Jul 16th 2022

Wake up, Democrats!

The world this week

Leaders

The energy shock

Europe’s winter of discontent

Even as temperatures soar Europe faces a bitter energy crisis later this year

American politics

The Democrats need to wake up and stop pandering to their extremes

For the good of America, the governing party urgently needs to take on its own activists

After Abe

Japan should stay true to Abe Shinzo’s vision—up to a point

Kishida Fumio, the prime minister, should follow Mr Abe’s pragmatism, not his nationalism

British understatement

Britain’s Conservatives seem oblivious to the coming budget crunch

It is a bad time to be increasing deficits to pay for tax cuts

Post-quantum solace

What to do now about tomorrow’s code-cracking computers

A future-proof way to encrypt sensitive data is now available. Put it to use

Let them wed

The Catholic Church should scrap the requirement for priestly celibacy

It would help it recruit clerics who do not abuse children

Letters

On pumped-storage hydropower, the Republicans, corporate governance, consultants, America’s national anthem, writing, moustaches

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Japan

Abe Shinzo was the most important Japanese leader in the past 50 years, says Kevin Rudd

Education in America

Banning critical race theory in schools is unjustified, argues Jason Stanley

Education in America

Critical race theory is appropriate in universities, but not schools, says Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder

Briefing

Peak progressive

Democrats in America are realising they must moderate or die

The prospect of defeat in the mid-terms and beyond is moving many away from their most radical ideas

Asia

Staying the course

Abe Shinzo’s policies will live on, but may be enacted more slowly

Midnight plane to Malé

Sri Lanka’s president flees, leaving the country in chaos

Politics takes atoll

The Pacific Islands Forum is derailed by a high-profile withdrawal

The way the wind blows

Intra-party feuding distracts South Korea’s president

Banyan

Abe Shinzo left his mark on Asia and the world, not just Japan

China

Heading down a dangerous path

Xi Jinping has nurtured an ugly form of Chinese nationalism

Send in the thugs

A violent response to protests in China’s Henan province

Title towns

How “civilised” are China’s model cities?

United States

Schools for scandal

“Critical race theory” is being weaponised. What’s the fuss about?

Writing on the wall

New York City is a graffiti mecca for some tourists

The department of economic terminology

Even if GDP shrinks, America may officially avoid a downturn. For now

Rest in pieces

Georgia loses a bizarre landmark

Lexington

Why are the Democrats dithering on abortion rights?

Middle East & Africa

Voyage to nowhere

What does the Middle East offer America?

The blockade generation

Young Palestinians in Gaza cannot find work and cannot leave

Kenya’s wild north

Can elephants and rhinos coexist with livestock and their owners?

A legacy of looting

José Eduardo dos Santos, who plundered Angola, has died

The Americas

Trump of the tropics

Might Jair Bolsonaro try to steal Brazil’s election?

Bello

Migrant flows are changing in the Americas

Europe

Winter is coming

Europe is preparing for Russian gas to be cut off this winter

Cold front

The war is forcing Ukraine’s energy planners to be creative

Deep battle

Ukraine’s new rockets are wreaking havoc on Russia’s army

The price is wrong

Turkey grapples with triple-digit inflation

Food fight

How many cows are too many, asks the Dutch government?

Charlemagne

Down with long school summer breaks

Britain

Trust exercise

The Conservative Party after Boris Johnson

A fresh narrative

Conservative candidates reveal “the British dream”

The interregnum

Boris Johnson still has plans for his last weeks in office

Demographic change

Britain is ageing slower than other countries, and in a good way

Pick your battles

The British Army has a new focus and outdated equipment

The play’s not the only thing

Shakespeare and the revival of Prescot

Bagehot

Britain’s prime minister becomes a rotten presidency

International

Sex abuse and the church

Catholic reformers want big changes to a church marred by sex abuse

Business

When the chips are way down

After a turbocharged boom, are chipmakers in for a supersize bust?

Blocked and reported

With or without Elon Musk, Twitter is overdue a shake-up

Fighting the power

The man with a plan to fix Eskom

The high cost of low pressure

Can Deutschland AG cope with the Russian gas shock?

Bartleby

How to navigate workplace awkwardness

Schumpeter

Watch Russia’s Rosneft to see the new direction of global petropolitics

Finance & economics

When maturity misleads

How higher interest rates will squeeze government budgets

On the up and up

American inflation tops forecasts yet again, adding to recession risks

The visible hand

The ECB’s masterplan to manipulate markets

Buttonwood

Why markets really are less certain than they used to be

Abenomics After Abe

The legacy of Abe Shinzo will shape Japan’s economy for years

Free exchange

Inflation shows both the value and limits of monetary-policy rules

Science & technology

Cryptography and quantum computers

How to preserve secrets in a quantum age

I’m in heaven

The James Webb Space Telescope opens for business

Green-sky thinking

Modified bacterial fungicides may propel the planes of the future

A pour decision

Bottling white wine in clear glass is an error

Protein shake-up

Why elephants so rarely get cancer

Culture

Our summer reading lists

Our correspondents recommend the best books on their beats

They stooped to conquer

The Normans changed the face of Europe and the Middle East

Grotesque fiction

“Lapvona” is Ottessa Moshfegh’s strangest novel yet

From El-Salam to the world

Egypt’s authorities want to crack down on mahraganat

Johnson

Some language rules are valuable; others are piffling

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

People watching

The pecking order of the world’s population is soon to change

The Economist explains

The Economist explains

Can tax cuts boost Britain’s lacklustre economy?

The Economist explains

What makes a global financial centre?

Obituary

Tracking the samurai