Editorial

An ugly election

Contributors

Steve Bloomfield is Prospect’s deputy editor.

Letters

Gaby Hinsliff’s article on “The end of the liberal

Inside Left: the meaning of the Corbyn movement

Win or lose the battle in December, a rising generation of socialists is digging in for a long war

What happens if we stop trusting elections?

Britain’s democracy faces its bleak midwinter

Whitehall prepares for the unknown

There will be no MPs to tread the corridors of the

Campaign in bad poetry—govern with the consequences

In his 1946 essay “The Constant Symbol,” Robert Frost

I am quitting as an MP—to spend more time on real politics

I never had a major life mission to become an MP. The

Impeachment and the president

It was a smug move by a confident reformer. On 23rd

Putting parliament in its place

In 2019, the study and practice of constitutional law

Parting company

The stark economic choice in the coming election can

Should we scrap Universal Credit?

YESThe conventional view is that Universal Credit (UC)

Pot-luck democracy

As Britain goes to the polls, the Belgians are experimenting with randomly-chosen representatives. Could they do any better?

The Returnees

Europe’s big idea on immigration is to send migrants home. But what happens when they get there?

Rebel with a cause

Ken Loach’s films about poverty in modern Britain are the most powerful of his career. Now in his eighties, the director is still taking the fight to anyone he sees as the enemy

Digging up the past

Gardening isn’t just a relaxing pastime—it’s a hugely profitable industry with deep roots in English history

Taming the beast

Harvey Weinstein’s fall shows it’s time to stop powerful men behaving badly.

Into the vortex

The final volume of Margaret Thatcher’s official biography is a brilliant Westminster drama but misses the European dimension, finds Anthony Teasdale

Crafted for contagion

The stories we spread about the economy have the power to shape it— for better or worse—in real life, finds Howard Davies

I dance, you watch

The extravagantly talented Mark Morris has a dashing lack of filter

Late readingwith Clive James

We thought his column had ended but Clive, like Frank Sinatra, can’t resist one more comeback. Here he reflects on M&S puddings, The Wire and getting Wittgenstein wrong

Books in brief

What makes a good prime minister? What does true leadership

Recommends

Emma Crichton-Miller

Prospectlife

Hephzibah Anderson

The wild frontier Wisdom of crowds

Every evening, as dusk soaks the sky, the starlings

In play Unscripted drama

At the end of Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, the robber

The Clapham Omnibus

by Hannah Berry

Classical musing Decoding art

There are lots of weird side benefits in having studied

Getting by The lure of loathing

I’ve never been much of a hater. In any disagreement

Policy report: infrastructure

Can we transform Britain’s transport networks?

Economics and investment

The analyst: Duncan Weldon Associate Economics Editor

Events

The Prospect Book Club usually meets every third Monday

The generalist by Didymus

Apart from 56A, the Across clues, and also 21 Down

Brief encounter

Brenda Hale