Category Archives: Opinion

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine- January 30, 2023

Christoph Niemanns “Highway and Byways”

The New Yorker – January 30, 2023 Issue:

The Mayor and the Con Man

Bishop Lamor Whitehead and Eric Adams stand while speaking at a bar.

Eric Adams’s friends and allies have puzzled over his relationship with Lamor Whitehead, a fraudster Brooklyn church leader.

After Bolsonaro, Can Lula Remake Brazil?

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, photographed by Tommaso Protti.

Following a prison term, a fraught election, and a near-coup, the third-time President takes charge of a fractured country.

What’s the Matter with Men?

A girl leap-frogging over a boy in a superhero costume.

They’re floundering at school and in the workplace. Some conservatives blame a crisis of masculinity, but the problems—and their solutions—are far more complex.

Opinion: Disney Turns 100, A Dictator In Turkey, How The Young Spend Money

The Economist ‘Editor’s Picks’ (January 23, 2023) A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Disney’s second century, Turkey’s looming dictatorship (10:25) and how young people spend their money (17:35). 

Culture: The New Review Magazine- January 22, 2023

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The New Review (January 22, 2023) – Maria Pevchikh @pevchikh, right-hand woman to imprisoned Putin critic @navalny, talks to @carolecadwalla.

Our critics’ picks for the Oscars How the science of Covid vaccines may aid the fight against cancer. Plus @WainBright, director Simon Stone & more.

Culture: New York Times Magazine- January 22, 2023

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The New York Times Magazine – January 20, 2023:

Selling False Hope in India’s Cram City

In Kota, students from across the country pay steep fees to be tutored for elite-college admissions exams — which most of them will fail.

Cockfighting Is Illegal in the U.S. Why Does It Breed so Many Fighting Birds?

A rescued rooster named Twister at Vine Sanctuary in Vermont. The staff members there say he has two speeds: mellow and 100 miles per hour.

The long tradition of American game-fowl breeding has produced some of the world’s most coveted roosters.

A rescued rooster named Twister at Vine Sanctuary in Vermont. The staff members there say he has two speeds: mellow and 100 miles per hour .Credit…Andres Serrano for The New York Times

This Soup Is Yotam Ottolenghi’s Comfort Food

In this soup, lamb meatballs and semolina dumplings come with a zest of history.

Previews: The Economist Magazine- January 21, 2023

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The Economist – January 21, 2023 issue:

Turkey could be on the brink of dictatorship

President Erdogan could tip his country over the edge

Disney’s troubles show how technology has changed the business of culture

At 100, the mouse can still roar. But it faces a new kind of rival

Excess deaths are soaring as health-care systems wobble

What lessons can be learned from a miserable winter across the rich world?

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – February 2023

Harper’s Magazine – February 2023 issue:

Is Liberalism Worth Saving?

Where once disagreements concerned differing interpretations of liberalism’s demands or balancing liberalism’s conflicting goals of freedom and equality, now populist movements on both the left and the right are challenging the legitimacy of liberalism itself.

Swamplandia

The money behind Ron DeSantis’s populist façade

Falling Like Leaves

The war in Ethiopia and its crimes against civilians

Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Jan 23, 2023

A truck seen through fog drives down a city street.

The New Yorker – January 16, 2023:

Can 3-D Printing Help Solve the Housing Crisis?

A row of houses being printed by a large machine.

Standard construction can be slow, costly, and inefficient. Machines might do it better.

A Reporter at Large

The Getty Family’s Trust Issues

A family tree with with colorful coins as leaves, sprouting out of a base of tax forms.

Heirs to an iconic fortune sought out a wealth manager who would assuage their progressive consciences. Now their dispute is exposing dynastic secrets.

Has Academia Ruined Literary Criticism?

tiny books all stacked up to create a scholarly looking building

Literature departments seem to provide a haven for studying books, but they may have painted themselves into a corner.

Opinion: Global Order In Danger, Insurrection In Brazil, Prince Harry Book

January 16, 2023 Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist: the destructive new logic that threatens globalisation, how Brazil should deal with the bolsonarista insurrection (11:55) and a review of Prince Harry’s autobiography (16:45).

Culture: New York Times Magazine – Jan 15, 2023

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The Fed May Finally Be Winning the War on Inflation. But at What Cost?

There’s a good chance that the Fed could push the economy into recession. The pain will not be shared equally.

How Montana Took a Hard Right Turn Toward Christian Nationalism

What happened to a state known for its political independence?

How Danhausen Became Professional Wrestling’s Strangest Star

Danhausen backstage before an All Elite Wrestling “Rampage” event in September.

What’s the best way for a not-particularly-athletic barista-slash-wrestling geek to go pro? Act really weird.

Danhausen backstage before an All Elite Wrestling “Rampage” event in September.Credit…Evan Jenkins for The New York Times

Previews: The Guardian Weekly – January 13, 2023

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The Guardian Weekly (January 13, 2023) – In Washington, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives took 15 attempts just to fulfil its primary duty of appointing a speaker. Kevin McCarthy eventually squeaked through by four votes, after quelling a days-long revolt from a bloc of far-right conservatives. But, with a wafer-thin majority, and few powers, Nancy Pelosi’s successor looks set to be one of the weakest speakers in history.

For our big story, Washington bureau chief David Smith examines the chaos within Republican ranks and what it means for the party. It’s a theme picked up for this week’s cover by illustrator Justin Metz, who took the traditionally harmless-looking motif of the Republican elephant and turned it into something altogether more confrontational.

In Brazil, meanwhile, supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed congress buildings in scenes eerily reminiscent of Washington on 6 January 2021. Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips reports on a dark day for Brazilian democracy, while Richard Lapper considers the potential fallout for the new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and a deeply fractured nation.

There’s a feast of great writing elsewhere in this week’s magazine. British food writer Jack Monroe, who taught us how to eat well on a shoestring, opens up to Simon Hattenstone about her struggles with addiction.

And Chris Stringer, who has received a CBE for his work on human evolution, tells how his remarkable quest as a young researcher transformed understanding of our species.