In the magazine this month

December 2011

The euro would never have got off the ground if it had been put to national referendums, nor would the bailouts or austerity plans
How could so many clever people get it so wrong? The flaws in the euro project are not just clear with hindsight; they were visible at the outset and were widely pointed out. It was never going to be possible to jam widely divergent economies into a single monetary policy. It was plainly reckless to invite Italy and Greece to join the new currency when their government debt was at twice the permitted level of 60 per cent of GDP. Plenty of doubters said so at the time. Yet, in every national parliament, in every central bank, in every university faculty, in every television editorial conference, there was a collective suspension of disbelief. 
More
Nick Clegg Captures the Mandarins' Castle
MICHAEL PINTO-DUSCHINSKY
Party-funding and constitutional reform reveal the Whitehall machine playing into the hands—and coffers—of the Lib Dems
What We Didn't Know About Boris and Ken
NICK COHEN
Millions think next year’s London mayoral election is between an amiable Bertie Wooster and a Cockney cheeky chappie. Don’t you believe it
Eye-witness to the Final Crowning Glory of the Raj
JESSICA DOUGLAS-HOME
A century ago, my grandmother attended George V’s Coronation Durbar as Emperor of India, an extravaganza worthy of the Moghuls
 
Jews, Christians and Judaeo-Christians
GEZA VERMES
The earliest disciples of Jesus were observant Jews, but the story of these Jewish Christians and their distinctive doctrines has been obscured by the Gentile church that supplanted them