Where the wild things were

Tim Winton

One of Australia's leading novelists discovers grounds for optimism in the country with the world's worst mammal extinction record

A narrower Atlantic

Peter Baldwin

The idea that America and Europe are fundamentally different is a myth

 Comment (7)

The great Dalit hope

Meghnad Desai

Mayawati, political queen of the untouchables, could become her country's next prime minister. But what does her unlikely rise tell us about the new India?

The rise and rise of the corporation

The era of "privatised Keynsianism" is over—and many of the big corporations that drove it are discredited. But in Britain, at least, those corporations will emerge even stronger, there is no other source of economic power

Letter from Israel

Joy Lo Dico

A few months ago I was in London marching against the Gaza war. Now I am in Israel witnessing Remembrance day and Independence day—when even the hippies get patriotic

Madame Bovary goes interactive

Brigid Grauman

Thanks to an unprecedented international collaboration between scholars and volunteers, we can now trace the development of Flaubert's masterpiece online, draft by draft

Martin Amis: will he return to form?

Tom Chatfield

Will the next ten months see Britain's most controversial novelist finally return to his best?

Why I didn’t vote ANC

Like many white liberals I loyally backed the party of Mandela. But Jacob Zuma is a step too far

Those were the days

The three 1970s governments are remembered as uniquely incompetent. They weren't

The eastern shock

Europe's east is less homogenous than it looks—but is united in financial and political worries

The nuclear option

A nuclear revival might stop climate change. But it can revive British manufacturing too

Videotaping the universe

Astronomy has big ambitions. Soon its new telescopes will stretch across continents

In possession of all the facts

No one melds history, drama and ideas with more panache than AS Byatt. So it's a shame that her latest novel leaves readers so little to do other than admire

Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn: a New York miniature

William Skidelsky

Costa Book award winner Colm Tóibín has achieved something remarkable

Is inequality to blame for all social ills?

There is a growing academic and even political consensus about how damaging inequality, not just poverty, can be. But things may not be as simple as they seem

This month: the way we were

Three extracts from political diaries, compiled by Ian Irvine

Performance notes

The Proms are a magnificent institution and rightly celebrate diversity. But this must not come at the cost of the core classical tradition

Widescreen

The editing of films is both a science and an art—and one of the most powerful keys we have for unlocking cinema's secrets

The life & opinions of Julian Gough

There's no energy crisis. Energy is all around us: above, below and in the Earth's very air. And I have just the plan to harness it

Washington watch

Nancy Pelosi has a plan to pin the blame for the financial crisis firmly on the Republicans. Plus, win a day with Bill Clinton

Brussels diary

The June EU elections may give a boost to Blair's chances of being EU president. That is, if he's willing to discover his socialist roots

Sporting life

Moving the IPL cricket competition to South Africa is proof of the weakness of the Indian polity and the verve of its business class

Lab report

Erasing bad memories sounds like something from science fiction. Yet treatments exist and new research may improve them still further

Letter from Paris

The French do mass demonstration very well. The manif is the closest this lapsed Catholic society gets to the rapture of Mass

Letters

prospect

Prospect recommends…

prospect

Dr Pangloss

Brian Eno

A living art reborn

Only Connect

Danny Kruger

Seeking peace in prison

A matter of facts

Stephen Nickell

The simple business of losing a trillion

Enigmas & puzzles

Ian Stewart

Holy petunias