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  • Issue #249, December 2016

December 2016 issue of Prospect Magazine (#249)

Features

Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Alan Greenspan: prophet and loss
Martin Sandbu / November 17, 2016
With Greenspan and the economy, a lot of knowledge proved to be a dangerous thing
A driverless car in a pedestrianised area of Milton Keynes, the UK's testing ground for autonomous electric vehicles © Ben Cawthra/Rex/Shutterstock
The driverless car delusion
Christian Wolmar / November 17, 2016
Self-driving cars are a distraction from a transport policy that puts people first. So...
Michel Barnier in 2015 ©Wiktor Dabkowski/DPA/PA Images
The Brexit Brokers
Uta Staiger, Nicholas Wright / November 17, 2016
Meet the people who will deal the cards that could seal Britain's fate—on Europe's...
henryviii
Brexit, the backstory: how Great Britons would have voted in the referendum
Various / November 16, 2016
Poets, princes and an island apart
Protestors set up a mock customs checkpoint on the border crossing road at Londonderry-Donegal frontier to protest against Brexit and the impact it will have on Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland © George Sweeney / Alamy Live News
British exit, Irish wound
Ruth Dudley Edwards / November 16, 2016
The border dividing Northern Ireland from the South has been a problem for years. If it...
Sexually ambiguous "hi-res" have a special status within Indian culture © Nurphoto/Nurphoto via Getty Images
The line between male and female has always been clouded
Andrew Dickson / November 15, 2016
The question of "trans" is at the heart of a new culture war. But if we look at the box...
gettyimages-459588130_web
Spin and death in Raqqa
James Harkin / November 15, 2016
In Syria's war, perception is everything. There is no objective reality—except the...
United States President Barack Obama and US President-elect Donald Trump shake hands after meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on November 10, 2016. ©Ron Sachs/DPA/PA Images
America loses its ardour
Martin Woollacott / November 14, 2016
For better or worse, the US has led the world. Trump threatens to change that
Page one of the original copy of the US constitution
Will the constitution hold Trump back?
Adam Tomkins / November 11, 2016
Individual states might resist him, but in Washington he will have great power
You're hired: Trump's image projected on the Empire State Building on the night of his election victory ©Smith/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock/
Donald Trump's America: Welcome to the void
Sam Tanenhaus / November 10, 2016
Trump is a born campaigning demagogue. But will he be too lazy to rule?

Opinions

rome
View from Italy: A continent confronts the ballot box. Again
Bill Emmott / November 18, 2016
Matteo Renzi has put Italy's future—and that of the euro—at stake in a referendum
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - JULY 15: Prime Minister Theresa May meets with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the steps of Bute House on July 15, 2016 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Prime Minister flew in for Brexit talks with the First Minister, and is expected to express that she wants the Scottish Government to play a key role in negotiations with the EU.  (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Ukip: partied out
David Runciman / November 17, 2016
You can sometimes get what you want—but if you do, expect trouble
Brexit Secretary David Davis ©Mark Marlow/PA Wire/PA Images
A hard Brexit will spell hard times
Philippe Legrain / November 16, 2016
The belief that the UK can go it alone defies economics, geography and the law
Chancellor Philip Hammond ©Chris Radburn/PA Wire/PA Images
The "just managing" need deeds, not words
Laura Gardiner / November 15, 2016
What the Autumn Statement should say
©Sergei Karpukhin/AP/Press Association Images
The art of dealing with Trumpski
Mary Dejevsky / November 14, 2016
Putin spies an opportunity for some sorely-needed conversations
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. © Paul Sancya/AP/Press Association Images
Trump: a preposterous answer to a serious grievance
Thomas Frank / November 14, 2016
By grappling with class, however crudely, the President-elect has smashed a smug...
President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania walks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016 ©Molly Riley/AP/Press Association Images
Donald Trump: Grabber in chief
Diane Roberts / November 11, 2016
Trump's contempt for women is astonishing. Decades of progress are now at stake

Regulars

© Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images
If I ruled the world: Susan Greenfield
Susan Greenfield / November 17, 2016
Re-introduce Classics
theatre_web
Prospect recommends: The best theatre this month
Michael Coveney / November 17, 2016
The shows to see
art_web
Prospect recommends: The best art this month
Emma Crichton-Miller / November 17, 2016
Robert Rauschenberg, Joan Eardley and Zaha Hadid
science_web
Prospect recommends: The best science exhibitions this month
Anjana Ahuja / November 17, 2016
"Prepare to have your perceptions challenged and your brain fooled"
Source: Department of Health, NHS Improvement
Speed Data: Will the NHS fall off a cliff this winter?
John Appleby / November 17, 2016
The General Medical Council has warned a crunch is coming, and polls suggest the public...
opera_web
Prospect recommends: The best opera this month
Neil Norman / November 17, 2016
The must-see performances
classical_web
Prospect recommends: The best classical music this month
Alexandra Coghlan / November 17, 2016
"You know the soloist is special when the Royal Opera’s music director Antonio Pappano...
film_web
Prospect recommends: The best films this month
Francine Stock / November 17, 2016
Our writer's top picks
fbawm1_web
The Way We Were: Presidential Transition in a Divided United States
Ian Irvine / November 17, 2016
Extracts from memoirs and diaries
©David Levenson/Getty Images
Brief Encounter: Antony Beevor
Prospect Team / November 16, 2016
The historian answers 12 questions
Dec_Cover_v3.indd
Foreword: December 2016—Trump feeds on despair. Don't surrender to it.
Tom Clark / November 16, 2016
Our Editor warns of the dangers of Trump—but also the dangers of reacting against him...
dec_duel_web
The Duel: Should parliament have a binding vote on the terms of Brexit?
Ed Miliband, Michael Gove / November 11, 2016
Two contributors battle it out

Arts & Books

2201747-2_web
Rowan Williams's tragic mistake
Edith Hall / November 17, 2016
How can Rowan Williams reconcile his Christianity with the Greek tragic vision?
boots-on-ground
Books in brief: Boots on the Ground
Saul David / November 17, 2016
"As recently as 1992 the size of the British Army was 145,000; now it is just 82,000"
home-and-away
Books in brief—Home and Away: Writing the Beautiful Game
Chris Tilbury / November 17, 2016
"This is not your average book about football"
autumn
Books in brief: Autumn
Anthony Cummins / November 17, 2016
"Perhaps part of the reason she was able to write this novel about Brexit so soon after...
reality-not-what-seems
Books in brief: Reality is Not What it Seems
Manjit Kumar / November 17, 2016
Physicist Rovelli is a charming, thought-provoking tour guide as he takes us on “a...
the-marches
Books in brief: The Marches
Charlotte Runcie / November 17, 2016
Rory Stewart’s theme is borders
other-air-force
Books in brief: The Other Air Force
David Patrikarakos / November 17, 2016
If Middle Eastern countries can accept free-market “soft power” ideas, they may...
new-book-snobs
Books in brief: The New Book of Snobs
Lucinda Smyth / November 17, 2016
DJ Taylor—who calls himself a "snobographer"—has an enjoyable, lively style
In Saki's works, epicene young men or wild beasts shake up the stifling complacency around them © Pictoral Press ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Untameable Saki
Fatema Ahmed / November 16, 2016
One hundred years after Saki's death in the Great War, his stories are still wickedly...
9781509837199kind-of-blue
Books in brief—Kind of Blue: A Political Memoir
Alex Dean / November 16, 2016
"Clarke doesn’t just come across as thick-skinned; he is resolutely unreflective"
Alan Johnson petitioning Downing Street with Hull trawler men ©Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson, the unfashionable pragmatist
Michael White / November 15, 2016
A politician more interested in striking deals than posturing? He belongs to another age
©Adam Beitcher/Getty Images
Dylan defies all categories—musically and politically
Sam Tanenhaus / November 14, 2016
The Nobel committee was right to place him in the company of wonderful writers

Life

healthy_smiling_teeth_web
Life of the Mind: A happy journey to sad
Anna Blundy / November 17, 2016
"There is a vast difference between feeling persecuted by loss or trauma and...
41uk6ovby8l
Leith on language: Green's dictionary of the blue
Sam Leith / November 17, 2016
"Green's work on the ruder end of the language spectrum feels especially current now that...
img_8807
Matters of taste: Ulster eating
Wendell Steavenson / November 17, 2016
Almost 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement, there are now a few good restaurants in...
marmite_-_feb_2013_web
DIY investor: Losing interest
Andy Davis / November 17, 2016
"Inflation will breach the Bank's 2 per cent target rate but when it does the Bank is...
wineglass-553467_960_720
Wine: What is minerality?
Barry Smith / November 17, 2016
"Whatever producers and sommeliers mean by gunflint in a Sancerre, or oyster shells in a...

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