SEP 26TH 2020
Why are so many governments getting it wrong?

The world this week

Politics this week
Business this week
KAL’s cartoon
Leaders

Covid-19
Why governments get it wrong
Therapies and vaccines will come, but not for many months. Until then, politicians will have to work on the basics

Covid-19 and poverty
Failing the poor
The pandemic has reversed years of progress in reducing extreme poverty. Once again, politicians bear much blame

The Supreme Court
After RBG
How to make American judges less notorious

The corporate undead
Zombies at the gates
Without care, measures taken during the pandemic will keep alive firms that ought to be put out of their misery

Quantum computing
From cloisters to the cloud
Investors are pouring money into quantum computing. Its development offers lessons about innovation

Letters

Letters to the editor
On Abe Shinzo, Venezuela, national ID cards, America, Imran Khan’s pets
Briefing

The covid-19 pandemic
Grim tallies
The one-millionth official covid-19 death is due by the end of September. How has the pandemic progressed—and where is it headed?

Asia


Bureaucrats in Indonesia
Rejoice to serve
The monarchy in Thailand
Do you hear the people, king?
Agriculture in India
Yield curve
Malaysian politics
Anwar on the attack
Banyan
Twitchers without borders
China


Climate change
A greener horizon
Ren Zhiqiang
A loose cannon silenced
Chaguan
Tit for futile tat
United States


The battle for the Senate
The donkey’s long tail
Amy Coney Barrett
From RBG to ACB
Rural voters
Signs of the times
The US Navy
AI, Captain
Partisan warring
Courting trouble
Lexington
A double negative
Middle East & Africa


Syria
Despot of deprivation
Lebanon
After the blast, the bulldozers
Social media and war crimes
Accidental cover-up
Gold in Ghana
What’s the rush?
The Americas


Peru
Limping in Lima
Argentina and Uruguay
A mini-war across the River Plate
Bello
Darkness in Mexico
Europe


French diplomacy
Trying to square a circle
Corruption in Ukraine
Lock up the small fry—for a start
Italy
Counter-strike
Switzerland and the European Union
Is it in Europe?
Charlemagne
The right to sell passports
Britain


The Labour Party
Reflections on conservatism
Trans rights
Who’s a woman?
Covid-19
Winter has come
Public transport
The little engine that couldn’t
Conservative protest
Leave.BBC
Income distribution
Importing inequality
Commercial property
A pain in the portfolio
Bagehot
The king in the north
International


Covid-19 and poor countries
From plague to penury
Business


Oracle
Larry’s last stand
TikTok
The principals’ uncertainty
Cola wars
Fire-starter
BP v utilities
The new majors
Bartleby
The toughest business school
Rocket Internet
Coming down to earth
Microblogging
Weibo woes
Schumpeter
Lighting up Japan Inc
Finance & economics


Ailing companies
The corporate undead
Companies in Japan
The return of the living dead?
America’s economy
Snapback
Buttonwood
The bright side
The Vatican’s finances
A holy mess
Free exchange
The mop that never stops
Science & technology


The business of quantum computers
Uncertainty principals
Evolution
Accidental killer
A fossorial fossil
A burrowing dinosaur
Books & arts


Gangs and governments
The monster and the boys
American statesmen
All the presidents’ man
Cradles of civilisation
Pivot of the world
A writer’s life
Cool to be kind
Hercule Poirot
The case of the 100-year-old detective
Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


America’s Senate
The Maine reason
Obituary


Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Diva dissenter