Piano machine

Star of the small screen

Robert Hutton

How Brexit finally buried Thatcherism

Max Wind-Cowie

An atmosphere of sleaze, dishonesty and chaos

Dominic Grieve

Jeanette Winterson

Diary

The joy of lex

Sarah Ogilvie

STEPHEN COLLINS

How Starmer can fight back

Alan Lockey

How to fix the internet

Ethan Zuckerman

Wrong turn on rights

Ken Macdonald

Casting calls

Clerical life

Malala Yousafzai, Activist

Malala Yousafzai, Activist

GOOD COP BAD COP?

After the Glasgow climate summit it’s time to target the banks, argues Bill McKibben

SHARE and SHARE alike

Only 3 per cent of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated against Covid while Big Pharma runs up billions in profits. It’s time to waive patents, argues Sarah Boseley

BRITAIN’S DOOMED DREAM OF SPLENDID ISOLATION

As it struggles to re-invent itself, the UK has shown a cavalier disregard towards France. The former French ambassador to London warns that Boris Johnson will eventually have to think again

GENDER WARS

A lawyer and philosopher on opposite sides of the debate about trans and women’s rights respond to seven propositions—ranging from single-sex spaces to puberty blockers for children

The TOPPLING of an editor

Geordie Greig was hired to produce a kinder, gentler version of arguably the most influential paper in Britain. Then he was brutally sacked. Jane Martinson investigates what just happened—and why Boris Johnson will be relieved

POISONED BY ASPIC

The organisation remains much loved and relatively uncowed by the culture wars. But it is being strangled by patronising conformity and needs to re-imagine its role

March of the PHALLOCRACY

The redevelopment around Nine Elms has pioneered a new model for the destruction of London as we know it

The ecstasy of SANCTIMONY

The old order of “decent discourse” is dying . But we still need the antiquated virtue of tolerance. Fintan O’Toole looks at the warriors who want to make cancel culture a blood sport

Ostracised, disinvited, rescinded. Examples and responses

Cast out Kate Clanchy speaks of the unbearable

GEN Z, EXPLAINED

In touch with their emotions and extremely online—how the youngest are coming of age

To Zoom or not to Zoom

Lockdown forced performances to go online in innovative ways. Can they keep going?

Birth of the anti-hero

Two hundred years after his birth, Dostoyevsky’s powerful dramas of good contending with evil still reverberate in our own turbulent times

A hunger for love and thought

Patricia Highsmith’s journals paint an unguarded portrait of the author of “Strangers on a Train”

Complex persecution

Is Christianity in the Middle East really doomed to extinction?

Broken promises

Damon Galgut’s Booker-winning novel charts the cruel legacy of South African apartheid in a bold, cinematic style

The allure of ooze

Slime plays a vitally important role in our lives, from biology to cutting-edge technology

In praise of the pragmatic

Richard Rorty thought we should all take our beliefs less seriously—especially politicians

Books in brief

Free by Lea Ypi (Penguin, £20) Following the

Revolutionary roads

One hundred years ago musicians like Béla Bartók broke the mould. Can today’s composers do the same?

Streams of consciousness

Twitch allows you to watch other people play video games, draw or even sleep. What’s the appeal?

Modernism for the masses

Channel 4’s film coverage held a mirror up to a diverse 1980s Britain—and offered a map to a new self

Solving the longevity puzzle

Increasing life expectancy was one of the greatest achievements of the last century—but it’s also brought new challenges. It’s time for governments to address them, writes Jay Elwes

Old, grey—and just getting started

The definition of what counts as “old age” has changed, but retirement hasn’t. A new approach to work will ensure we adapt to a future in which many of us can expect to live longer— and more fulfilling—lives

Education in later life Old dogs and new tricks

Our education system is based on the premise that old people don’t learn as effectively as the young. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, writes David Willetts

Housing Beyond bricks and balance sheets

What happens when an ageing population collides with a housing crisis? That’s a question our policymakers need to start taking seriously, writes Helen Barnard

Squaring the ageing circle

At the same time as all of us can expect to live longer, the working-age population is set to dwindle. Overcoming this shift will be essential to maintaining our quality of life, writes George Magnus

A future fit for longer living

Much of our society remains stuck in 20th-century norms. The time is now to make better use of living longer, writes Catherine Foot

Doing away with age-old myths

Older people have a wealth of experience to offer the workplace. It’s time to put aside ageist stereotypes and learn from them, writes Sarah Harper

A global challenge

The charts make it all too clear. The

No money for old rope

Preserving property values has deprived our social care of a valuable source of funds. But a better understanding of the system might go a long way to changing that, writes James Kirkup

Too much paper work

Excessive risk management has stifled returns on private sector pensions. More needs to be done to ensure everyone can expect a stress-free retirement, writes Robin Ellison

Social care Remembering what’s important

The debate on ageing is dominated by the costs of services. What we really need is a return to fundamental values, writes Rachael Maskell

Sublime vulgarity

Georgia Pritchett

Daddy issues

Jeremy O Harris

His island story

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Rapid rescue remedy

Helena Kennedy

Sublime games

Sporting life

Quitting my first job

Young life

A psychosis pandemic

Mindful life

I sniffed the soil… and I liked it

Farming life

Seeking asylum in a divided Britain

Displaced life

How do I start a new life at 89?

Long life

Letters

Shift happens Pivots are uncomfortable. We are in

Escape the echo chamber…

Welcome to this New Year issue of Prospect.

Contributors

Sarah Boseley was named health journalist of the

The Generalist by Didymus

Can you complete the grid?

History

Far from seeking to abolish history, critical reexaminations

Lives

Three years after his death, Philip Roth still

Ideas

When Covid closed everything down, governments had to

Politics & Reportage

Politicians might have failed us during the pandemic