The Occupy movement is not utopian. It is more realistic than its liberal critics.

Historian Antony Beevor and actress Joanna Lumley at Buxton Festival on the 12th July, 2012. Buxton Opera House, Water Street, Buxton, SK17, 0845 127 2190, £10

Historian Joan Reid at the Benjamin Franklin House on the 23rd July, 2012. Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven St, WC2, 020 7839 2006, £5

Writer Pankaj Mishra at the London School of Economics on the 30th July, 2012. LSE Old Theatre, Houghton St, WC2, 020 7955 6043, free

Politician Tom Watson at Ways with Words festival on the 9th July 2012. Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon, TQ9, 01803 867 373, £9

The UK Independence Party is a serious threat to the Conservatives

Best strategy for the Lib Dems? More of the same

The Occupiers' disdain for everyday democracy brings them dangerously close to their neoliberal foes.

A new biography of Barack Obama focuses on all the wrong milestones of an unusual life

Bronwen Maddox introduces the July issue.