Nov 11th 2023

How scary is China?

The world this week

Leaders

AI and culture

The dawn of the omnistar

How artificial intelligence will transform fame

Superpower politics

How scary is China?

America must understand China’s weaknesses as well as its strengths

Constitutional chicanery

Giorgia Meloni’s “mother of all reforms” is a power grab

Italians should reject their prime minister’s demagogic proposal

Flawmakers

How to fix Britain’s legislative problems

Parliament is failing at its most basic function—scrutinising laws

Open, but orderly

More welcoming migration policies require borders that are secure

Let more people in legally, swiftly exclude those who come illegally

Property wrongs

Time to take a wrecking ball to realtors’ fees in America

A court case is a first step to ending a racket

Letters

On leaders and managers, Colombia, health-care costs, the British pint, being rich

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

British constitutional arrangements

The United Kingdom’s political constitution is under severe strain

Briefing

AI did it my way

Now AI can write, sing and act, is it still possible to be a star?

The deal that ended the Hollywood actors’ strike reflects a fear of the technology

Asia

India’s north-east

Can Narendra Modi complete India’s state-building project?

Grainy season

Narendra Modi and the art of claiming credit

Links in the Chain

China’s aggression brings Japan and the Philippines closer

Diplomatic baggage

North Korea is shutting embassies

Banyan

Australia and China patch things up

China

Bogged down

Xi Jinping wants China to have better toilets

Not all fun and games

The people of Hong Kong are growing more tolerant

Xi, her, hers

China wants women to stay home and bear children

Chaguan

A Chinese dispute with the Philippines is a test of America

United States

It can’t happen here (again)

Donald Trump looks terrifyingly electable

Hope springs

Democrats are giddy from this week’s electoral sweep

The clap is back

Why sexually transmitted infections are rising in America

Disarming justice

The Supreme Court has found a gun-control measure it likes

East of Eden

California is losing people, but this region wouldn’t know it

Indefensible, unpronounceable

Boston’s “cradle of liberty” was paid for with slavery profits

Cracks in the wall

Chicago’s progressive coalition is struggling with migration

Middle East & Africa

Israel’s window of legitimacy

Will America pull the plug on Israel’s invasion of Gaza?

The darkest nights

Gaza’s nights are darker now than at any point in the past decade

Gaza’s civilians

All parties are blaming each other for the dire situation in Gaza

Iran, Israel and the war

The deadly missile race in the Middle East

Crisis in the Middle East

The Gaza war has deepened Joe Biden’s Iran nightmare

Chicken wars

The battle over South Africa’s spicy-chicken market

Critical minerals

China is winning Africa’s “white-gold” rush for lithium

The Americas

Bonanza or bust?

Oil traders are flocking to sanctions-free Venezuela

All that glitters

Illegal gold is booming in South America

No country for old men

Why are there so many suicides in rich, stable Uruguay?

Europe

Cling to the centre

Germany’s Christian Democrats are unsure whom to hug

Free under fire

A year after its liberation, Kherson still knows fear—and defiance

Jews in France

Antisemitism surges in France after the Hamas attacks on Israel

Charlemagne

The outsize influence of small states is fading in the EU

Britain

Do not pass go

Lawmaking in Britain is becoming worse

Something will turn up

When should Rishi Sunak call the next British election?

Divide and rue

Suella Braverman uses a pro-Palestinian march to sow discord

Circuit fudge

Why rail electrification is so slow in Britain

Bagehot

To understand Britain, watch “Homes Under the Hammer”

International

New arrivals, old problems

Why migration is in such a mess once more

Special report

Unknown soldiers

The People’s Liberation Army is not yet as formidable as the West fears

Rank indifference

China is struggling to recruit enough highly skilled troops

Weapons of woe

From hypersonic missiles to undersea drones, the PLA is making leaps

Peace disease

Xi Jinping worries that China’s troops are not ready to fight

Command or control

Xi Jinping is obsessed with political loyalty in the PLA

Operation overload

Invading Taiwan would be a logistical minefield for China

China’s armed forces

Acknowledgments

Business

Surveillance capitalism

Silicon Valley is piling into the business of snooping

From tycoons to tiffin boxes

India is in the midst of an unusual IPO boom

An innovator’s dilemma

When should a founder step down?

Caving in

The fall of WeWork shows the deepening cracks in property

Bartleby

How to manage teams in a world designed for individuals

Schumpeter

The Bob Iger v Nelson Peltz rematch

Finance & economics

Take the plunge

Are politicians brave enough for daredevil economics?

Little Satan

America’s economic might gives it little sway in the Middle East

Death valley

America’s bad auto loans could have nasty consequences

Buttonwood

Forget the S&P 500. Pay attention to the S&P 493

About that renaissance

Why American manufacturing is becoming less efficient

Soft-currency power

The Chinese yuan is losing value, yet gaining ground

Free exchange

In praise of America’s car addiction

Science & technology

Gut feelings

Microbiome treatments are taking off

The war underground

Israel hopes technology will help it fight in Hamas’s tunnels

The wind in their sails

How two teams plan to smash the world sailing-speed record

Culture

Estate of affairs

The business of mining literary estates is booming

Risky business

A new Museum of Prohibited Art shows how censorship evolved

Murder, she wrote

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son tries to make sense of her murder

Breadth of French air

Two new novels showcase the breadth of contemporary French fiction

Cowboys and Indians

Rodeo plays a central role in Native American culture

Bizzy bees

Are influencers shrewd businesspeople or fame-hungry narcissists?

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

The Economist explains

Who is Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces?

The Economist explains

Why covid-19 did not harm rich economies as badly as first thought

Obituary

Elastic adventures