The strategy is: have no strategy

Editorial

As first the man in charge of negotiating Britain’s

Letters & opinions

Brexit does not inevitably lead to the breakup of the

Long walk of the dead woman

It took patience and some cunning for Theresa May to make it through two years in No 10

Russia’s poisonous designs

The events in Salisbury sound like a paranoid conspiracy, but they are a physical reality

Economics as if the Earth mattered

Even revisionist textbooks shrink from the obvious: growth cannot go on forever

Off the buses

We spend too much time worrying about trains. Buses are the real transport crisis

Growing comfort

A garden is an escape from the news cycle

A quiet revolution

Genuine change is coming to Ethiopia—from a surprising source

Falling heroes

Britain’s diminishing armed forces

Should big tech be broken up?

YES The online landscape is dominated by a handful

What starts if Brexit stops?

In the two years since the referendum, politics in

The Left road to remain

The way to stay in has to start by grappling with why so many wanted out. We need to put pay and conditions centre stage at home, and work with citizens across Europe to stand up against unfettered capitalism

How to stop the clock and stay in

In a Europe of rising populism it will not be easy, explains Nick Clegg, but the liberal centre should keep the faith

The pitfalls

What strikes me most about the Brexit discussions in

The prizes

We’re set to leave the EU at a moment of extraordinary

…and the things you didn’t see coming

Lacking any organised domestic opposition, Emmanuel

The Hersh reality

The strange story of how the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh came to echo Assad’s propaganda

UN-diplomatic

The UN’s human rights chief has had enough— and now he’s speaking out, writes Tom Fletcher

The ermine election

The House of Lords is even more absurd than you think

Where has all the sperm gone

Sperm counts have been decreasing for decades. Nobody seems to know why it’s happening, and not much is being done to find out, but we could be facing a public health disaster

Maestro in miniature

Musical prodigies are getting more common than ever. What does it take for a child to become a world-beater? And what are the chances of messing them up?

Parliamentary turmoil

Extracts from memoirs and diaries, chosen by Ian Irvine

The wrong catastrophe

Before 2008 some economists were warning of a looming crash—but when it came, it wasn’t the one they expected, discovers Duncan Weldon

Gilded gutter lives

Post-war British painters like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud are valued as much for their rackety lives as their artistic explorations, says Tanya Harrod

Great empire, little minds

Trump’s rise has deep roots in America’s mythology of itself, says Diane Roberts

When love dared to speak

Only in his supposedly lost last years was Oscar Wilde free to express his genius in his life, finds Alex Dean

Books in brief

The greatest issue of our time in political economy

Recommends

In 2013 the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

The grammar of sexism

If you think we have it hard when it comes to gender-inclusivity

The chef’s tale

On 20th June, World Refugee Day, I sat with Mohammad

Sweet success

A lot of people don’t like sweet wine—but not all sweet

Throwing good money after bad

Most people want to invest responsibly. Recent research

Q&A with Michael Gove

Michael Gove is determined to introduce a green strain into Conservatism, and the government has had some eye-catching wins with its environmental policies. But air pollution has not been addressed—and on the bigger subject of climate change how can Britain urge green reforms on much larger, dirtier, nations?

Policies for the planet?

Edmund Burke, that great Conservative inspiration,

Our poisoned air

Labour has always been the party of jobs and social

What can Britain do?

How unusual that the “environment” minister Michael

Events

The Prospect Book Club meets every third Monday of the month (excluding bank holidays) at 6.30pm at 2 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9AA. To book tickets please visit prospectmagazine.co.uk/events

The generalist by Didymus

1 Ancient Roman town buried by the eruption of Vesuvius

Enigmas & puzzles

Down at the World Cup wine bar, three friends Antwit

Brief encounter

A volcanic eruption that produced a landslide in Colombia