The Globalist Podcast (October 12, 2023) – Israel forms a unity government as fighting with Hamas continues. A former CIA officer tells us how Israeli and US intelligence could have missed what Hamas had planned.
Plus: Volodymyr Zelensky makes a surprise visit to Brussels for a Nato meeting and Thailand’s new prime minister courts foreign investment.
Israel’s military and espionage services are considered among the world’s best, but on Saturday, operational and intelligence failures led to the worst breach of Israeli defenses in half a century.
A Texas Community Attracts Migrant Home Buyers, and Republican Ire
The development near Houston offers cheap land and unconventional financing to buyers, many of them undocumented immigrants. Gov. Greg Abbott has called for hearings.
Who Runs the Best U.S. Schools? It May Be the Defense Department.
Schools for children of military members achieve results rarely seen in public education.
London Review of Books (LRB) – October 19, 2023: The new issue features Camus in the New World; Charles Lamb’s Lives; The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes who Created the Oxford English Dictionary and At the Met: On Cecily Brown….
Travels in the Americas: Notes and Impressions of a New World by Albert Camus, edited by Alice Kaplan, translated by Ryan Bloom
Bruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder and the Hijacking of History by Benjamin Balint
On Nagorno-Karabakh
Democracy’s Data: The Hidden Stories in the US Census by Dan Bouk
nature Magazine – October 12, 2023: The latest issue features the results of a comprehensive re-evaluation of the conservation status of amphibians since 2004.
Companies say the technology will contribute to faster drug development. Independent verification and clinical trials will determine whether this claim holds up.
The Guardian Weekly (October 13, 2023)– The new issue features Hamas militants’ devastating incursion into Israel from Gaza resulting in thousands of deaths, provoking a declaration of war and upending the fragile diplomacy of the Middle East.
The swirling composite of images on the magazine’s cover this week tries to encapsulate the human chaos and grief of civilians, both in Israel and Gaza, caught in the chaos of war. The central image shows a vast explosion filling the sky above Gaza City, an ominous portent of many violent acts still to come.
As the region faces its worst conflict for 50 years, Bethan McKernan reports from a kibbutz ransacked by militants and finds shocked residents still struggling to process events. Guardian correspondents Harriet Sherwood, Patrick Wintour and Peter Beaumont provide context and analysis, while international affairs commentator Simon Tisdall argues that the ultimate blame lies with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s controversial prime minister.
Ahead of this weekend’s elections in Poland that could give the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party an unprecedented third term in office, Shaun Walker goes on the campaign trail with Donald Tusk whose centre-right Civic Coalition is hoping to reverse the country’s slide away from democratic norms. And Brussels correspondent Lisa O’Carroll reports on the EU’s Granada summit where Hungary’s Viktor Orbán accused fellow leaders of attempting to impose a “diktat” with a proposal on a bloc-wide agreement on migration.
With global temperatures for September described as “gobsmackingly bananas” by leading climatologist Zeke Hausfather,our interview with the president of Cop28 could not be more timely. Sultan Al Jaber explains to environment editor Fiona Harvey how he believes he can square his job as the chief of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company with leading a global conference focused on net zero carbon emissions.
Times Literary Supplement (October13, 2023): The new issue features Deeper Truths – The spiritual quest of the Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse; ‘Woke Wars’ and identity politics; fashion and the Bloomsbury group; Jewish boxers in London; Elsa Morante’s princes and demons and ‘Free Will?’
The Globalist Podcast (October 11, 2023) – The latest from Israel and the implications for Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future as the conflict between Israel and Hamas enters its fifth day.
Plus: a leak in a Finnish gas pipeline is ‘not an accident’ and how businesses are changing Tokyo’s skyline.
“The next step is to move forward, go on the offense,” an Israeli general said, as the country called up more reservists in response to devastating attacks by Palestinian gunmen who killed more than 900 people.
Democrats and Republicans put aside an increasingly partisan divide over Israel to condemn the Hamas attack. But that support may be harder to maintain as Israel retaliates.
‘It’s Not a War or a Battlefield. It’s a Massacre.’
A Times reporter and photographer visited an Israeli village raided by Palestinian gunmen.
Nowhere to Hide in Gaza as Israeli Onslaught Continues
Residents and health authorities say that mosques, hospitals and schools are being targeted by airstrikes.
The Local Project (October 10, 2023) – Inspired by the nearby waterways and bushland, Downie North creates a garden home that not only exists in conversation with the surrounding landscape but also provides a sense of retreat.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Garden Home 01:15 – The Layout and Walkthrough of the Home 03:02 – Landscaping Features 03:28 – Utilising Concrete Throughout 03:54 – Raw and Primal Materials 04:56 – Control of The Light 05:24 – Rewarding Aspects of the Design
Defined by a gradual reveal of interior spaces, Castlecrag Courtyard eloquently encapsulates slow living. Located on the ridge of Castlecrag, a harbourside suburb just north of Sydney’s CBD, Castlecrag Courtyard features a northerly aspect and a sloping site to the south. As such, the challenge of this project was about maximising sunlight and privacy whilst opening up to the 180-degree city and harbour views.
The garden home features a north-facing courtyard, which allows natural light to enter the interior living spaces whilst creating private external areas. The house tour reveals an architectural layout that encourages circular movement, meaning one is always met with changing views. The home is made up of three levels, and, upon arrival, one is met with a bush path before entering the ground floor, which contains the main living and kitchen areas.
Simon Lester swings into the win-at-all-costs world of that old playground chestnut: conkers
Last call for the corncrake
This small and secretive bird is becoming ever-more rare, but there is hope, finds Vicky Liddell
Doing it by the book
Independent bookshops are thriving against the high-street odds. Catriona Gray selects a few of her favourites from the shelf
Interiors
Giles Kime picks 10 blasts from the past that are back in fashion, Eleanor Doughty marvels at Nels Crosthwaite Eyre’s light touch, Bee Osborn hails the rise of the super cottage and Amelia Thorpe visits a resurgent Pimlico Road
Nine centuries of service
In the second of two articles, John Goodall focuses on London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital
Native breeds
The ‘picturesque’ New Forest pony is central to centuries-old grazing rights, finds Kate Green
Colour supplements
Fiery autumn tints catch the eye of Jane Powers in the secluded Cliff House Garden in Co Dublin
We reap what he sowed
Katherine Cole hails campaigner Miles Hadfield, who fought to save a host of historic gardens
Having a gourd time
Pumpkins and squashes have long been an inspiration to chefs and artists, reveals Lia Leendertz
The good stuff
Brown is the colour this season, so it’s chocs away for Hetty Lintell
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious