The world this week
Politics
Business
The weekly cartoon
This week’s cover

Leaders


On another planet
The opportunities—and dangers—for Trump’s disrupter-in-chief
Elon Musk is given the ultimate target: America’s government

It’s time
Why British MPs should vote for assisted dying
A long-awaited liberal reform is in jeopardy
Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union party gives a statement at the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, November 12th 2024
Act now, Mr Merz
Germany cannot afford to wait to relax its debt brake
It should move before the election
This illustration shows a graduation cap (mortarboard) with a small pile of coins inside its circular top. The background is green, and the cap's tassel is yellow.
Diminishing returns
Too many master’s courses are expensive and flaky
Governments should help postgraduates get a better deal
A group of protesters burn pictures Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2020
Danger and deals in the Middle East
From Nixon to China, to Trump to Tehran
Iran is weak. For America’s next president that creates an opportunity

Letters

On ADHD, America’s election, Antarctica, canals, difficulties, Quincy Jones, Justin Trudeau
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Britain’s end-of-life debate
My assisted-dying bill safely solves a grave injustice, says Kim Leadbeater
Britain’s end-of-life debate
Assisted-dying advocates’ claims of freedom have it backward, says Danny Kruger
Briefing

A photo illustration of Donald Trump and Elon Musk
The first buddy
Elon Musk and Donald Trump seem besotted. Where is their bromance headed?
Past precedent is not encouraging
Elon Musk raises his arms to supporters at a rally in Madison Square Garden, New York
Poster boy
Elon Musk’s transformation, in his own words
Our analysis of 38,000 posts on X reveal a changed man
Asia

An illustration of silhouetted figures walking up stairs and reaching a plateau at the top.
Middle-class malaise
The surprising stagnation of Asia’s middle classes
Women in the workforce
The mystery of India’s female labour-force participation rate
A fight over rights
Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand
Extra baggage
Why is it so hard for Indians to get a visa?
Water woes
The Caspian Sea is shrinking rapidly
Banyan
Once a free-market pioneer, Sri Lanka takes a leap to the left
China

A little black figure struggles to open a door in the back of Xi Jinping's head.
The Sino-American rivalry
Helping America’s hawks get inside the head of Xi Jinping
A hill of beans
Trump, trade and feeding China’s pigs
Human rights in China
Snuffing out the flame of freedom in Hong Kong
United States

A 2024 balloon can be seen at an empty County Democrats Election Night Watch Party.
Donkey Rashomon
Democrats are still processing their defeat
Farewell to the five queens
Los Angeles decides it is sick of scandal
Stop, start
Congestion pricing in New York gets the go-ahead after all. Maybe
Deporting the suits
What will Donald Trump do about legal immigration?
Capitol offences
Will Donald Trump now pardon the January 6th rioters?
Fries with that
How gaga is MAHA?
Lexington
How Donald Trump could win the future

The Americas

People hold Brazilian and Chinese flags.
A match made in the Middle Kingdom
Brazil courts China as its Musk feud erupts again
Institutional failure
Parlacen, a bizarre parliament, is a refuge for bent politicians
Operation Holy Salmon
The mafia’s latest bonanza: salmon heists
Middle East & Africa

A protester holds a poster depicting former U.S. President Donald Trump, shown in a defiant pose, during a rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 3, 2024.
America and the Middle East
Get ready for “Maximum Pressure 2.0” on Iran
More chaos in Gaza
Israel’s hardliners want no one else to control Gaza
Sudan’s civil war
A genocidal militia’s quest for legitimacy
The non-appliance of science
Why GM crops aren’t feeding Africa
Europe

The logo of a rusty Volkswagen VW T1
The Germans don’t do it better
Once dominant, Germany is now desperate
The struggle with Russia
Ukraine’s secret army in France
Attack ’em
Ukraine can, at last, use its Western missiles inside Russia
Charlemagne
A rise in antisemitism puts Europe’s liberal values to the test
Britain

A nurse attending to a pateient behind curtains, the light coming through the blinds
The Victorian example
Where British MPs should look before the vote on assisted dying
False dilemma
How to fix palliative care in Britain
Asylum-seekers
Britain’s new government may cut the number of Channel crossings
Megafund pool party
Britain’s government wants bigger pension funds
Sloedown
The story of Britain’s “ginaissance”
Criminal justice
A sticking-plaster policy for Britain’s strained courts
Bagehot
Assisted dying and the two concepts of liberty
International


University in America and Britain
Is your master’s degree useless?
The Telegram
The perils of appeasing a warlike Russia
Business

A photo illustration dipicting Chinese flag is hidden behind the white ripped paper.
A corporate identity crisis
How Chinese is Shein?
All’s well that’s Blackwell
Nvidia’s boss dismisses fears that AI has hit a wall
Death by LLM
What ChatGPT’s corporate victims have in common
Breakout
Donald Trump’s victory has boosted shares in private-prison companies
Indian business
Gautam Adani faces bribery charges in America
Flying low
Spirit’s woes reveal the dismal state of America’s budget airlines
Bartleby
How to behave in lifts: an office guide
Schumpeter
Does Dallas offer a vision of Trumpian America?
Finance & economics

Elon Musk speaks during a town hall event in support of Donald Trump at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, United States on October 18th 2024
Slash and burn
How to make Elon Musk’s budget-slashing dreams come true
Europe’s revenge
Donald Trump’s gas war is about to begin
Lying flat
Is China really a nation of slackers?
Buttonwood
Should investors just give up on stocks outside America?
The 21% war
Vladimir Putin is in a painful economic bind
Dotcom dreaming
Computers unleashed economic growth. Will artificial intelligence?
Free exchange
What Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders get wrong about credit cards
Science & technology

The human small intestine.
The Human Cell Atlas
Scientists are building a catalogue of every type of cell in our bodies
Fit to print
Scientific publishers are producing more papers than ever
Funny business
The two types of human laugh
Moving the needle
How squid could help people get over their needle phobia
Culture

Jordan Peterson dressed as a vicar
Love him or loathe him?
The cult of Jordan Peterson
Dove or raven?
Woodrow Wilson’s reputation continues to decline
In earshot
The best podcasts of 2024, as picked by The Economist
Valley and the gods
Tech and religion are very much alike
Sing it from the rooftops
The New York-London arbitrage for musicals
It’s a whole new ball game
Canadian v American football: can you catch the difference?
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary

Frank Auerbach in his studio
Layering up, scraping off
Frank Auerbach aimed only at one memorable image