The Age of Unreason

What happens when emotion trumps facts

In this issue, we ask whether we are letting our emotions cloud our judgement when we weigh up decisions and if this is anything new. Has the world become more unreasonable? Writers including Julian Baggini, Timandra Harkness and Sarah Ditum weigh up our attitudes to argument and what matters. We interview BBC presenter Evan Davis about whether the world puts up with more bullshit and TV presenter and campaigner Trevor Phillips weighs in on whether journalists are self censoring what they report. Plus is first-person writing damaging reporting, and Ian Rankin's brand new short story on a world without books.