October 2025 issue
Ben Ansell asks whether Labour should embrace leftwing populism, Jen Stout goes minesweeping in Ukraine and Ros Taylor questions the cost of a private education. Plus: Ethan Zuckerman recalls tech’s progressive age and Lea Ypi searches for dignity
Past issues
Photography by Sara Morris
Politics
Labour's populist dilemma
From Zohran Mamdani to Zarah Sultana, left populists are attracting votes and attention. Should Keir Starmer follow their lead?
Ben Ansell
Editor’s Picks
Demining liberated Ukraine is painstaking work. Credit: Julia Kochetova
The Ukrainians clearing Russian mines
Jen Stout
Illustration by Paul Ryding
What is antisemitic?
Dave Rich & Jo Glanville
Illustration by Björn Griesbach
Lea Ypi goes in search of lost dignity
Peter Hoskin
Sexualised to death: Marilyn Monroe, as memorialised by Andy Warhol. Image: Img Print / Alamy
Hot mess: on the brilliance of Philippa Snow
Tom Shone
Image: Goalhanger
Dominic Sandbrook: ‘We’ll die before we run out of history’
Cosmo Adair
Illustration by Clara Nicoll
I went to a wedding and didn’t shag a groomsman
Alice Garnett
People
Image: Goalhanger
Dominic Sandbrook: ‘We’ll die before we run out of history’
Cosmo Adair
Image: See Li/Picture Capital/Alamy Live News
International Booker winner Banu Mushtaq: Today I can write freely
Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Illustration: John Watson
The YouTube prankster who became an MEP
Tiago Ventura
Image: Paul Groom
First Dates’s Fred Sirieix: ‘I can’t stand being around unprofessional people’
Graeme Green
Image: Matt Writtle-Eyevine
‘I finished my law training contract in a psychiatric hospital’
Lara Olszowska
Columns
Image: Vincent Kilbride
Tech bros used to be progressive. What happened?
Ethan Zuckerman
Image: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy
Reading aloud isn’t just for children
Sasha Mudd
Mona Siddiqui’s diary: Golfers without conscience
Mona Siddiqui
Illustration by Andy Smith
The pernicious appeal of the tradwife
Sarah Ogilvie
Regulars
Letters: October 2025
Stephen Collins’s cartoon: Yvette’s summer holiday
Stephen Collins
Illustration by Michael Rea
Susie Dent: ‘I’m no good at Scrabble’
Prospect Team
Features
Photography by Sara Morris
Labour's populist dilemma
Ben Ansell
Illustration by Beth Goody
What is a private education worth?
Ros Taylor
Demining liberated Ukraine is painstaking work. Credit: Julia Kochetova
The Ukrainians clearing Russian mines
Jen Stout
Illustration by Paul Ryding
What is antisemitic?
Dave Rich & Jo Glanville
Illustration by David McAllister / Prospect. Source: Alamy
Antisemitism, the eternal conspiracy
David Edgar
Illustration by Mike Turner
Why the data driving government can’t be trusted
James Ball
Culture
Illustration by Björn Griesbach
Lea Ypi goes in search of lost dignity
Peter Hoskin
Sexualised to death: Marilyn Monroe, as memorialised by Andy Warhol. Image: Img Print / Alamy
Hot mess: on the brilliance of Philippa Snow
Tom Shone
Britney Spears goes viral. Illustration by David McAllister. Image source: DPA Alliance / Alamy
The new misogyny
Alona Ferber
He told the truth, mainly: Mark Twain in 1903. Image: Archive Pics / alamy
How Ron Chernow’s biography of Mark Twain misses the mark
Rhodri Lewis
Your tour guide for the afterlife: ‘Dante Alighieri with Florence and the Realms of the Divine Comedy’ (1465) by Domenico di Michelino. Image: Ian Dagnall Computing / Alamy
This is how to translate Dante
Robert Chandler
Books in brief: what to read this September
Waiting for recognition: Avril Coleridge-Taylor at her piano. Image: Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Avril Coleridge-Taylor, today’s composer
Samantha Ege and Leah Broad
“I’m Donald J Trump and I approve this message.” Image: South Park Studios / YouTube
Donald Trump’s (alleged) micropenis
Imogen West-Knights
Approaching the inner sanctum: Close-Up’s frontage in east London
Close-Up should be a lodestar for other arts institutions
Sukhdev Sandhu
Benjamin Britten writing music in the key of war. Image: Science History Images / Alamy
Classical notes: Back to Britten
Ian Bostridge
Lives
Illustration by Clara Nicoll
Long life: I’m so grateful for my relationships
Sheila Hancock
Illustration by Clara Nicoll
I went to a wedding and didn’t shag a groomsman
Alice Garnett
Illustration by Clara Nicholl
Second life: Why I hate book signings
Vitali Vitaliev
Illustration by Clara Nicoll
Why goodbyes make me crazy
Sarah Collins
Illustration by Clara Nicoll
Clerical life: Hope is the only antidote to climate despair
Alice Goodman
Illustration of Tilly Lawless by Clara Nicoll
Sex life: Porn doesn’t make my clients more violent
Tilly Lawless
Wearing ballgowns in the country
Kiran Sidhu
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