All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education
Culture, Magazines, Politics, Previews, Reviews, Society

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – January 19, 2024

Leave a comment
Image

The Guardian Weekly (January 18, 2024) – The new issue features ‘State Of Emergency’ – How drug cartels upended Ecuador; Why Houthi anger could spread war; Are aliens already among us?…

Not long ago, Ecuador was chiefly known for its volcanoes, wildlife and eco-tourism. It’s an image that may now need some rehabilitation after chaos and bloodshed sparked by the prison escape last week of Adolfo Macías, the country’s most notorious gang leader and drug lord.

With cartels from Peru and Colombia routinely funnelling narcotics through Ecuador’s ports en route to Europe, Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips reports on a rising problem that threatens to tear apart the once-peaceful Andean state.

In the Middle East, Yemen’s Houthi rebels could stymie the increasingly slim chances of preventing a regional war. With the US and UK bombing Houthi bases in response to attacks on commercial shipping, diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour recounts the Houthis’ rise and why military strikes against them may not lead to the desired outcome.

News, Podcasts, Politics, Stories

News: Pakistan Hits Iran Targets In Retaliation, China Economy Falters

Audio Leave a comment

The Globalist Podcast (January 18, 2024) – Georgina Godwin and Yossi Mekelberg on the latest in the Middle East as tensions flare in the region.

Then, we look at China’s economy, examine why Nordic artists are calling for a Eurovision 2024 boycott and discuss Japan Airlines’ new president.

News, Newspapers, Views

The New York Times — Thursday, January 18, 2024

Leave a comment
Image

Johnson Casts Doubt on Border Deal to Unlock Ukraine Aid, Defying Biden

Speaker Mike Johnson, wearing a dark suit and burgundy tie, speaks before microphones outside the White House.

A White House meeting between the president and congressional leaders did little to break the stalemate over aid to Ukraine, as the Republican speaker insisted on a tougher immigration crackdown.

Conservative Justices Appear Skeptical of Agencies’ Regulatory Power

The Supreme Court considered whether to overrule the seminal 1984 Chevron decision, which requires judges to defer to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes.

China Told Women to Have Babies, but Its Population Shrank Again

Faced with falling births, China’s efforts to stabilize a shrinking population and maintain economic growth are failing.

The F.D.A. Warned an Asthma Drug Could Induce Despair. Many Were Never Told.

Singulair, now a generic, is still used by millions of people in the United States even after thousands of patients and dozens of studies have described harm.

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

London Review Of Books – January 25, 2024 Preview

Leave a comment
Image

London Review of Books (LRB) – January 17, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Living With Keats’ – A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph; Congress vs Harvard; The West’s Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution, and more…

Hooted from the Stage

Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph: 9780525655831: Miller, Lucasta: Books - Amazon.com

Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph 
by Lucasta Miller.

Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse 
by Anahid Nersessian.

By Susan Eilenberg

Looking​ back to September 1820, when things had gone badly wrong but not yet so grotesquely as to be visibly beyond repair, we can see how few and how poor Keats’s options were. Surely it was better that (in the absence of other volunteers) the young artist Joseph Severn agreed to travel with the dying poet to Rome that autumn than that he had refused.

Bertie Wooster in Murmansk

A Nasty Little War: The West’s Fight to Reverse the Russian Revolution 
by Anna Reid.

By Sheila Fitzpatrick

Magazines, Podcasts, Previews, Research, Reviews, Science

Research Preview: Nature Magazine- January 18, 2024

Leave a comment
Volume 625 Issue 7995

Nature Magazine – January 17, 2024: The latest issue cover features the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki, thought to be the largest primate that ever lived, which lived in China between 2 million and 300,000 years ago.

Why the immune response to a vaccine varies from person to person

A dormant immune system before receiving the BCG vaccine is tied to a greater innate immune response afterwards.

The Higgs boson is caught in a singular transformation

Detectors at the Large Hadron Collider spot the famed particle decaying into a photon and a ‘Z boson’.

Foreign Affairs, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews

Commentary Magazine – February 2024 Preview

Leave a comment
Image

Commentary Magazine (January 17, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘They’re Coming After Us’ – The sense Israelis have that they are personally vulnerable to outside attack in a manner more like an extended military invasion than a terrorist blow….

They’re Coming After Us

They're Coming After Us

by John Podhoretz

‘IHAVE NEVER FELT LIKE THIS BEFORE’

I have lost count of the number of times the phrase “I have never felt like this before” has been spoken in my ear, texted to me, or sent to me in an email, in the three months since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

When I talked with Israelis on a trip in November, the phrase described a gut emotion few under the age of 50 said they had ever experienced—the sense that they were personally vulnerable to outside attack in a manner more like an extended military invasion than a terrorist blow. They had lived through years of ineffectual rocket fire that was all but magically extinguished by the Iron Dome and Arrow anti-missile systems. 

The Likely Lab Leak and the Covid Cassandra

by James B. Meigs

Enola Gay, or, How the Media Imploded When It Came to Harvard’s President

by Christine Rosen

Analysis, Civics, Government, Politics, Videos, Views

Views: Novelist Margaret Atwood On Democracy – “Is It Fragile Or Resilient?”

Video Leave a comment

Financial Times (January 17, 2024) – In a year in which more than half the world goes to the polls, acclaimed novelist Margaret Atwood asks whether democracy is fragile and easily destroyed or flexible and resilient.

This animated monologue is the first of four films examining the state of government, representation, rights and freedom.

Read more at https://www.ft.com/democracy

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Jan 19, 2024

Leave a comment
Image

Times Literary Supplement (January 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Power Failure’ – The retreat from net zero; Canon wars; The end of literary criticism; Empires imprint on the Middle East; Harvard and plagarism….

Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine-January 17, 2024

Leave a comment
Image

Country Life Magazine – January 17, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Floral Fireworks’ – The National Collection of Dahlias; The Bridges of Britain; and the Arts-and-Crafts masterpieces of Madresfield Court, Worcestershire…

Floral fireworks

Kirsty Fergusson visits the new home of the 1,700-strong National Collection of Dahlias and reveals which blooms to order now for late-summer colour

The Bridges of Britain

Our greatest bridges span the ages and have the power to inspire both awe and admiration, as Jack Watkins discovers

Cold cures

The beautiful and practical cast-iron Victorian cloche is making a comeback. Tiffany Daneff investigates the revival of the miniature glass house

Twist and shout

Tiffany Daneff visits Morton Hall Gardens in Worcestershire to discover the secret of its owner’s intriguing new clematis-training technique

Why, why, why weigela?

New forms of this easy-to-grow garden shrub have repeating flowers in wonderful colours — no wonder they are hot sellers, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson

News, Podcasts, Politics, Stories

News: Gaza War Widens As Iran Strikes Iraq & Syria, North Korea-Russia Ties

Audio Leave a comment

The Globalist Podcast (January 17, 2024) – We discuss the regional spillover of the war in Gaza following Iranian missile strikes in Iraq and Syria.

Plus: North Korea and Russia’s growing alliance, a check-in from the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting and the latest music news.