A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, the disunited states of America, why Britain can’t build (9:15) and Pakistan’s worst floods in recent memory (17:05).
Tag Archives: Opinion
Preview: The New Yorker Magazine – Sept 12, 2022

George Balanchine’s Soviet Reckoning
New York City Ballet’s 1962 tour of the U.S.S.R. forced the great choreographer to confront the regime he’d fled and the people he’d left behind.
John Cuneo’s “Top Dog”
The artist discusses canine stars, his first trip abroad, and keeping a sense of the spontaneous in his work.
Preview: The Economist Magazine – Sept 3, 2022
American states are now Petri dishes of polarisation
Only electoral reform can make them work properly
Two states, two very different states of mind. On August 25th California banned the sale of petrol-powered cars from 2035, a move that will reshape the car industry, reduce carbon emissions and strain the state’s electricity grid. On the same day in Texas a “trigger” law banned abortion from the moment of conception, without exceptions for rape or incest. Those who perform abortions face up to 99 years in prison.
Opinion: Sanctions On Russia, Debt Forgiveness, Work Commute Waste
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, are sanctions on Russia working? Plus, Joe Biden’s sweeping debt-forgiveness plan (10:00) and in defence of commuting (15:10).
Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Sept 5, 2022

J. J. Sempé’s “Morning Music”
The French artist’s widow describes Sempé’s decades-long relationship with the magazine and his deep appreciation for its spirit, its staff, and its readers. By Françoise Mouly, Art by J. J. Sempé
Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over
He’s had win after win—including overturning Roe v. Wade—yet seems more and more aggrieved. What drives his anger?
Preview: The Economist Magazine – August 27, 2022

Are sanctions working?
- China’s changing debt diplomacyTime to work with Western creditors
- Gene tweaking: a new era beginsScience has made a genetic revolution possible
- How diversity training can backfire?Many programmes may do more to protect against litigation than to reduce discrimination
- Streaming wars: dragons v hobbitsA century-old studio wages a big-budget war against a streaming upstart
Preview: The Guardian Weekly – August 26, 2022

Life and death: Inside the 26 August Guardian Weekly
Six months of hell in Ukraine. Plus: recession stalks Europe.
The troop buildups, the belligerent speeches, the excruciatingly staged Kremlin policy meetings … for months, the signs had been there in plain sight. Nonetheless, the order in the early hours of 24 February from Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine came as a lightning bolt, one that would change Europe for years to come.
Opinion: Will Trump Run In 2024, Visa-Mastercard, A New British Prime Minister
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, will Donald Trump run again? Also, the future of the Visa-Mastercard payments duopoly (9:35) and, what kind of prime minister will Britain get? (21:45).
Previews: The Economist Magazine – August 20, 2022
Will Donald Trump run again?
And, if he does, would Republicans pick him as their nominee?
What kind of prime minister will Britain get?
It will be a technocrat who knows what to do, or a politician who knows how to do it
Previews: New Humanist Magazine – Autumn 2022

Making sense of war
Polishing the crystal ball
The intelligence community often fails to make accurate predictions. Amy Zegart, an expert brought in to improve analysis in the United States, sets out what can be done to overcome our cognitive biases.
Improving analysis to prevent nuclear catastrophe isn’t just a matter of history. Great power competition is back. Russia and China are trying to rewrite the international order along authoritarian lines.