Sep 10th 2020

Office politics: The fight over the future of work

The world this week

Leaders

The future of work

Is the office finished?

The fight over the future of the workplace

A desperate despot’s dodgy deal

Will Putin save Lukashenko?

In exchange for Russian support, an autocrat prepares to sell out his country

Brexit and international law

Britain threatens to flout international law

Boris Johnson’s readiness to break a treaty as a negotiating tactic is both foolish and dangerous

Golden State ablaze

Why is California burning?

It’s time to think harder about incentives

Land reform

Who owns what?

Enforceable property rights are still far too rare in poor countries

Letters

On digital trade, Ferdinand Magellan, the centre-left, mental health, diplomacy, economics

Letters to the editor

Briefing

The future of the office

Covid-19 has forced a radical shift in working habits

Mostly for the better

United States

The boomers’ last stand

Younger Americans feel their voting weight

Rap on the block

Sotheby’s hip-hop auction

Our election model

Donald Trump could still stage a comeback (again)

The will of the...whatever

Political skulduggery in Missouri

Shelter in place

Can the Trump administration halt evictions on public-health grounds?

Lexington

How construction workers in Ohio view the election

The Americas

Home truths

The pandemic further weakens Latin America’s underperforming schools

Air show

The Mexican president’s plane isn’t selling

Bello

No good options for Venezuela’s divided opposition

Asia

Highland brig

India is still trampling on civil liberties in Kashmir

Ice and fire

India and China exchange the first gunshots in 45 years

Undo the locomotion

Japan’s rural railways are disappearing

They shot the smoking guns

Two Burmese soldiers confess to war crimes against the Rohingya

Banyan

Typhoon season makes Japan and the Koreas ponder climate change

China

The red front-line

China’s Communist Party is splurging on new local drop-in centres

Bumping heads

Tensions between China and the West threaten journalism

Chaguan

China’s authoritarian approach won’t save the environment

Middle East & Africa

Dreams of fields

The quest for secure property rights in Africa

Failing the test

Schools in Jordan struggle with covid-19 and jailed teachers

Next year in Jerusalem

Serbia and Kosovo awkwardly embrace Israel

Stealth gap

How an overpriced warplane complicates diplomacy in the Middle East

Europe

Erdogan thinks big

Turkey’s strongman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, takes to the world stage

Blamed for the virus

The number of migrants arriving in Italy is up again

“Understanding” Russia has limits

Angela Merkel is losing patience with Vladimir Putin

Les liaisons prétentieuses

Sex, lies and philosophy on the Paris left bank

Charlemagne

Last of the centre-lefties

Britain

Here we go again

Brexit negotiations hit a formidable new barrier

Away from the bustle

Covid-19 and the end of commuterland

Sandwich strategies

Empty city centres are a crisis for cafés—and also an opportunity

Famine to feast

A rush of new teachers will help England’s short-handed schools

Lots of hot air

Extinction Rebellion shows how not to run a protest group

Gold diggers

Britain’s treasure-hunting hobbyists get professional

Bagehot

The modern Tory party’s uncompromising nature has deep historical roots

International

Covid-19 and beyond

The world needs a better World Health Organisation

Business

The Hastings doctrine

Can Reed Hastings preserve Netflix’s culture of innovation as it grows?

Strong medicine

Why drugmakers are telling Donald Trump to cool his heels

Caffeine clash

Who will win the brewing battle between Japan and America?

Beverages

Nongfu Spring is a hit with tipplers and investors alike

Creative destruction

How America’s war on Huawei may boost Chinese technology

Bartleby

Management lessons from Honeywell’s former CEO

Schumpeter

How Hermès got away from LVMH—and thrived

Finance & economics

Techtonic shifts

Beware the power of retail investors

Money in the Banksy

How to bet on art and other baubles

Down but not out

How has trade survived covid-19?

Stormy waters

Ports are highly exposed to climate change and often ill-prepared

Buttonwood

What can be learnt from Chinese futures trading?

Cyber heists

How to launder ill-gotten gains

Badwill hunting

Why are European banks merging?

Free exchange

Which is the best market model?

Schools brief

Putting on weight

Governments can borrow more than was once believed

Science & technology

Natural disasters

Wildfires will be more common in a warming world

Weather and climate change

How weird weather can span the world

Palaeontology

How the shark forgot his skeleton

Immunology

Some good news on covid-19

Armoured warfare

Tanks have rarely been more vulnerable

Books & arts

Lowering the drawbridge

Two books expound the virtues of open societies

White supremacy in America

“Life of a Klansman” brings the past out of the closet

Thicker than water

A chilling memoir of troubled parents

New speak

The philosophers who imagined a new world

Memory lane

Roddy Doyle’s new novel is funny and moving

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

Cold case

The southern hemisphere skipped flu season in 2020

Obituary

The mathematics of death