Apr 17th 2021

The political CEO

The world this week

Leaders

Future of the union

From United Kingdom to Untied Kingdom

The bonds that hold England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together are weaker than at any time in living memory

Companies and democracy

The political CEO

Business and politics are growing closer in America, with worrying consequences

Be prepared

The Fed should explain how it will respond to rising inflation

The Fed’s “average inflation targeting” regime remains too vague

Afghanistan

Joe Biden is wrong to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan

But America can still try to minimise the damage

Biology and ethics

The creation of part-human, part-monkey embryos will discomfit many

But the potential benefits outweigh the risks

The new Afghanistan

Myanmar could be Asia’s next failed state

Only its neighbours can help put the country on a better path

Letters

On pulse oximeters, special drawing rights, Lord Salisbury, boycotts, religion, Harvard

Letters to the editor

Briefing

The long road back to Europe

Brexit has reinvigorated Scottish nationalism

It has also shown up some of the difficulties of secession

United States

Free speech and social media

Will Facebook’s “Supreme Court” reinstate Donald Trump’s account?

Eyes in the sky

St Louis mulls the promise and perils of aerial surveillance

George Floyd’s legacy

Police-reform legislation is spreading in America

Vaccine hesitancy

Why America’s white evangelicals shy away from covid jabs

State economies

How some American states’ finances have survived the pandemic

Safe drinking water

Replacing lead pipes—a Newark success story

Retreat from Kabul

Joe Biden offers unconvincing reasons for ending America’s longest war

The Americas

Playing with firearms

Jair Bolsonaro wants every Brazilian to have a gun

Bubbling up

The Soufrière volcano is creating chaos in St Vincent

No longer top of the class

Costa Rica is struggling to maintain its welfare state

Bello

Two extremists vie in a run-off for Peru’s presidency

Asia

Burmese blaze

Myanmar is on the brink of collapse

Ending the forever war

Joe Biden calls time on America’s longest-ever war

Botanical blessings

The joys of mahua, an Indian tree, flower and liquor

Banyan

Singapore’s ruling clique loses its reputation for predictability

China

Politics v public health

China presses Hong Kongers to accept a Chinese vaccine

A grave offence

China’s tomb raiders are growing more professional

Chaguan

Mao’s revolution becomes a lesson about conformity

Middle East & Africa

Explosive diplomacy

Will an attack on Iran derail efforts to revive the nuclear deal?

Feast, fast and famine

Arab governments are worried about food security

The megaphone

Tunisians are rallying around Abir Moussi, a demagogue

Slug-like and precious

How covid-19 walloped sea-cucumber catchers

Blowing in the wind

The war in Tigray is taking a frightful human toll

Europe

A fracturing Union

The battle to succeed Angela Merkel gets nastier

On manoeuvres

A Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s border prompts alarm

The big divide

Italian women take more top jobs, but many have no job at all

Lip service

Fish tongues, a Norwegian delicacy harvested by children

Charlemagne

The EU’s Calhounian moment

Britain

Dividing union

Northern Ireland’s unhappy centenary

Old ideas, new problems

David Cameron, the Greensill affair and a British government scandal

Wales

Welsh nationalism is stirring

Welwyn Garden City

The fight to preserve a pioneering planned town

A lioness of liberalism

Shirley Williams, one of the founders of the SDP, dies

Bagehot

Prince Philip and the dynasty factor

International

India Inc

India has proved to be a popular—and clever—investor in poor countries

Business

From handshake to clenched fist

CEO activism in America is risky business

Personal transport

New means of getting from A to B are disrupting carmaking

Bartleby

Life after the C-suite

Don’t be fooled by randomness

The method in Microsoft’s merger madness

Skin deep

A new boss at L’Oréal will have to prove he is worth it

Schumpeter

Can South-East Asian tech’s hot streak last?

Finance & economics

Losing the war

The war against money-laundering is being lost

Base jumping

America’s inflation spike begins

The devil in the data series

Is growth in China soaring or slowing?

Hand over fist

Profits at America’s banks are sky-high

Buttonwood

The appeal of emerging-market dollar bonds

Free exchange

John Williamson, who defined the “Washington consensus”, died on April 11th

Science & technology

Fantastic beasts

Researchers have created embryos that are part-human and part-monkey

Simplify, simplify

Why people forget that less is often more

Photography

Taking selfies with a liquid lens

Predicting an uncertain world

How spooks are turning to superforecasting in the Cosmic Bazaar

Books & arts

The cold war

A definitive account of the Cuban missile crisis

Band of sisters

A biography of three women who advanced the abolitionist cause

The will to live

Jon McGregor’s new novel explores the aftermath of a tragedy

Beyond the frame

A change in how people consume contemporary art is under way

Economic & financial indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

What goes down must come up

Better days lie ahead for the underachievers of English football

Obituary

Prince Philip