Reasons to be cheerful are scant
Their uprising could be the beginning of the end of Iran’s theocracy
The country’s clean-energy push shows a way to escape the coal addiction
Britain’s political fever dream continued apace this week as Rishi Sunak became prime minister without anyone even voting for him. The former chancellor, the country’s third prime minister in less than two months and the fifth in six years, is also the UK’s first leader of colour and the first Hindu to take the office.
Jonathan Freedland considers how big a blow Truss’s ill-judged stint in power has delivered to the school of neoliberal economic thought.
Brazil also faces a judgment day this weekend, as Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva square up in a presidential runoff of deep significance for the country and the planet, with the protection of the Amazon at stake. The outcome is on such a knife-edge that not even the nation’s gangsters can decide who to vote for, as our Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips reports.
On the subject of the environment, don’t miss Naomi Klein’s long read about how Egypt’s government has used the coming Cop27 conference to greenwash its own oppressive political activities.
Then, there’s a revealing interview with Chelsea Manning, who opens up to Emma Brockes on what really happened when she leaked thousands of classified US military documents.
D.C. bureaucrats have worked stealthily with allies to open a financial front against Putin.
A virtuoso of the eighteenth-century version of viral memes and fake news, he had a sense of political theatre that helped create a radical new reality.
The artist discussed Día de todos los santos and taking inspiration from the Old Masters.
By Françoise Mouly, Art by Sergio García Sánchez
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, the coming house-price slump, why Xi Jinping has no interest in succession planning (10:10) and how to make better use of antidepressants (19:29).
How John Roberts lost control of the Supreme Court
Here in the United States, Republicans still fully intend to cut taxes. But they’ve largely stopped campaigning on it.
Welcome to BritalyA country of political instability, low growth and subordination to the bond markets
In 2012 liz truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, two of the authors of a pamphlet called “Britannia Unchained”, used Italy as a warning. Bloated public services, low growth, poor productivity: the problems of Italy and other southern European countries were also present in Britain. Ten years later, in their botched attempt to forge a different path, Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng have helped make the comparison inescapable. Britain is still blighted by disappointing growth and regional inequality. But it is also hobbled by chronic political instability and under the thumb of the bond markets. Welcome to Britaly.
The October 21, 2022 cover story this week steps back from the news agenda to explore the impact of living with long Covid. For millions of people worldwide who have survived initial infection with the virus, recovery is slow. Symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue and loss of smell or taste persist for months and, as our science editor Ian Sample explains, treatments that work for some may not be successful for others.
This week delegates to the Chinese Communist party’s 20th congress are in Beijing where they are expected to rubber stamp Xi Jinping’s historic third term as leader. Our big story looks at what the president’s supremacy means for the country and its closest neighbour – Taiwan – which lives in the shadow of Xi’s avowed intention to bring the island back under China’s tutelage.
What the rise of the far-right congresswoman means for the House, the G.O.P. and the nation.
“We can’t take only safe steps,” the groundbreaking mayor says, “that get us to maybe mediocre outcomes.”
Since the start of the Russian invasion, the Biden Administration has provided valuable intelligence and increasingly powerful weaponry—a risky choice that has paid off in the battle against Putin.
The games are a bonanza for the companies that states hire to administer them. But what about the rest of us?
He thought his success was just a matter of hard work and good luck. Other people had a different perspective.
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, China’s next chapter, why emerging markets look unusually resilient (10:05) and why it is time to legalise cocaine (15:40).
The Communist Party’s five-yearly congress will further tighten one man’s grip
The New Republic – November 2022
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