The prying profiteers

Only two decades ago, when Google was founded, the

Serving time

Chris Tilbury is right to draw readers’ attention to

It’s the democracy, stupid

Adam Posen’s cardinal error in his gloomy prognostication

The truth shall be ignored

Alan Johnson (“The Orwellian eye,” January) writes

Brown’s legacy

Jonathan Freedland captured Gordon Brown’s character

Disrupt economics

I enjoyed your look at different aspects of the future

Applying the brakes

Dani Rodrik reminds us that globalisation is not some

Lost-in-hyphenation

May I join the hordes of pedants emailing to say that

How the NHS will die

In the explosion of “self-pay” procedures, we are witnessing the beginning of the end

Reclaim the streets

If public spaces are privately owned, where can we protest?

Confessions of a cosmopolitan

There is no need to shut up about difference—but we should talk more about what we have in common

How shrinks can grow our politics

Psychoanalysis can help us make sense of tyranny

The slow road to Jerusalem

On your way to the holy city, there is one snack that you must buy

Les misérables

The French have many reasons to be cheerful—and yet they’re not

Can trophy hunting ever be justified?

YES It’s the naked hypocrisy of it all that is the

Web of spies

Five corporate giants have captured the open space of the internet. Two, Google and Facebook, have created an entirely new surveillance capitalism. But we’re too hooked to care

Life in the slow lane

Axing net neutrality will make some sites sluggish, and speed up corporate capture

Ballot bots

They’re real, they’re over here and they’re spreading poison.

Policing the net

Beijing is estimated to pay over a quarter of a million

Death by a thousand clicks

Removing the old gatekeepers has left culture in the hands of Big Tech

The opponent

At the end of last year, he saved the prime minister. In 2018, he holds the fate of the whole country in his hands. So it’s probably a good time to pay the Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, a little attention, suggests Christine Ockrent

Decline and fall

As elections loom in March, Italy has reached the point where the return of

WHO WERE ISLAMIC STATE?

Mosul is liberated. But there is no end to the suffering of its citizens, many of whom are now falling victim to collective punishment

Unorthodox diplomacy

Churchmen in Moscow and London are negotiating far more effectively than their governments. But are they doing God’s work, or Putin’s?

Touch of evil

In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, once admired male writers, actors and filmmakers have been disgraced. Can we still love the work of artists whose behaviour we loathe?

Today’s Manufacturing Workforce Challenge

Talented people are the backbone of every successful business. As the UK faces up to potentially dramatic changes in its economic landscape and the risks and opportunities that flow from new technologies, it has never been more important for manufacturing companies to have access to a sustainable supply of recruits with the right skills and to develop their current workforce with the skills necessary to translate business strategy into the healthy returns that fuel our prosperity.

Sexual predation in America

Extracts from memoirs and diaries, chosen by Ian Irvine

Amazing adventures

Kapow! Comics and graphic novels have never been more creative—and even academics are falling under their spell, argues Kim O’Connor

The great game lost

Britain’s 13-year-long war in Afghanistan was a saga of misadventure and miscalculation against an enemy we never knew, says Ahmed Rashid

Raging bull

Donald Trump’s reckless and gossip-addicted biographer is a perfect match for his subject, finds Sam Tanenhaus

Debt and gratitude

An ex-minister’s love letter to universities offers an optimistic verdict, finds Howard Davies

Books in brief

In his new book, Wounds, the veteran BBC correspondent

Recommends

In 1944 the sculptor Naum Gabo argued that abstract

Leith on language

“Do you have an ice cream?”my wife asked the guy in

Life of the mind

“I am going to have to sack him, but I know everyone

Matters of taste

I got up at 3am on a wet December morning in Paris

Wine

There’s a renewed enthusiasm among winemakers for blending.

DIY investor

As the end of the financial year comes into view, better

TRADE MUST COME FIRST

Ten steps to promote trade and increase exports:

Special report: Transport

Fares are rising, and Britain is gridlocked, putting travel on the political agenda as

TRANSPORT FOR THE NORTH

A Strategic Transport Plan to Transform

Prospect events

Join us at our Book Clubs, talks and debates

The generalist by Didymus

1 Bagatelle in A Minor for piano; the autographed score

Adder revelation

Mr and Mrs Sum were sitting on the patio, chatting

How to enter

The winner receives a copy of White King: Charles I—Traitor

Brief encounter

Novelist