Prospect Magazine

19/07/2025

“Two parental complaints were for slaps so harsh they had shattered eardrums.” Diane de Vignemont on how a historic abuse scandal at an elite French institution consumed the country.

A historic abuse scandal at an elite French institution has consumed the country—and exposes a national failure to safeguard children

19/07/2025

When people ask me for TV recommendations, I say the second season of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal. The next question tends to be: what’s it about? Here, I flounder, writes Imogen West-Knights.

Don’t miss the second season of ‘The Rehearsal’—which blends all the insanity of the Canadian comedian’s previous work with a good dose of introspecti...

19/07/2025

From Beau Brummell’s five-hour morning routine to Congo’s sapeurs twirling canes in Brazzaville, dandyism has been fashion’s most enduring rebellion.

Lucy Lethbridge explores its evolution:

This history of a longstanding fashion trend takes us from Regency London to the Congo, from Beau Brummell to today’s hipsters

19/07/2025

The Dalai Lama has announced he will reincarnate—and how. What China does next will reveal how tightly Beijing seeks to control religious freedoms, writes Isabel Hilton.

As he approaches reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader has set up a fight with Beijing that will endure beyond death

18/07/2025

If we’re worried about “perceptions of partiality” at the BBC, surely board member Robbie Gibb’s Conservative, pro-Israel bias must also be a controversy, writes Alan Rusbridger.

After the Glastonbury furore, the pulling of a film about medics under attack in Gaza is leading to bigger questions about the political influence of ...

18/07/2025

One in three Cornish households depends on tourism, while Germans flock to see the landscape of their Sunday night TV obsession.

Miriam Dahlinger on how a Scottish author’s nostalgic novels became Cornwall’s secret economic weapon.

Germany is in love with this corner of Britain—thanks to a series of schmaltzy TV adaptations

18/07/2025

Simply to say the words “I stand with Palestine Action” is now an offence. If I were to say those words, I could be sent to jail. So could you, writes Ronan Bennett.

Support for the protest group was legal last week—but now it is ‘terrorism’. This is an assault on our liberty

18/07/2025

“What prompted a promising academic to throw it all away in the name of becoming a propagandist for the radical right?” James Bloodworth on the political journey of Matthew Goodwin .

The ‘heterodox intellectual’ turned populist is a morbid symptom of the digital age

18/07/2025

Despite a five party system in England, there is nothing to the left of Labour apart from Corbyn and the Greens. This is a very large space, becoming still larger, writes Andrew Adonis.

In parts of metropolitan England, a leftist alliance could make itself the main competitor to Labour. But this won’t be easy

18/07/2025

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18/07/2025

Raymond Martin first became aware of the need for better public toilets after his wife died. As a male, he often couldn’t find facilities to take his children into. “It’s a basic human right,” he tells Lucy Kenningham.

Raymond Martin, director of the British Toilet Association, has spent his life campaigning to improve lavatory standards

18/07/2025

As reports emerge that Ofwat, the water regulator in England and Wales, will be abolished, Oliver Bullough investigates how privatisation left us with filthy rivers, soaring bills and broken infrastructure

Privatisation was meant to revitalise a public good. Instead, it left us with leaky pipes, sewage spills and rivers not fit to swim in