Fire and grim tone: Putin’s and Biden’s speeches
President Joe Biden’s riposte to the bellicose speech of his counterpart Vladimir Putin was a study in contrast. We examine their views on Ukraine and ask how a lasting peace could be secured. We spea...
22 Feb 202325min
The air of their ways: South Asia’s crippling pollution
Particulate matter is shortening lives and hobbling economies in the region. We ask how policy changes and international collaboration could mitigate the suffering as the pollution spreads. Our corres...
21 Feb 202328min
What it is in aid of: Syria’s earthquake response
The country’s war-torn north-west has been getting far less aid than it needs in the earthquakes’ aftermath. We investigate the dilemma of lifting long-running international sanctions. Housing prices ...
20 Feb 202324min
Give fast, spry young: the new philanthropists
Charitable giving is being disrupted by the same youthful tech folk who got rich disrupting other sectors: these days it is fast, data-driven and bureaucracy-light. We meet a new class of investors wh...
17 Feb 202325min
Independence fray: Scotland’s leader steps down
Nicola Sturgeon is bowing out after shaping a party that has defined itself on the notion of Scottish independence. What now for Scotland and for Britain more broadly? Our correspondent says that Fran...
16 Feb 202328min
Haley to the chief? A long-shot candidacy begins
Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and UN ambassador, has declared her 2024 presidential candidacy. We assess her chances and survey the field. Intimidation and financial pressure are qu...
15 Feb 202321min
End-Gulfed: Preparing for a post-oil future
The petrostates of the Gulf are modernising their economies, growing more tolerant and liberalising their social contracts as they prepare for a world run on fewer hydrocarbons—but who will be left be...
14 Feb 202323min
Toil and rubble: a report from Turkey
Our correspondent visits town after devastated town. Poorly enforced building codes are one clear factor in the rising death toll—and a political backlash looms. Britain’s productivity problem is at l...
13 Feb 202327min
