Jan 24th 2019

Slowbalisation: The future of global commerce

The world this week

Leaders

Slowbalisation

The steam has gone out of globalisation

A new pattern of world commerce is becoming clearer—as are its costs

Rules for flying robots

Drones need to be encouraged, and people protected

Tighter regulations will not hamper troublemakers

The neighbours say enough

How to hasten the demise of Venezuela’s dictatorship

Recognising an interim president instead of Nicolás Maduro is a start

Stopping a thief

The world should not recognise Congo’s stolen election

By ignoring the will of the people, Congo’s rulers invite mayhem

Beating the pros

No one did more for the small investor than Jack Bogle

Index investing has saved amateur punters a fortune in fees

Letters

On housing, Guatemala, Europe, Britain, Pakistan, the military, Chairman Mao

Letters

Briefing

The global list

Globalisation has faltered

It is now being reshaped

United States

Makers and takers

The arrival of Foxconn in Wisconsin divides Democrats

Young Americans

Republicans and Democrats are taking early education more seriously

AO, let’s go

Republicans may learn to love Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Masculinity on steroids

Why bull-riding is becoming more popular

Lexington

Donald Trump made a dreadful miscalculation over the shutdown

The Americas

One republic, two presidents

Juan Guaidó wins diplomatic recognition as Venezuela’s president

Fighting fire with firearms

Jair Bolsonaro wants Brazilians to have more guns

Asia

Dire straits

China’s might is forcing Taiwan to rethink its military strategy

Banyan

The road to democracy in Asia is full of twists and turns

Judging the judges

An influence-peddling scandal ensnares South Korea’s top court

Defending the nail

A Japanese court strikes a blow against exacting dress codes

Roiled academy

Hindu nationalists take aim at a hallowed Indian university

Shuffling deckhands

Afghanistan prepares to vote for the same old faces

Undeserving

Indonesia’s president toys with releasing a terrorist ideologue

China

Silk Rhodes

Why China is lavishing money on foreign students

Politics v the law

A celebrity blogger in China shines a light on political intrigue

Chaguan

China must embrace global norms if it wants to defend the environment

Middle East & Africa

“My own media”

Binyamin Netanyahu’s obsession with the press

An elephant in the desert

Egypt prepares to open its grand new capital

Sword 1, Pen 0

The murder of an investigative journalist shakes Ghana

Blood on their hands

Zimbabwe sees its worst state violence in a decade

The man who won the count

Félix Tshisekedi’s presidency of Congo begins inauspiciously

Europe

First, wash your hands

Why Dutch hospitals are so good at beating superbugs

An exporter imports trouble

Is Germany’s golden decade coming to an end?

Residual injustices

Are international tribunals running out of steam?

Dud on the tracks

The travails of Germany’s rail passengers

Treasure islands

Malta and Cyprus face growing pressure over money-laundering

Charlemagne

How Britain and its neighbours misunderstand each other

Britain

An absent agenda

Missing: the British government

Brexit and Parliament

The unintended consequences of the plan to stop a no-deal Brexit

Vulture or visionary?

Can the “power drinker” of British business rescue the high street?

Testing the test

Lie-detectors might be useful, even if they don’t work

Wylfa’s fallout

Hitachi’s exit puts Britain’s nuclear policy in meltdown

The (Inter)National Health Service

The NHS is developing a profitable line in overseas consulting

Port in a storm

Teesside bids to become Britain’s first free port

Bagehot

Michael Gove, moderate maverick

International

Knocking heads together

Few sports are doing enough to protect athletes from brain damage

Business

India’s new Jiography

Mukesh Ambani wants to be India’s first internet tycoon

The big merger that couldn’t

The creation of a European rail champion is headed for the buffers

Bartleby

Companies can appeal to workers and consumers with liberal messages

Opening salvo

The French fine against Google is the start of a war

Cold-shouldered

Huawei looks increasingly beleaguered in the West

Kicking the tyres

Lessons from the fall of China’s bike-sharing pioneer

Schumpeter

As retailers abandon the high street, why is IKEA moving in?

Finance & economics

Black swans and fat tails

The market for cyber-insurance is growing

China’s economy

Headlines about China’s weak growth are somewhat misleading

The winding road

Monetary policy in Africa has become more orthodox

Benchmark interest rates

LIBOR’s administrator proposes an alternative to the doomed rate

Stubborn blemishes

Cleaning up Italy’s banks is proving slow and painful

Buttonwood

Australia has dodged many banana skins. Is it about to come a cropper?

Big numbers

Efforts to fix the market in auditing rumble on

A delicate balance

Investors fear that the unwinding of QE is causing market turbulence

Free exchange

The euro area is back on the brink of recession

Science & technology

Drone defenders

Thankfully, the technology to combat rogue drones is getting better

Marine biology

The sea cucumber, an apparently sedentary creature, is anything but

Palaeontology

Shifts in Earth’s orbit increase the chances of spectacular fossils

Modern life

The pros and cons of placebo buttons

Trick photography

A camera that can see round corners

Books & arts

The wheel of history

Max Weber’s enduring wisdom

The Davos delusion

Down with philanthrocapitalism, says an entertaining polemic

Still beating

The recovery from Wounded Knee

A schoolroom in the Village

Alex Harsley is an unsung doyen of New York photography

Above us only sky

The perils of celebrity

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

British universities

The cost of studying the arts at Oxbridge

Obituary

To the heights of Parnassus