Society & Culture
The main lesson from 2020? Man plans—and God laughs
This should be peak planning season. But the last 12 months has revealed that we're not really in control of our lives
Adobe Flash is finally gone—and with it, the weird spontaneity of the early 2000s Internet
It was past its prime, but Adobe Flash will always be remembered as the progenitor of much weirdness in early online culture
The pandemic exposed Britain’s loneliness generational divide—but it’s not the one you think it is
Loneliness is less determined by what happens to you, and more by whether you have the close relationships that you want and need—and it's the young who are suffering
How longer life expectancy has changed our view of ageing
Longer living can open up more possibilities for all of us
Board games are a health risk this Christmas. But then when have they not been?
Learning how to win and lose is not easy but may be necessary
Ten of the Prospect stories you read most in 2020
From our annual Top Thinkers poll to Brexit and—of course—coronavirus
UK exams policy is now hopelessly fragmented. Young people will suffer
A fair university admissions process has been sacrificed as different parts of the UK pull in contradictory directions
The next battle in the culture wars? Traffic bollards
Opponents of low-traffic neighbourhoods spy a liberal plot. The reality is far more prosaic
John le Carré and the art of betrayal
The novelist was fascinated by the traitor’s bargains and self-deceptions
EU law in the UK, 1973-2020: an obituary
We are stronger for having known you
The climate apocalypse hangs over us—so how should we write about it?
A quotation commonly attributed to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry says “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood... but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." Nature writers should…
The great diversity and inclusion experiment
Corporate diversity programmes are rising—and have become a flashpoint in the culture wars. But are they working?