December 2014

December 2014 issue

India's dark heart by Arundhati Roy, will wages rise asks John Philpott, Peter Kellner on Boris, John McTernan on the Barnett formula, give back the Elgin Marbles says Vicky Pryce and caveman cuisine.

Past issues

Essays

Villagers protest in New Delhi in April against the gang rape of a Dalit girl in nearby Haryana state. © RAVEENDRAN / AFP

India's shame

Mixed feelings before the Scottish independence referendum: “There are good reasons for higher public spending in Scotland,” says McTernan. © Brian Mcneil

Don't abandon the Barnett formula

Peshmerga fighters pass through Turkey on 29th October, on their way to Syria to support the battle against Islamic State in Kobane. © STRINGER/TURKEY/Reuters/Corbis

Whose side is Turkey on?

British Leyland workers protesting against pay cuts in London, 1977. “Wage settlements sky rocketed, even though inflation was high.” © Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Will Britain get a payrise?

Paleolithic workout: fitness fanatics take part in CrossFit training. © corey jenkins/ corbis

Paleolithic diets: bigger on fashion than fact

Jacob Mikanowski

The English question: our panel responds

Regulars

Our panel: Vicky Pryce (left, yes) and Dominic Selwood (right, no)

Duel: should we return the Elgin marbles?

Dominic Selwood & Vicky Pryce

Richard Acland, by then a Labour MP, in Westminster in 1950. © Topham/PA Archive/Press Association Images

The way we were: new political parties

Classic car enthusiast Jonathan Evans. © The Sunday Times/NI Syndication

If I ruled the world: Jonathan Evans

Opinions

The present conflict in the middle east might have been avoided were it not for the signing of Sykes-Picot. © Vadim Ghirda/AP/Press Association Images

What if Sykes-Picot hadn't been signed?

Cameron can't decide where to position himself for the EU battle ahead. © Ash Crow

How many technocrats can we stand?

Do we need to take the fight to Putin?

Why is Putin so popular?

Let's make the long summer evenings last all years

Daylight savings: we must go forward in time

The silence over Islamic State's abuse of women

Mixed feelings before the Scottish independence referendum: “There are good reasons for higher public spending in Scotland,” says McTernan. © Brian Mcneil

Don't abandon the Barnett formula

Our panel: Vicky Pryce (left, yes) and Dominic Selwood (right, no)

Duel: should we return the Elgin marbles?

Dominic Selwood & Vicky Pryce

The US wants Britain to stay in the EU because we bolster its hard stance towards Russia.

A translatlantic schism

Boris to the rescue? © STEPHEN CHUNG/NEWZULU/PA Images

What do Londoners think of Boris?

Wordsworth and Coleridge: literary frenemies

Literary fight clubs

Elaine Showalter

British Leyland workers protesting against pay cuts in London, 1977. “Wage settlements sky rocketed, even though inflation was high.” © Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Will Britain get a payrise?

Classic car enthusiast Jonathan Evans. © The Sunday Times/NI Syndication

If I ruled the world: Jonathan Evans

An illustration of a DNA sequence: examining genetic data doesn’t reveal “genes for” certain conditions “in any meaningful sense”. © Phanie Agency/REX

There is no "gene for" everything

A 1974 cover of Newsweek, featuring a superhero version of Henry Kissinger circling the globe. © The Granger Collection

The breathtaking generalisations of Henry Kissinger

Arts & Books

Enniscorthy in County Wexford, where four of Colm Tóibín’s novels are set. © REX/Design Pics Inc

Colm Tóibín loses the plot

Wordsworth and Coleridge: literary frenemies

Literary fight clubs

Elaine Showalter

Review: Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Review: Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

Jessica Abrahams

Review: Limonov by Emmanuel Carrère

Rodric Braithwaite

Paleolithic workout: fitness fanatics take part in CrossFit training. © corey jenkins/ corbis

Paleolithic diets: bigger on fashion than fact

Jacob Mikanowski

A 1974 cover of Newsweek, featuring a superhero version of Henry Kissinger circling the globe. © The Granger Collection

The breathtaking generalisations of Henry Kissinger

Review: The Rich by John Kampfner

Erich Honecker leads East Germany’s 40th anniversary celebrations in 1989: “Censorship was accepted by everyone,” writes Darnton. © Bundesarchiv Bild

Sympathy for censorship

Society and Culture

Matters of taste: it's all in the ingredients

Wendell Steavenson

Wine: you are an expert, really

DIY investor: keeping it in the family

Leith on life: a freelancer goes back to work