The world over, they are failing to confront the dire state of their finances
After 20 years of increasingly autocratic rule, Recep Tayyip Erdogan risks eviction by voters
Isolating the mullahs is not working. The West needs a more constructive approach
The Economist ‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (May 1, 2023) – A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Israel: the survivor nation at 75, is Sir Keir Starmer ready to govern Britain? (10:25) And why ChatGPT raises questions about how humans acquire language (19:05).
The New York Times Magazine – May 7, 2023:
What the Arizona senator’s breakup with the Democrats means for American politics.
Kyrsten Sinema was standing a few yards from the border wall with four Republican members of Congress. The men were staring balefully at a row of nearby portable toilets, wondering aloud if they could hold out for a proper bathroom on the way back to the airport.
Bono illustrates President Zelensky for June cover
The Atlantic’s June cover is illustrated by U2’s lead singer, Bono, who sketches Zelensky and includes a quote from the Ukrainian president:
In an editor’s note, also published today, Goldberg writes that, after learning Bono has a hobby of redesigning and reimagining Atlantic covers, he invited the singer and writer to create an original.
“Zelensky, a man we both admire, was a natural subject for his first go. Like Anne, Bono is preoccupied with issues of freedom and dignity, and, working with Oliver Munday, our associate creative director, he made a stunning cover that captures the resolve of Ukraine’s wartime president.”
As Prince of Wales, Charles was always ready with an opinion. Now, with his coronation at hand, his job is to have none.
“My great problem in life is that I do not really know what my role in life is,” Charles once said, adding, “I must find one.”Photo illustration by Alma Haser for The New Yorker; Source photographs from Getty
The artist discusses being young and adrift in London, and gives King Charles tips for painting with watercolors.
New Yorker covers don’t always reflect current events, but some staged proceedings, both anachronistic and immemorial, can be catnip for cartoonists and commentators alike. King Charles III automatically acceded to the throne when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died on September 8, 2022. Charles, the longest-serving heir apparent in Britain’s history, spent seven decades preparing for the role of monarch. He became the next in line to reign over the United Kingdom at three years old, when Elizabeth became queen, in 1952.
The New York Times Magazine – April 29, 2023:
In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy.
School closures and culture wars turned classrooms into battlegrounds — and made the head of one of the country’s largest teachers’ unions a lightning rod for criticism.
The country needs a new political settlement that diminishes the power of extremists
As israel marks its 75th anniversary, take a moment to admire how it has triumphed against the odds. Before it declared independence in 1948 its own generals warned that it had only a fifty-fifty chance of survival. Today Israel is hugely rich, safer than it has been for most of its history, and democratic—if, that is, you are prepared to exclude the territories it occupies. It has overcome wars, droughts and poverty with few natural endowments other than human grit. It is an outlier in the Middle East, a hub of innovation and a winner from globalisation.
Or Russian fighter jets may win control of Ukrainian skies
As Ukraine prepares its forces for a crucial counter-offensive, the argument among its Western allies about what equipment to provide chunters on. Having finally received the tanks it had been pleading for since last year, Ukraine has increased the intensity of its demands for fighter jets. Yet its pleas are falling on largely deaf ears.
The Economist ‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (April 24, 2023) – This week, how to worry wisely about artificial intelligence, why in Sudan and beyond, the trend towards global peace has been reversed (13:00) and if English nationalism is on the rise, no one has told the English (19:30).
The New York Times Magazine – April 23, 2023:
The crime-scene investigators are the ones who document, and remember, the unimaginable. This is what they saw at Sandy Hook.
In Israel, the United States and other democracies, bitter battles are being waged over the same question.
Whether the platform is dying or not, it’s time to reckon with how exactly it broke our brains.
They bring enormous promise and peril. But how do they work?
In order to assess the damage, we look at three financial institutions
Conflicts are growing longer. Blame complexity, criminality and climate change
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