Checks and Balance: Space race

American house prices have risen more steeply during the pandemic than at any time in the last 15 years. Buyers are swapping big cities for suburbs and smaller, sunnier cities in the South and Mountain West. How might this reshuffle change America's politics?In this episode we’ll take the temperature of the global housing boom, find out how highway...

2d

Checks and Balance: Space race

American house prices have risen more steeply during the pandemic than at any time in the last 15 years. Buyers are swapping big cities for suburbs and smaller, sunnier cities in the South and Mountain West. How might this reshuffle change America's politics?In this episode we’ll take the temperature of the global housing boom, find out how highway...

2d

Like a tonne of bricks: violence in Northern Ireland

The ostensible reason for continuing clashes relates to a well-attended funeral. But the terms of Brexit have raised tempers, inflaming centuries-old tensions; we ask what might calm them. Alexei Navalny’s condition is worsening in prison: does it really serve the Kremlin’s interests to let him perish? And “poetry slams” are a welcome release in the...

2d

The Economist Asks: Paul Theroux

What can a travel writer learn from staying at home? Anne McElvoy asks the prolific travel author Paul Theroux about the virtues of being homebound during the pandemic. The author of "Under the Wave at Waimea" reveals that his friend and one-time foe V.S. Naipaul inspired a character in his new book about big-wave surfing in Hawaii. Also, verbal fencing...

3d

The Economist Asks: Paul Theroux

What can a travel writer learn from staying at home? Anne McElvoy asks the prolific travel author Paul Theroux about the virtues of being homebound during the pandemic. The author of "Under the Wave at Waimea" reveals that his friend and one-time foe V.S. Naipaul inspired a character in his new book about big-wave surfing in Hawaii. Also, verbal fencing...

3d

Clotting factors: the AstraZeneca vaccine

British and European regulators have addressed a possible link with blood clots. Expect more rare side-effects to emerge; what seems clear for now is that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh any risks. A new analysis shows that a racist American film from 1915 left a long legacy of racial violence. And a shady history of the function and fashion of sunglasses.For...

3d

Clotting factors: the AstraZeneca vaccine

British and European regulators have addressed a possible link with blood clots. Expect more rare side-effects to emerge; what seems clear for now is that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh any risks. A new analysis shows that a racist American film from 1915 left a long legacy of racial violence. And a shady history of the function and fashion of sunglasses.For...

3d

Babbage: Finger on the pulse of bias

Hospitals routinely measure patients' blood-oxygen levels to determine the severity of covid-19. Why do these and other medical devices and treatments work less well for non-white people and women? Also, if you can have microwave ovens—why not microwave boilers for central heating? And, we explore how bees run vaccination campaigns too. Kenneth Cukier...

4d

Babbage: Finger on the pulse of bias

Hospitals routinely measure patients' blood-oxygen levels to determine the severity of covid-19. Why do these and other medical devices and treatments work less well for non-white people and women? Also, if you can have microwave ovens—why not microwave boilers for central heating? And, we explore how bees run vaccination campaigns too. Kenneth Cukier...

4d

Deaths spiral: America’s spike in murders

Estimates suggest that last year’s rise in murder rates was the greatest in perhaps half a century, reversing a long decline; we ask what is behind it. Amid Europe’s woefully slow vaccine rollouts, Serbia stands out as an unlikely success story. And the pandemic’s natural experiment on the ideal number of working hours.For full access to print, digital...

4d