Contents

1 Editorial 5 Contributors 6 Letters

Up front

8 HOW TO FIX The high street

We’ve all got a stake, so the first step is to give us all a voice 9 WHAT YOU NEED TO

KNOW ABOUT... Money

Whether it’s bullion or Bitcoin,

its value comes down to trust ƒ „ … plus In fact 10 IN PRAISE OF LOST CAUSES Wa s p s

They’re not as sweet as bees, but nature still needs them …‡ plus Stephen Collins’s cartoon strip 11 AT LAW Silence from court

When judges and politicians pass the buck for making law Š 12 SPOTLIGHT ON Japan

People power vs the juggernaut of the Tokyo Olympics 13 SPEED DATA Capital flight

Will Covid reverse London’s long population boom? ‹ ‡ „ & ‡c ‹ 14 THE DUEL Is space exploration worth it?

‡ „… „ ‡c„

Essays

Cover story

ETERNAL VIGILANCE

Behind the f lag 16 From Hartlepool to the hangman The flag-waving nationalists in charge of our politics will soon need a new cause. A referendum on the death penalty is one frightening possibility

22 Where the west ends Poland’s authoritarian turn at home could soon poison alliances abroad

PROSPECT

LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

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PROSPECT PORTRAIT Europe’s second-rate first lady The EU is paying the price for giving Ursula von der Leyen the top job

34 Consent: the dynamite at the heart of the British constitution After the Brexit saga, a new battle could blow apart the Union

TOMORROW’S ECONOMY

40 Condemned to be liberal Why Britain struggles to escape the long shadow of hands-off economics

46 Do it like Denmark In her quest for a new social contract, Minouche Shafik singles out one nation for praise—and politely buries the third way &

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