Leaders

Our cover
How to fight back against Gen-Z socialism
The me-first doctrine is a threat to prosperity
5 min read

Our cover
India’s surprise baby bust is a warning to the world
It is not just rich places that are becoming less fertile
5 min read
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium
A crucial security partner
Ukraine is not a charity case
Europe needs its help just as badly as the other way round
3 min read
Photomontage of a mouth with the red cross of the british flag over it.
Muzzled Britannia
Britain is wrong to ban speakers like Hasan Piker
Even though his views are awful
4 min read
Illustration of the familiar figure from a U.S. dollar bill portrait covering their face with one hand inside an ornate frame, set against a green background.
Treasure it
America’s decaying Treasury market needs a fix
High debt, disjointed markets and pugnacious trade policy all threaten the world’s safe asset
4 min read
Illustration of a blindfolded footballer getting ready to kick a corner.
The even more beautiful game
How to make football more exciting
The World Cup is wonderful. It could be even better
4 min read

Letters
This illustration depicts the Grim Reaper holding a red-and-white striped plastic straw instead of a scythe, symbolizing death being used as or acting as a gatekeeper.
A selection of correspondence
Are most celebrity book-clubs irritating?
Also this week, SpaceX, Star Wars and cinema production, urban trees, management waffle, dressing for the City
5 min read
By Invitation
A portrait of James Tozer
Pass, pass, cross, yawn
Why the World Cup produces an ugly version of the beautiful game
FIFA could emulate other sports by tweaking rules to generate more excitement, writes James Tozer
5 min read
Roll over and groan
The pain to come in private credit
5 min read
Briefing
A girl in school uniform walking alone, surrounded by elderly figures passing by — symbolising low birth rates and an ageing population in India.
Demographic dive
India’s population will soon be falling—probably quite fast
Neither widespread poverty, nor high rates of marriage nor relatively young mothers are sustaining fertility
13 min read
Britain
A demonstrator faces police holding riot shields following a protest march in Southampton on June 2nd 2026
Henry Nowak
Was this Britain’s George Floyd moment?
No, but Nigel Farage would have you think so
5 min read
Robbing Peter to punish Paul
The Green Party’s ill-considered policy to cap CEOs’ pay
4 min read
Greens and reds
British politics has passed peak Palestine
3 min read
No entry
Britain’s government prefers visa bans to free speech
4 min read
Lessons in austerity
The impact of taxing British private-school fees starts to show
5 min read
bagehot
Build a prime minister
5 min read
Europe
A woman walks along a smoke-filled road beside heavily damaged buildings following Russian strikes in Kyiv.
Vision quest
Ukraine is now Europe’s war. Survival can’t be the only aim
America’s disengagement means it is now the old continent’s conflict to manage
6 min read
Who’s afraid of the Bundeswehr?
Why France is uneasy about German rearmament
4 min read
Playing for time
How long can Pedro Sánchez last?
3 min read
Ill-gotten loot
Italy has tracked down Cosa Nostra’s riches
3 min read
Charlemagne
Europe has reduced illegal immigration without goon tactics
5 min read

United States
An illustration of a group of silhouetted people holding out a large red secutiry cheque like a safety net.
Project 2032
America’s Social Security trust fund is disappearing
Legislators have just six years to fix things
6 min read
After Newsom
California is on the cusp of its “Becerra era”
4 min read
Past and presents
Welcome to Evanston, where woke never died
4 min read
Who needs intelligence?
The fading influence of America’s spy co-ordinator
4 min read
Jailscrapers
Meet the jailscraper
5 min read
Lexington
Donald Trump says Pete Hegseth loves war. That should disqualify him
5 min read
Middle East & Africa
A worker raises a pole bearing the Iranian flag at Enghelab Square in Tehran
Never-finished business
Even if America and Iran find an accord, don’t expect it to last
The Donald Trump Show could be back on air later this year
5 min read
Not now, Bibi
Can Donald Trump save Israel from itself in Lebanon?
3 min read
An easier target
Gulf rulers are desperate to prove they are in fact strongmen
4 min read
MAGA missionaries
Nigeria’s Christian groups scramble to win over Trump’s America
4 min read
It’s alright, Goma (I’m only wheeling)
The parable of the tshukudu, Goma’s quintessential transport
2 min read
The Americas
A Military Police officer helps members of the Electoral Justice carry electronic voting machines to a boat for their distribution to indigenous communities along the Rio Negro river, Brazil.
The Bolsonaro effect
Brazil’s high-tech voting system is losing voters’ trust
Blame social media, populist politicians and falling trust in institutions
6 min read
Peasant power
Protesters have controlled Bolivia’s capital for a month
3 min read
Colombia’s next president
Abelardo de la Espriella is now the front-runner in Colombia
4 min read
International
Illustration of Trump's hand putting a pin in a map of Cuba, another pin has the Cuban flag with Trimp's tie forming the red part of the flag
the telegram
Donald Trump could be the man to save Cuba
Ideological certainties have hurt Cubans for 70 years. Time to give cynicism a chance
5 min read
Asia
Bystanders look at the wreckage of a bus in Noshki town of Balochistan province on March 17, 2025, a bombing carried out allegedly by the separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
Double trouble
Pakistan is battling two insurgencies
Problems mount at home as its leader plays peacemaker abroad
5 min read
Cometh the hour
The rise of One Nation is melting Australian politics
3 min read
Don’t mention Taiwan
America’s secretary of war pulls his punches on China
4 min read
Industry in East Asia
Worries about migrants imperil South Korea’s shipbuilding boom
3 min read
Anything goes
Sex tourists fuel outrage about vice in Japan
4 min read
ashoka
India’s republic of uncles
4 min read

China
A father and his son ride an electric scooter, Tianshui, Gansu province, China,
The haves and the have-bots
China’s high-tech rise is leaving much of the country behind
That could make a starkly unequal country even more so
6 min read
Meet the red experts
Xi Jinping gives China’s crack scientists new jobs inside government
4 min read
Different goals
Ma Ning will proudly represent China at the World Cup
2 min read
chaguan
China’s delivery drivers are its most obvious underclass
5 min read
Special report
Illustration of a hand gripping a twisting golden dollar-sign-shaped rope against a blue background
The $32 trillion question
The special role of the Treasury market is in peril
Government debt, inflation and unpredictable policymaking are putting the world’s most important asset under threat, argues Mike Bird in a special report
5 min read
No longer special
Foreign demand for American government debt is becoming much less reliable
6 min read
The basis trade
Like it or not, hedge funds are a permanent part of the Treasury market
8 min read
Balancing Act
Partners in prime: The Fed and Treasury’s new relationship
7 min read
New players
Neither banks nor stablecoins will rescue the Treasury market
4 min read
No other option
Could something replace the Treasury market?
3 min read
Debts of despair
Imagining a world without a safe asset
6 min read
Business

Rodeo capitalism
Texas is America Inc’s new centre of gravity
Exxon’s reincorporation is one more feather in the state’s cowboy hat
7 min read
Engine problems
BYD is losing its spark
4 min read
Sheikh, rattle and roll
A new defence champion is rising from the Gulf
3 min read
Gotta build ’em all
Lego, Pokémon and the future of fun
3 min read
Rolling the dice
Two American tycoons are betting big on a casino revival
3 min read
Chip shot
Nvidia wants to supercharge your laptop
3 min read
bartleby
What to read to understand your next employer
4 min read
schumpeter
American capitalism has taken an apocalyptic turn
5 min read
Finance & economics

The left in front
Gen-Z socialism, from Zohran to Zack and beyond
The world’s leftists are embracing a new set of economic ideas
10 min read
Giga-IPOs
Can the stockmarket swallow SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI?
6 min read
Weather markets
Indians can now bet on the monsoon
3 min read
Peak negativity
European electricity markets have too much power
3 min read
buttonwood
Want to know the future? Don’t trust the stockmarket
4 min read
Free Exchange
Some billionaires pay too little tax
5 min read
Science & technology
illustration of golden wheat field with a translucent data dashboard showing charts, gauges, and weather icons, representing agriculture and tech
Food tech
Investment in agricultural tech is growing
Startups are combining AI and genetics to make more food for less money
5 min read
Blue Origin
Rocket goes boom; so do moon plans
4 min read
Silent night
How to bring down cheap, low-flying drones
5 min read
well informed
Should you use a sleep tracker?
3 min read

Culture
Bust of Alexander the Great inside a circular globe frame on a blue background
Alexander the Greatly entertaining
How many times a day do you think about Alexander the Great?
A new book is as riveting as its protagonist was
6 min read
Jackals, parasites or heroes?
The hidden tastemakers of the literary world
4 min read
Back Story
Why you should never skip a TV intro
4 min read
Best TV/film
The best, and worst, TV series and films of 2026 (so far)
5 min read
Passport to everywhere
Travel is becoming a competitive sport
3 min read
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Obituary
Close-up of Sonny Rollins playing the tenor saxophone, mid 1950s
The last colossus
Sonny Rollins believed that jazz was all there was