The world this week

Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders


Our election endorsement
A second Trump term comes with unacceptable risks
If The Economist had a vote, we would cast it for Kamala Harris

Mission unaccomplished
The British budget combines large numbers and a narrow vision
A bigger state but an irrational way to fund it

A very cold war
How to avoid anarchy in Antarctica
All that stands between the status quo and chaos is a fragile treaty

Capital control
Index funds want to continue being treated as “passive” investors
They should act like them, then

Think outside the box
ADHD should not be treated as a disorder
Adapting schools and workplaces for it can help far more

Letters

On the OECD and climate, violence against women, the NHS, AI and nuclear power, Britishisms
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Middle out, not trickle-down
Kamala Harris wants to invest and cut the cost of living, says Bharat Ramamurti
America’s election integrity
Respect election officials to preserve democracy, says an Arizona county supervisor
Briefing


A sting in the tail risks
How bad could a second Trump presidency get?
The damage to America’s economy, institutions and the world would be huge
Essay


Anti-politics is eating the West
When politics is about hating the other side, democracy suffers
Asia


Neighbourhood strife
North Korea’s fanatical regime just got scarier
Prayer and profit
India’s startups pray for a Hindu super-app
Hard ball
Australia is trying to ruck China in Papua New Guinea
Cut down to size
Pakistan’s politicians seize control of the judiciary
Japan shakes
Voters deliver a historic rebuke to Japan’s ruling coalition
Banyan
Yes sir: a bizarre initiation ritual for Indonesia’s cabinet
China


An insurance policy against MAGA
Why China may be saving its bazooka for Donald Trump
A discomforting deployment
North Korea’s aid to Russia raises difficult questions in China
Frightened by Halloween
China rounds up Batman, Donald Trump and the Buddha
Readers in exile
A new intellectual hub for Chinese émigrés in Washington

United States


Take this into a count
What to watch for on election night, and beyond
Young men on couches
Will Donald Trump’s bros turn out?
Campaign calculus: miss calculation
How wrong could America’s pollsters be?
Osborn again
Could a mechanic in Nebraska determine control of the Senate?
Bringing down the House
The fight to win the most unruly institution in Washington
Lexington
This campaign is also demonstrating America’s democratic vitality
Middle East & Africa


The aftermath of the Israeli strikes
Iran needs a new national-security strategy
Diminished defences
Israel is keeping open the nuclear option
The not-quite-peace deal
Another African war looms
The Americas


US elections and Mexico
Triple trouble awaits Mexico if Donald Trump wins
Climate justice
Justin Trudeau is paying for solar panels in the cold, dark Arctic
Outshining Odysseus
Why Uruguayans rejected a government splurge
Europe


Georgia’s election
Georgia’s ruling party crushes the country’s European dream
Survival mode
Ukraine is now struggling to cling on, not to win
Spanish floods
Floods in Spain cause death and devastation
The long road to peace
Turkey could soon strike a historic peace deal with the Kurds
Free roaming
The immigrants Europe quietly wants more of
Charlemagne
The power and limits of Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic charm
Britain


The tax lever
Britain’s budget is heavy on spending but light on reform
Grievance politics
The extreme right after the riots in Britain
Demography
Britain’s birth rate has crashed. It is likely to recover
Life on the water
A growing number of Britons live on canal boats
Money, the media and power
Meet one of Britain’s most influential, least understood people
Bagehot
Britain’s Labour Party has forgotten how to be nice
International


Diplomacy on ice
Intrigue, greed and hostility burn in the Antarctic
A column on world affairs
The Telegram: our new guide to a dangerous world
Business


The Medicis and Michelangelo
What if Microsoft let OpenAI go free?
Oversubscribed
Too many people want to be social-media influencers
From shuddering to shuttering
Volkswagen’s woes illustrate Germany’s creeping deindustrialisation
Flush fund
Can Japan’s toilet technology crack global markets?
Dig, baby, dig
China is tightening its grip on the world’s minerals
Bartleby
How to beat jet lag
Schumpeter
Can anyone besides Nvidia make big bucks from chips?
Finance & economics


Presidential preoccupations
America’s glorious economy should help Kamala Harris
Death of despair
American men are getting back to work
In the crossfire
Donald Trump would leave Asia with only bad options
Economic rescue
Why China needs to fill its empty homes
Corporate heaven
Ireland’s government has an unusual problem: too much money
In search of lost revenue
Sin taxes are suffering from a shortage of sinners
Buttonwood
Will bond vigilantes come for America’s next president?
Free exchange
Greenland faces one of history’s great resource rushes—and curses
Science & technology


Into focus
Researchers are questioning if ADHD should be seen as a disorder
Bivalve broadband
Heart-cockle shells may work like fibre-optic cables
The wrong stuff
Space may be worse for humans than thought
Blue-sky thinking
Airships may finally prove useful for transporting cargo
Culture


A Mexican wave
Made in Mexico: why the new Hollywood is south of the border
The queen of kawaii
Hello Kitty, still cute at 50
The theory of evolution
Darwin and Dawkins: a tale of two biologists
Back to black
Goth culture has returned from the dead
Electioneering
How podcasts came to rule America’s campaign conversation
The Economist watches
The best film and TV featuring fictional American elections
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary


The necklace in the bread
Lily Ebert lived to share her story of Auschwitz