Liberals who repress speech to prevent harm risk inviting authoritarianism, writes Claire Fox of the Academy of Ideas If ever there was a vivid illustration of illiberal liberalism, it was the response to one of the essays in this very series. After The Economist published an article by Kathleen Stock, reader in philosophy at the University of Sussex, which sensitively questioned whether "self-d..
The internet has transformed the search for love and partnership The internet has transformed the way people work and communicate. It has upended industries, from entertainment to retailing. But its most profound effect may well be on the biggest decision that most people make - choosing a mate. In the early 1990s the notion of meeting a partner online seemed freakish, and not a little pathetic...
Many parents also find them a struggle The summer holidays have just begun, but it is a busy morning at Cadoxton Primary School, in Barry, an industrial town in Wales. It runs a summer programme for hard-up children, providing meals and activities over the holidays. As youngsters run laughing and screaming into the school cafeteria for breakfast, their parents saunter out, some visibly relieved...
Ten teams provided nearly half of the talent, yet received a fifth of the compensation The new football season kicks off this weekend in many European countries, less than a month after the World Cup finished. The English Premier League, which commences on August 10th, has had the shortest break in its history. That has caused grumbling from many managers at top clubs, whose star players have ha..
Moderator Callum Williams, The Economist August 7th 2018 There is a growing sense across the rich world that capitalism does not work as it should. In many countries wages have barely grown over the past decade, while the rich seem to be running away with all the gains. Many economists, including those at this newspaper, argue that common factor explaining all of these ills is that firms have to..
Researchers differ on whether rising wages gave the impetus to industrialize How much yarn per day could an 18th-century British woman spin? Such questions are catnip for economic historians, whose debates typically unfold unnoticed by anyone outside their field. But a running debate concerning the productivity of pre-industrial spinners, and related questions, is spilling beyond academia. Each ..
No one is happy with Japan's workstyle, but it is proving hard to change Yoshihisa Aono could be a model for Japanese executives. The offices of Cybozu, his software company, would appear staid were they in Palo Alto. But they are radical for central Tokyo, where each day waves of black-suited Stakhanovites make their way to grimly utilitarian offices. Slap-bang in the center of Cybozu's headqua..
Rising energy demand means use of fossil fuel is heading in the wrong direction Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere. One of 18 wildfires sweeping through California, among the worst in the state's history, is generating such heat that it created its own weather. Fires that raged through a coastal area near Athens last..
Apple's new headquarters has created 13,000 new construction jobs A common way to describe the history of the technology industry is by product cycles. The 1990s was the era of the PC; then came the internet and related services, followed by mobile; and now artificial intelligence looms. But there is a different way to think about tech: it is switching from an era of hoarding profits to one of r..
Not as much as people think The increasingly severe trade and other sanctions the UN has imposed on North Korea have the aim of getting its dictator, Kim Jong Un, to give up his nuclear weapons. That the sanctions were causing pain plausibly played some part in bringing Mr Kim to suspend his nuclear and missile testing, and to extend a hand first to South Korea and then to the United States, at ..
They are reshaping Wall Street's ecosystem "Sell in May and go away," say the denizens of Wall Street, and to the usual summer lethargy is added the excuse of a heatwave. But for those working in private equity, there is no let-up. The "shops", as private-equity funds like to call themselves, are stuffed with money and raising more: $1.1trn in "dry powder" ready to spend around the world, accord..
Worryingly, such weather events may not remain unusual Sodankyla, a town in Finnish Lapland just north of the Arctic Circle, boasts an average annual temperature a little below freezing. Residents eagerly await the brief spell in July when the region enjoys something akin to summer. This year they may have wished for a bit less of it. On July 18th thermometers showed 32.1°C (89.8°F), which is 12..
The "project of the century" may help some economies, but at a political cost Shunning all false modesty, China's leader, Xi Jinping, calls his idea the "project of the century". The country's fawning media hail it as a gift of "Chinese wisdom" to the world's development. As for the real meaning of the clumsy metaphor to describe it - the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - debate rages. The term i..
Fuxi (also romanized as Fu-hsi, is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited (along with his sister Nüwa) with creating humanity and the invention of hunting, fishing and cooking as well as the Changjie system of writing Chinese characters c. 2,000 BCE. He was also also known as Paoxi, also romanized as Pao-hsi. Fuxi was counted as the first of the Three Sovereigns at the beginnin..
Nüwa or Nügua is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology, the sister and wife of Fuxi, the emperor-god. She is credited with creating mankind and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. Her reverential name is Wahuang ("Empress Wa"). DescriptionThe Huainanzi relates Nüwa to the time when Heaven and Earth were in disruption: "Going back to more ancient times, the four pillars were broken; the nine provin..