The world this week

Politics and business
KAL’s cartoon
Leaders


The end of magical thinking
A realistic path to a better relationship between Britain and the EU
The question of Europe has caused a decade of turmoil. Here’s how to use the next ten years better

Exit wave
How China’s reopening will disrupt the world economy
A tale of death, growth and inflation

Northern delights
Why the gusty North Sea could give Europe an industrial edge
Wind power is breathing life into a new green economy on its coasts

Internet from the sky
Starlink’s performance in Ukraine has ignited a new space race
Never mind the moon; look to low-Earth orbit

Unspeakable
What the Kevin McCarthy saga means for America’s Congress
Power struggles, public humiliation and a government shutdown may follow

Letters

On Britain’s constitution, Canada, Dutch auctions, bad translations
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Europe’s economy
Paschal Donohoe on how the euro will thrive in spite of the war in Ukraine
Briefing


A murmuration of Starlinks
How Elon Musk’s satellites have saved Ukraine and changed warfare
And the worries about what comes next
Asia


Asian geopolitics
Reinventing the Indo-Pacific
Cloud coup-coup land
A historic transfer of power in the South Pacific
Groping in the dark
Postponing India’s census is terrible for the country
Banyan
Pakistan and China find they have little leverage with the Taliban
China


The tsunami
China is overwhelmed, yet an even bigger covid wave may be coming
Chaguan
The Chinese Communist Party plans to avoid a zero-covid reckoning
United States


Making little plans
Chicago’s woes are over-hyped
Business time
Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul have grand plans for New York City
McCarthy and the new House
Republicans struggle to elect a speaker of the House
Wealth warning
Pay-transparency laws do not work as advertised
Lexington
The great mystery of American politics

Middle East & Africa


Nothing’s gonna stop us now
Israel’s new government will test the ties with Arab states
The cost of the coup
Sudan’s troubled east is a microcosm of a wider crisis
Sex toys and taboos
Women in the Middle East are leading a revolt against prudish men
The Americas


Big plans, not much money
Brazil’s new president faces a fiscal crunch and a fickle Congress
Europe


Hills to die on?
A Russian warlord’s savagery is sending a loud message to Moscow
Game-shooting in France
France reviews its hunting rules
Frenemies on the Oder
Why Poland loves to hate Germany
Charlemagne
Fifty years ago, the EU cracked the secret of its current success
Britain


Je regrette quelque chose
Assembling a better British relationship with Europe
The gender wars
Scotland’s new gender-reform law presents Rishi Sunak with a dilemma
Windrush
Britain’s offshore wind farms attract tourists
Bagehot
Britons in their thirties are stuck in a dark age
International


Late prelate
The death of Pope Benedict removes a problem for liberal Catholics
Joy and severity
Pope Benedict XVI was an iron fist in a white glove
Business


Mare industriae
Can the North Sea become Europe’s new economic powerhouse?
Bartleby
How to have the most productive working day of your life
Bitter syrup
A scandal rocks India’s pharmaceutical industry
The Tesla conundrum
Investors conclude that Tesla is a carmaker, not a tech firm
Schumpeter
How to avoid flight chaos
Finance & economics


Life after covid-19
What the great reopening means for China—and the world
The sound of silence
Imagine an India without hawkers
Whydunnit?
Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty
Buttonwood
Will investors have another awful year in 2023?
Science & technology


Covid-19
All around the world, covid surveillance is faltering
Killing SARS-CoV-2
Acidifying the air may protect against covid
The changing nature of science
Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive
Culture


Kings of the world
Alexander the Great and the birth of the modern world
Genetic engineering
“As Gods” is a valuable primer on a controversial science
Creepy fiction
“The Thing in the Snow” is a weird but wonderful novel
Courtly love
For the Tudors, love was an elaborate game
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


The secret is out
America’s 117th Congress accomplished a lot. So did its recent predecessors
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
Who is Andrew Tate, the misogynist hero to millions of young men?
Obituary


King of the beautiful game
Pelé went from poverty to football superstardom