the internet to the seat of democracy. Emily Lawford explains how

In fact

All the coronavirus in the world could fit inside a Coca-Cola can, with plenty of room to spare.

Lawyers and their consciences

That everyone is entitled to legal advice is a proposition

Salvation by Banker

A new technocratic government will only deepen the crisis of Italian democracy, says Lucia Rubinelli

…And thanks for all the fish

What exactly does Britain’s “so long” to the European Union mean for the average fisherman, asks David McAllister

The Duel

Is the pandemic killing God?

Break-up Britain

All the lurking existential questions about the future of our kingdom are about to burst into the open

J’Accuse…!

How Emmanuel Macron is crushing the French liberalism he promised

RIP PLC

The rise and fall of the listed company, and where-for better or worse-private equity will lead business next

How is Brexit for you?

A couple of months after Britain finally took its great leap into the unknown, many businesses are still waiting to see where they will land. Others fear they have lost their footing for good

Island Apart

Brexit correspondent Lisa O’Carroll distils a few of the post-Brexit bumps facing individual British firms that she has investigated for the Guardian

We reap what we sow

Industrial farming has fed the world. But as it destroys our ecology, it runs into diminishing returns. Brexit Britain has a rare chance to rewrite the rules-but only if we can find the will to seize it

Facts on the ground

Israel may, for now, have backed off from the outright annexation of Palestinian land it has occupied for half a century. But it is burying any hope for a negotiated peace in concrete and tarmac

Present imperfect

Homeschooling parents are discovering how much time in class is taken up with educational jargon. When did the National Curriculum become so rigid?

Out of the cage

Filmmaker Adam Curtis says the tyranny of state control has led to the hollowing out of democracy

The myth of civilisation

Dividing the world into the civilised and the barbarians is no way to understand the appalling destruction of Palmyra

Pigeon

Most people will walk past these birds without a thought. But some of their abilities far outstrip our own, writes Cal Flyn

Electric dreams, revisited

Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel is narrated by a robot companion who looks after a sick teenager. But the real drama is at the edge of the story, finds Miranda France

Back to basics

After decades of domination by free-market thinking, conservative parties are finding electoral success by emphasising stability and order, writes David Willetts

The mind of God

A new biography of Stephen Hawking argues the iconic physicist was shamelessly self-promoting and his reputation overrated, finds Philip Ball

Books in brief

Law in a Time of Crisis by Jonathan Sumption (Profile

Recommends

Academy of Ancient Music, West Road, Cambridge, 14th

Economics and investment

Starting with the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s, bubbles

Policy report: Trade

For a newly independent Britain, the challenges of international commerce now go beyond economics

The generalist by Didymus

Last month’s solutions. Across: 1 Maenad, 4 Tripoli

Enigma & puzzles Strawberries and crime

Professor Neuron and his nephew Trifle have been out

Capital letters

The pandemic has unlocked the forgotten delights of the handwritten note

Brief encounter

Val McDermid, Author