It was a chastened Emmanuel Macron who addressed the French nation on December 10th in an attempt to defuse the first real political crisis of his presidency. His brow creased, his tone contrite, the French president acknowledged his mistakes - "I know I have hurt some of you with my words" - and promised a costly package of fiscal measures to boost pay packets and pensions. Whether this is enou..
The Norwegian could not secure a victory in the classical format, but dominated the rapid-chess tiebreaker Rarely has a tournament involved so little winning. The World Chess Championship of 2018, held in London at The College in Holborn over nearly three weeks from November 9th-28th, began with a series of 12 games played under classical time controls, the traditional slow pace of play. The rei..
The Discovery Expedition of 1901-04, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since James Clark Ross's voyage sixty years earlier. Organized on a large scale under a joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), the new expedition carried out scientific research and geograph..
The attack is one of the biggest ever - and the records could contain sensitive information Data breaches have become so common that even biggish ones no longer make the news. But one November 30th Marriott International, a big American hotel chain, announced a real whopper. Half a billion records from a database owned by Starwood, one of the firm's subsidiaries, had been accessed by hackers. Th..
After a disastrous regional election in Hesse, Germany's chancellor's position has become untenable "The time has come to open a new chapter," Angela Merkel said on October 29th, confirming reports that she would not run again as party leader. She will remain Germany's chancellor for now, but said this will be her last term - saying publicly for the first time what had long been suspected. That ..
Creative destruction, sometimes known as Schumpeter's gale, is a concept in economics which since the 1950s has become most readily identified with the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter who derived it from the work of Karl Marx and popularized it as a theory of economic innovation and the business cycle. According to Schumpeter, the "gale of creative destruction" describes the "process of ind..
Many people are travelling, and many are visiting the same places Ever since the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, locals have complained that Venice, its former capital, is being overrun by visitors. Having spent decades trying to attract tourists, the city council is now rethinking its approach. In May it erected pedestrian gates across the historic neighbourhood's main entrances. When cr..
It is perhaps the most successful rich economy What is the biggest problem facing America? Or Japan? Or Britain? Or France? Opinions vary, naturally, but some worries crop up again and again. Those of a materialist bent point to decades of slow growth in median incomes, which has bred disillusion and anger among working people. Fiscal hawks decry huge public debts, destined to grow even vaster a..
Should Donald Trump get the credit? "Nation longs for one more day with dying manufacturing sector." This headline, published in 2014 by the satirical website the Onion, anticipated both President Donald Trump's fears and the retorts he gets from his critics. Mr Trump campaigned on a promise to bring back jobs in manufacturing after decades of decline. To those who see the future of the American..
Hostility to migrants is on the rise, but farm hands are still voting with their feet Every year for the past seven years, Halyna has taken time off from her waitressing job in Zakarpattia, in south-western Ukraine, to lead a team of Ukrainian fruit-pickers on a farm outside Krasnik, in eastern Poland. She stays for one month or several, depending on her papers. Working from six o'clock in the m..
How the world's two superpowers have become rivals For the past quarter century America's approach to China has been founded on a belief in convergence. Political and economic integration would not just make China wealthier, they would also make it more liberal, pluralistic and democratic. There were crises, such as a face-off in the Taiwan Strait in 1996 or the downing of a spy-plane in 2001. B..
How different countries are taking a growing economic problem Competition in America: Where capitalism has become far less healthyAmerica's airlines used to be famous for two things: terrible service and worse finances. Today flyers still endure hidden fees, late flights, bruised knees, clapped-out fittings and sub-par food. Yet airlines now make juicy profits. Scheduled passenger airlines repor..
Toxic politics and constrained central banks could make the next downturn hard to escape Just a year ago world was enjoying a synchronized economic acceleration. In 2017 growth rose in every big advanced economy except Britain, and in most emerging ones. Global trade was surging and America booming; China's slide into deflation had been quelled; even the euro zone was thriving. In 2018 the story..
After a bitter nomination fight, America's highest court gets its ninth judge Almost three months to the day since Donald Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed on Saturday afternoon by a 50-48 margin. The saga ended in a manner appropriate to the United States Senate: with neither a bang nor a whimper, but with hours of pointless verbiage preceding the final vot..
Brett Kavanaugh's accuser raised serious concerns about his fitness for the Supreme Court At midday on September 27th Brett Kavanaugh's prospects of reaching the Supreme Court Bench looked distinctly shaky. Dr Christine Blasey Ford, an academic psychologist who accuses him of sexually assaulting her 36 years ago, had given a moving and credible account of the alleged attack to the Senate Judicia..