MONOCLE RADIO (March 21, 2025): Europe’s response to the plan for peacekeepers in Ukraine and developments surrounding the potential ceasefire with Russia. Then: the International Olympic Committee votes in a new president and the South Pacific looks to welcome in the world’s latest country. Plus: what to expect when Art Basel returns to Hong Kong.
All posts by She Seeks Serene
The New York Times – Friday, March 21, 2025
Trump Signs Order Aimed at Eliminating Education Dept. ‘Once and for All’
Congress and federal law stand in the way of shutting down the agency, which manages federal loans for college, tracks student achievement and supports programs for students with disabilities.
With Orders, Investigations and Innuendo, Trump and G.O.P. Aim to Cripple the Left
The president and his allies in Congress are targeting the financial, digital and legal machinery that powers the Democratic Party and much of the progressive political world.
‘Captain Canada’ Takes On Trump
Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, is reinventing himself as one of Canada’s staunchest defenders against President Trump’s economic and sovereignty threats.
In Syria, Being Wanted Went From Something to Fear to a Badge of Honor
The ousted Assad dictatorship kept lists of millions of wanted people. Now, Syrians are openly asking whether they “have a name” on any of those lists and are sharing the news proudly.
The Economist Magazine – March 22, 2025 Preview
THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE (March 20, 2025): The latest issue features Rise of the superhuman….
How to enhance humans
Finding ways to live much longer—and better—shouldn’t be left to the cranks
The trap Vladimir Putin has set for Donald Trump
The Russian president wants to suggest that Ukraine is just a detail in a wider relationship
The judges Trump scorns should stand their ground
The rule of law is at stake
Dreams of improving the human race are no longer science fiction
But the “enhancement” industry is still hobbled by out-of-date regulation
The New York Review Of Books – April 10, 2025
THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (March 20, 2025): The latest issue features Michael Gorra on the majesty of Caspar David Friedrich, Cathleen Schine on Hanif Kureishi, Wendy Doniger on letting slip the horses of war, Adam Thirlwell on Lars von Trier, Christian Caryl on denazification, Miri Rubin on Christian supremacy, Jonathan Mingle on the phosphorous shortfall, Brenda Wineapple on the history of American social movements, Geoffrey O’Brien on Fifties Hollywood, Christopher R. Browning on Trump’s antisemitism, poems by Witold Wirpsza and Laura Kolbe, and much more.
Toffler in China
The work of the eclectic American futurist exerted a profound and unanticipated influence on China’s digital transformation since the 1980s.
Lost in the Landscape
The Met’s Caspar David Friedrich exhibition offers an introduction to an artist whose work—luminous, disturbing, serene—reveals an all-encompassing physical realm.
Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature – an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, February 8–May 11, 2025
Caspar David Friedrich: Art for a New Age – an exhibition at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, December 15, 2023–April 1, 2024
The Magic of Silence: Caspar David Friedrich’s Journey Through Time by Florian Illies, translated from the German by Tony Crawford
The Rise and Fall of Warhorses
You can tell the history of a large part of the world by who had what horses when.
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires by David Chaffetz
The New York Times Magazine – March 23, 2025
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (March 20, 2025): The 3.23.25 Issue features Matt Flegenheimer and Dana Rubinstein on Eric Adams’s scandal-ridden mayoralty; Helen Ouyang on how airline pilots are pushed to hide their mental health issues; Parul Sehgal on progressives and solidarity; and more.
How Eric Adams Lost New York
He promised law and order. Instead, his scandal-ridden mayoralty became a symbol — and engine — of the city’s chaos.
Why Airline Pilots Feel Pushed to Hide Their Mental Illness
Is the F.A.A. really ensuring
How Generative A.I. Complements the MAGA Style
Online Trump supporters have embraced a unique form of irony that is hard to parse — and easy to deploy with new technologies.safety by disqualifying pilots who receive a diagnosis or treatment?
The Guardian Weekly – March 21, 2025 Preview
THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY (March 20, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Driven to Fury’ – How Tesla became a target for protest…
Lauren Gambino examines how growing difficulties for Musk have given heart to Democrats as they see his recognition factor and billionaire status as an easy rallying point to rebuild their own battered political fortunes.
Spotlight | On the frontline of the tariff wars
Leyland Cecco takes the pulse of Hamilton, Ontario’s steel-making hub, after the Trump administration imposed a 25% levy on imports of Canadian steel and aluminium
Environment | Loess regained
The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming, finds Helen Davidson
Feature | A Syrian civil war survivor
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad chronicles the life of Mustafa, determined to succeed in the new Syria even with his past as a forced soldier for the Assad regime
Opinion | Trump’s every misstep brings chaos
The honeymoon is over for a president who seems to personify the law of unintended consequences, says Simon Tisdall
Culture | A painter in her own write
Celia Paul tells Charlotte Higgins about her relationship with Lucian Freud and the struggles of being out of step with the art world
The New York Times – Thursday, March 20, 2025
Zelensky Agrees to Halt Strikes on Russian Energy Targets in Call With Trump
President Trump also floated the idea of the United States taking control of Ukrainian power plants, according to U.S. officials. The Ukrainian president said he was not pressured about the proposal.
Mexico City Bans Traditional Bullfights for Violence-Free Option
Showdowns between people and bulls can still go on, but the animals can no longer be hurt or killed. Some bullfighting proponents said the law imperils an ancient tradition.
Donald Trump Jr. Mixes Business and Politics in Serbia, as Protests There Rage
President Trump’s oldest son visited Belgrade, the site of a Trump International Hotel project, and pushed back on calls for the country’s president to resign.
White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy
The decision is the latest clash between a university and the administration as it pushes schools to end diversity programming and adopt stricter discipline, among other things.
Science: Nature Magazine – March 20, 2025 Preview
NATURE MAGAZINE (March 19, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Double Impact’ – Whole genome duplication drives multicellular adaptation over 5,000 generations in the lab…
Mega-storm dumps 11 billion tonnes of snow ― and builds up a melting ice sheet
A well-timed atmospheric river dropped enough snow on Greenland for its ice sheet to lose 8% less mass than expected.
Bad romance: male octopuses inject deadly venom into their mates
The paralysing toxin deployed by the male blue-lined octopus might help to protect him from being eaten.
How extreme lethargy can promote healthy ageing
The drop in body temperature that occurs during a torpid state is linked to molecular markers of longer life in mice.
Robotic fingers can tell objects apart by touch
Prosthetic appendage uses three layers of touch sensors to accurately differentiate between textures.
Culture: Harper’s Magazine – April 2025
HARPER’S MAGAZINE (March 19, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The Social-Skills Crisis’ – Have we forgotten how to work together?; Undercover with New York’s Guardian Angels and The End of Psychoanalysis As We Know It?…
Going Soft – Future-proofing the American worker
The Last Detail – On patrol with the Guardian Angels
by Kent Russell
The Social Turn – Psychoanalysis at an inflection point
Country Life Magazine – March 19, 2025 Preview
COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (March 19, 2025): The cover of Country Life’s 19 March 2025 issue, featuring Wollerton Old Hall Garden in Shropshire,
Building on a dream
Nicola Taylor tells Tiffany Daneff how she ‘picked up a spade and carried on’ where her father left off in a Northamptonshire wood
It starts with a seed
Is there anything more satisfying than growing a plant from seed? Find out how with John Hoyland
The ground crew
Christopher Stocks meets the unsung heroes and heroines of horticulture who keep Britain’s best gardens in mint condition
Shocking pinks
Tilly Ware recommends a trip to Cornwall’s Calamazag nursery to pick up the perfect pinks
United colours of Rolls-Royce
Toby Keel finds the British marque making a bold, banana-yellow statement as he gets behind the wheel of the new Series II Ghost
A uniform approach
Never try to appear fashionable or attempt to look young — Dylan Jones shares his golden rules on how to dress in your sixties
Hare’s to you
Murderous, mad and magnificent: the hare is a fascinating figure in art, discovers Michael Prodger
Sir James MacMillan’s favourite painting
The composer chooses a bold and moving religious painting
The architect for me
In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet examines the double act of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and client Reginald McKenna
Take it with a pinch of salt
Deborah Nicholls-Lee examines the salt-loving plants coming into their own in a changing climate
A night on the tiles
Harry Pearson finds drunken may-hem in the history of dominoes
The good stuff
A vase is a Mother’s Day gift that keeps on giving, says Hetty Lintell
Interiors
Amelia Thorpe applauds the updating of a Wiltshire sitting room, as Arabella Youens asks: are you sitting comfortably?
Sour to the people
Fish and chips wouldn’t be fish and chips without a glug of malt vinegar, argues Rob Crossan
Pho sure
Asian noodle soup tempts Tom Parker Bowles with its thrilling symphony of fragrant flavours
Foraging
Handle with care when picking hogweed and cow parsley for the kitchen, warns John Wright
Arts & antiques
Carlo Passino throws the spotlight on the engaging drawings of literary legend Victor Hugo
Directors take centre stage
Shakespeare and Chekhov are given an imaginative new spin — and Michael Billington approves
And much more
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