Oct 22nd 2022

A house-price horror show

The world this week

Leaders

Turmoil in Britain

Welcome to Britaly

A country of political instability, low growth and subordination to the bond markets

The housing horror show

A global house-price slump is coming

It won’t blow up the financial system, but it will be scary

Dig deep

Ukraine’s economy is defying the odds. But it needs help

America has been generous. The EU is dithering

Renewable energy

India’s next green revolution

The country’s clean-energy push shows a way to escape the coal addiction

Set them free

Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

Time to wean them off

Letters

On church bells, Detroit, Jair Bolsonaro, Armenia and Azerbaijan, management consultants

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

US-China relations

Research co-operation pays dividends far beyond academia, argues Henry Huiyao Wang

America’s 2022 midterms

Ruy Teixeira asks whether America has reached “peak woke”

Briefing

Skunk no more

Will India become a green superpower?

One of the world’s most polluting countries is investing heavily in clean tech

United States

Not so rosy

Oregon’s close governor’s race is a referendum on Portland

Midterm maths

How to spot a wonky poll

Bizarre school fights

No, American schools are not encouraging pupils to identify as cats

Beer sommeliers

The growth of the “cicerone” shows how craft beer is thriving

What’s in a name?

Florida Democrats have taken to calling Republicans socialist

Tax max

Californians may tax the rich more to subsidise electric cars

Lexington

The blow-up with Saudi Arabia reveals a new American strategic weakness

The Americas

Missing the samba beat

Brazil’s next president will face a big, tricky in-tray

A modern inferno

An American-backed foreign force may be sent to Haiti

Asia

Tactical advantage

North Korea is preparing for another nuclear test—or many

Recusal of service

The Philippine justice minister’s son is ensnared in a drug bust

One-man party

Imran Khan appears to be more popular than ever

Getting real

New Zealand is toughening up on China

Banyan

Central Asian countries are subtly distancing themselves from Russia

China

Heir unapparent

Xi Jinping has no interest in succession planning

Xi’s word counts

In his reports to the party, Xi Jinping signals change subtly

Moving to mid-levels

Will the Chinese of tomorrow live like the Spaniards of today?

When “wolf warrior” diplomacy goes too far

A protester in Britain is beaten up by Chinese diplomats

Chaguan

No turning back for Xi Jinping

Middle East & Africa

The long goodbye?

Why America and Saudi Arabia are still inseparable

A symbolic fire catches on

Iran’s protests spread, as a notorious prison burns

Have baby, stay in school

Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated

The rainbow nation’s mafia

How organised crime is blighting South Africa’s economy

Europe

Shooting Shaheds

Iranian drones pose a fiendish military problem for Ukraine

Russia’s waning influence in Germany

Russia was more deeply embedded in German politics than suspected

The Kyiv-Kramatorsk express is back

Ukrainian Railways reconnects a city scarred by a bombing

Say it with metal

France is sending weapons and air-defence systems to Ukraine

Not so easy

Italy’s coalition-building runs into trouble

Charlemagne

Europe’s ambivalence over globalisation veers towards scepticism

Britain

Revenge of the institutions

A brush with the bond markets reorders British politics

Fiscal policy

As Britain’s government looks to save money, almost nothing is protected

The low-growth gang

What a comparison between Britain and Italy reveals

Immigration

Suella Braverman resigns as home secretary

Carbon capture

Indians want the Koh-i-Noor diamond back

Walking in cities

In Britain, the least sexy form of travel is getting some attention

Bagehot

How Jeremy Hunt became the most powerful person in Britain

International

Sabotage at sea

Vladimir Putin says the world’s energy infrastructure is “at risk”

Business

Reality bites

How much trouble is Mark Zuckerberg in?

The silicon squeeze

The American chip industry’s $1.5trn meltdown

100% covid-proof

Kweichow Moutai is beating China’s covid hangover

Fodder for the FTC

Kroger, America’s second-biggest grocer, goes shopping

Bartleby

When bosses walk in employees’ shoes

Schumpeter

Despite Ukraine, these aren’t boom times for American armsmakers

Finance & economics

The boom is over

Housing markets face a brutal squeeze

Stick to Wall Street

Goldman Sachs’s disastrous Main Street gamble

Buttonwood

Can Britain escape the “moron risk premium”?

Bullets and balance sheets

Ukraine’s economy seems to be growing again

Free exchange

Why inflation refuses to go away

Science & technology

Drugs for depression

How to make better use of antidepressants

Venus’s LIPs

Unlucky LIPs may explain Venus’s hostile environment

Gamma-ray bursts

The most powerful flash yet seen in the sky was recorded on October 9th

Neanderthal man and woman

DNA grants a glimpse of Neanderthal family life

Conserving elephants

Malaysia’s elephants stay more outside protected areas than in

Culture

Medicis 2.0

Silicon Valley’s plutocrats are shaking up culture in the region

War without war

How the civil-rights movement succeeded

Home Entertainment

Helen Garner was a pioneering chronicler of motherhood

Cybercrime

The ransomware business is complicated, ruthless and growing fast

Johnson

Ukrainians and Latvians are repudiating the Russian language

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

A tale of two pandemics

In America and eastern Europe, covid-19 got worse in 2021

The Economist explains

The Economist explains

How America’s midterms could reshape the courts

The Economist explains

Will Russia’s drone attacks change the war in Ukraine?

Obituary

The man who said no