May 27th 2023

The haunting

The world this week

Leaders

The sick factor

How to fix the NHS

Money will help. But a radical shift in focus is more important

America’s presidential race

Donald Trump is very likely to be the Republican nominee

So his chances of re-entering the Oval Office are uncomfortably high

Carry on Kyriakos

A stunning election result for Greece’s prime minister

Kyriakos Mitsotakis deserves his unexpected triumph

End of the peace dividend

How to get more bang for the buck in Western defence budgets

Lessons from the war in Ukraine

Seize the day (and the board)

Activist investors are needed more than ever

Low rates, passive investing and ESG have left opportunities for active shareholders

Letters

On international aid, inflation, Britain’s royal family, walking, bacteria, Liz Truss

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Data protection

Don’t be fooled by Meta’s fine for data breaches, says Johnny Ryan

Financial crime

A forensic-accounting expert on how to treat the fraud epidemic

Briefing

A bungled coup

Ron DeSantis has little chance of beating Donald Trump

Hopes of depriving the former president of the Republican nomination are fading

Asia

Surviving the dragon

Australia has faced down China’s trade bans and emerged stronger

An interview with Bangladesh’s prime minister

Sheikh Hasina is Asia’s iron lady

Up and away

Japan’s ageing society is finding creative ways to dispose of its dead

Banyan

America is lavishing attention on Pacific island states

China

A toe-hold in Europe

Hungary is becoming more important to China

Surfin’ again

Small-town Chinese officials are making money with music festivals

Dog’s dinner

China’s cancel culture is nationalist, not woke

Chaguan

Why the Communist Party fears gay rights

United States

Tribulations and trials

How Donald Trump’s trials and the Republican primary will intersect

Solidarity snips

Vasectomies rose by 29% in the three months after the end of Roe

The doom loop

Downtown San Francisco is at a tipping-point

Drug pricing

The push to bring insulin prices down in America

The too few and the less proud

American policing has changed since George Floyd’s murder

Lexington

DeSantis is a truer believer, if a lesser politician, than Trump

Middle East & Africa

Downhill from rainbow nation

Business leaders fear that South Africa risks becoming a failed state

My ratings are better than yours

African governments say credit-rating agencies are biased against them

Waiting for God’s choice

Who will be Iran’s next leader?

A wishful wedding

Can Jordan fall in love with Saudi Arabia?

The Americas

The race to succeed AMLO

Mexico could elect its first female president next year

A power struggle

Lula wants to purge Brazil of Jair Bolsonaro’s influence

Europe

Electric cars

Electric cars could be crucial for the EU to meet its climate goals

Raid on Belgorod

Who are the militias raiding Russia’s Belgorod region?

French unions

Women take over France’s powerful trade unions

Charlemagne

Europe has shaken off Putin’s gas embargo

Britain

Ward mentality

To survive, Britain’s NHS must stop fixating on hospital care

Dear as chips

Britain’s semiconductor strategy shows the bind the country is in

Best supporting actor

With Hollywood on strike, foreign shows enjoy the limelight

Bittersweet

Britain’s economy may grow by more than expected, but inflation is stickier

Bagehot

British voters want more immigrants but less immigration

International

Farewell, peace dividend

The cost of the global arms race

Business

A giant sucking sound

Can carbon removal become a trillion-dollar business?

Deutsche Bahn

It will take years to get Deutsche Bahn back on track

Muscle and memory

Asian businesses are being dragged into the chip war

Reactivated

Why activist investors are going to have a busy year

Zell-side analysis

What properties would Sam Zell invest in next?

Fine and dandy

Meta gets whacked with a €1.2bn penalty

Bartleby

Why are corporate retreats so extravagant?

Schumpeter

Why tech giants want to strangle AI with red tape

Finance & economics

The nightmare scenario

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

Xi v Putin

China and Russia compete for Central Asia’s favour

Quite a coup

China’s state capitalists celebrate their soaring shares

Buttonwood

The American credit cycle is at a dangerous point

Love and conflict

What would humans do in a world of super-AI?

Free exchange

What performance-enhancing stimulants mean for economic growth

Science & technology

Neuroscience and AI

Artificial brains are helping scientists study the real thing

Recycling old tyres

Old tyres can become a climate-friendly fuel

Helicopter beetles

Parenting can be bad for the kids

Saving Venice

Why Venetians are pondering raising their entire city

Culture

The robotic school

Art made by artificial intelligence is developing a style of its own

Contemplative spy fiction

In Javier Marías’s final novel, an agent confronts his conscience

Social psychology

“The Perfection Trap” decries what it calls a “hidden epidemic”

Great-power decline

Rome fell. Will the modern-day West follow suit?

Johnson

As it spreads across the world, who owns English?

American drama

August Wilson was and remains a bard of black life in America

The Economist reads

Spies and scribes

The spy who read me: authors under surveillance

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

The new normal

Our model suggests that global deaths remain 5% above pre-covid forecasts

The Economist explains

Who are the pro-Ukrainian militias raiding Russia’s Belgorod region?

The Economist explains

Why America has so many banks

Obituary

L’enfant terrible