Aug 8th 2020

The absent student: How covid-19 will change college

The world this week

Leaders

The absent student

Covid-19 will be painful for universities, but also bring change

They need to rethink how and what they teach

No way to run a country

A big blast should lead to big change in Lebanon

It is past time to reform the broken state

Trumpian TikTok

Forced sales are the wrong way to deal with Chinese tech

America needs to sort out its own data-privacy regime

A bigger dose

The world is spending nowhere near enough on a coronavirus vaccine

Far better to spend far too much

The globalisation of gay rights

As more gay people come out, tolerance will spread

Though in some countries to be open is still to risk death

When the facts change

Economics sometimes changes its mind

The science may be dismal but it is flexible, too

Letters

On reopening schools, oil, French accents, Amazon, sports teams

Letters to the editor

Briefing

Uncanny University

Covid-19 could push some universities over the brink

Higher education was in trouble even before the pandemic

United States

Electing a president

Americans should worry less about foreigners and voter fraud

Law of the letter

The postal service has become vital to America’s elections

Pipes of fancy

Could dawdling America lead the world in a new form of transport?

Without representation

Residents of Washington, DC could once vote for Congress

Strike two

Baseball’s faltering restart

From unthinkable to universal

Universal basic income gains momentum in America

Lexington

The meaning of One America News Network

The Americas

Fighting on fewer fronts

Argentina reaches a deal with its foreign creditors

Oil futures

Democracy wins in Guyana and Suriname

Bello

How Joe Biden might change policy towards Latin America

Asia

India shrining

India’s ruling party replaces a mosque with a Hindu temple

Borderline cases

Australia’s internal travel restrictions are tested in court

Weirs and wherefores

A dam failure raises concerns about corruption in Uzbekistan

Cold cuts

Thai pupils fight for the right to be hirsute

Banyan

Even in death, Lee Teng-hui is helping shape Taiwan’s identity

China

The magic of Malanshan

Why TV shows made in China’s Hunan province are so popular

Thirty more days of hell

Why China’s divorce law is so controversial

Middle East & Africa

Shattered

Beirut after the blast: the crunch of glass, acrid smoke and stairs slick with blood

Fear and loathing in the Sahel

The challenge of mediation in Mali

Prohibition in a pandemic

Why Johannesburg restaurants are full of teapots

A million and not counting

Africa closes in on 1m reported cases of covid-19

Europe

See no evil

American ideas about racism are influencing Europe

Open again

Genoa bridge reopens

Sultan of censorship

Turkey’s president cracks down on social media

Not as stated

Balkan governments said the coronavirus was under control

Charlemagne

Germans learn to love the staycation

The signal turns to red

Spain’s high-speed trains are poor value

Britain

Scotland

How the Scottish National Party risks turning Caledonia into Catalonia

Covid-19 in Scotland

How coronavirus strengthened Scottish independence

Trade and farming

Why food blocks a British-American trade deal

Testing, testing

Boris Johnson’s grand planning reform has weak foundations

Made in the USA

With face-masks, Britain imported an American culture war

A dove over Derry

John Hume’s vision of peace in Northern Ireland is only half-fulfilled

Bagehot

Boris Johnson’s horrible House of Lords list

International

Queer, there and everywhere

How the internet is changing the experience of coming out

Business

The trouble with TINA

America’s stockmarkets are flying high. Its companies still aren’t

Inclusive growth

Joining the S&P 500 may not be as big a boon as often assumed

Worth an arm and a leg

Nvidia tries to get its hands on Arm

Unproductivity puzzle

Microsoft wants a slice of TikTok

Sverige AB v Deutschland AG

Swedish firms have outshone German ones in the pandemic

Bartleby

Dealing with customer complaints

Schumpeter

The trucking industry is in the midst of upheaval—and hype

Finance & economics

Jab economics

Hard questions as scientists and governments seek covid-19 vaccines

A dynamic duopoly

Do Alipay and Tenpay misuse their market power?

Dud light

Why European banks expect fewer bad loans than American rivals

Selection effects

What it takes to become an academic economist is changing

Abandoning hope

Official economic forecasts for poor countries are too rosy

Free exchange

Dollar dominance is as secure as American global leadership

Schools brief

When big isn’t beautiful

What more should antitrust be doing?

Science & technology

Artificial intelligence

A new AI language model generates poetry and prose

Dive in

Covid-19 testing labs are being overwhelmed

Parasites under pressure

An exception to the rule that there are no marine insects

Good grilling

An indoor barbecue to prevent pollution problems

Books & arts

Legacies of violence

Activist curators are sharpening the debate on restitution

Johnson

Donald Trump’s language offers insight into how he won the presidency

A glacier’s pace

A haunting meditation on climate change in Iceland

The girl next door

Lee Conell’s debut novel is a gripping tale of class and privilege

Home Entertainment

The benefits of learning an instrument in lockdown

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

90% economy, 120% gastronomy

Covid-19 seems to have changed lifestyles for good

Obituary

The ingénue who roared