The US’s poor performance in tackling Covid-19 versus China’s apparent success in locking it down has led some to believe that the liberal model can never be as effective as an authoritarian one. But there’s plenty in liberal democracy still worth fighting for, argues Steve Bloomfield.

What can we learn from seven centuries of disasters, can the WHO survive and should we have started testing earlier? Prospect provides answers to these questions and asks what the post-Covid world will look like. Plus: Barbara Speed goes in search of sleep

From the fight for a vaccine to the economic shock of the virus, Prospect goes beyond the headlines to ask what Covid-19 means for the world. Plus: Cal Flyn on how you can learn to talk to your dog

Inside the Scottish town built on the arms trade. Plus: What Keir Starmer really believes, a history of Virago, and Thomas Piketty's new theory of everything