August 2014

August 2014 issue

Past issues

Essays

A Yes campaign poster in Glasgow: “The referendum choice is simply Yes or No. Everything or nothing. Can you want nothing for your country?” © Getty Images

Scottish independence: Why I'm voting Yes

David Cameron at the European Commission on 27th June, having failed to block the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as its next President. © AFP/Getty Images

Election 2015: In David Cameron we don't trust

Activists gather at a July rally in support of the Pakistani army after the launch of military operation against terrorists in North Waziristan. © Masroor/Xinhua Press/Corbis

Pakistan: Take on the Taliban

"No man is an island, and nowadays no island is either. Insects, bacteria and fungi hitch a ride from country to country."

Britain's trees: Goodbye to all that

Professors of philosophy Janet Radcliffe-Richards and Derek Parfit. © Mark Allan

Reason and romance: The world's most cerebral marriage

EU representatives including Angela Merkel (far right) and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso (fourth from left) at a summit in Brussels. © ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images

Britain and the EU: On the way out?

Wolfgang Munchau

Regulars

Our combatants Richard Perle (left) and John McTernan (right). © Action Press/REX, Bassem Tellawi/REX, Rex

Duel: Should we intervene in Syria and beyond?

Richard Perle & John McTernan

Half a million people watch John Sebastian perform at Woodstock, 1969

The way we were: Summer music festivals

"It is our heritage that defines us, that tells the story, that makes our country look the way it does." © David Fisher/REX

If I ruled the world: Loyd Grossman

Opinions

Harar in eastern Ethiopia: The 10 richest people in the world have roughly the same income as the population of the African state. © Mariusz Kluzniak

We cannot reason inequality away

David Cameron at the European Commission on 27th June, having failed to block the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as its next President. © AFP/Getty Images

Election 2015: In David Cameron we don't trust

Popular Chinese retail websites promote wine and cheese packages with names such as “A Cheesy Night in Paris” and “A Feast of Cheesy Love.” © cathou_cathare

How China discovered cheese

"One can only hope the process will be short on reports and long on global collective action." © Kirstin

The answer to the antibiotics crisis

Kevin Outterson

Justin Welby has warned politicians about the growth of food banks © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

Justin Welby interview: Our colonial church

Arts & Books

"No one is a Muslim in the abstract; everyone comes from a particular national and religious tradition." © Robert Lamb

Islam in Britain: No excuse for ignorance

Review: World Without End by Hugh Thomas

Review: Liberalism by Edmund Fawcett

Jonathan Derbyshire

Review: The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman

Hannah Rosefield

Review: Nature’s God by Matthew Stewart

© simon pemberton

Short story: Anabela and the rock

Shivering in Tolkien's shadow

Josephine Livingstone

The Salk Institute in California: construction workers poured countless samples for the concrete walls, before Kahn found the right texture. © The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, photo John Nicolais

Let there be light: The forgotten genius of Louis Kahn

Sarah Williams Goldhagen

A young Ukrainian in Kiev, on a march to celebrate the 104th anniversary of the birth of the anti-Soviet nationalist, Stepan Bandera. © AFP/Getty Images

The memory wars

Jacob Mikanowski

Society and Culture

Rows of white crosses in the Normandy American cemetary. © US Army

Matters of taste: Remembering D-Day

Wendell Steavenson

DIY Investor: Living with your mistakes

Life of the mind: Role reversal

Leith on Life: Solitude at the seaside