Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Last-ditch pitch: America’s campaigns conclude
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Both campaigns have racked up air miles covering the swing states that will decide America’s knife...
Turn up the PA: the last in our swing-state series
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our series concludes with an examination of the state with the most electoral-college votes: Pennsyl...
Tax driver: Labour’s budget
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Reeves’s first budget as chancellor of the exchequer saw the biggest tax rises in decades, ...
Hot shot: the wider promise of weight-loss jabs
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
First they treated diabetes. Then obesity. Now GLP-1 drugs are being tested on a range of other dise...
Ukraine reaction: Russia deploys North Koreans
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Russia is advancing in Ukraine, has more troops and more weapons. In Kyiv and beyond, questions are ...
Timed bombs: Israel’s pre-election attack on Iran
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel has been expected to attack Iran for weeks. Why was the assault at the weekend more limited t...
The Weekend Intelligence: The Apology
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The subject of reparations - making amends for wrongs, is a topic which has been building momentum o...
Follow the leader: who will run Hamas?
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There is a vacuum at the top of Hamas following the killing of the militant group’s commander in G...
Coming up Trump: our election model puts Harris behind
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The two American presidential candidates have been neck and neck. But this week, the Economist’s f...
Left field: a new force in German politics
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our correspondent interviews Sahra Wagenknecht, the popular leftist whose eponymous political party ...
Marching borders: what was Hizbullah’s plan?
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel is planning to strike Iran within days, even as its wars in Lebanon and Gaza deepen. Our corr...
Spies isn’t everything: Putin’s global-chaos machine
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aggression, election-meddling, “psychological destabilisation”: Russia’s leader is sowing chao...
Leaderless: the death of Yahya Sinwar
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7th attacks, is dead. What does that mean for Hamas, for...
Shoal searching: the South China sea simmers
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A constellation of islands, reefs and rock-piles has been the source of disputes for decades. As a n...
Your money for a run? Campaign finance in America
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kamala Harris has proven to be an enormous draw for campaign donors. But the size of a candidate’s...
Keir eye for the FDI: an interview with Britain’s PM
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our correspondent sits down with Keir Starmer on the sidelines of a conference dedicated to drawing ...
One giant, cheap for mankind: SpaceX’s Starship
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The fifth test flight of the absolutely enormous Starship went entirely to plan, returning everythin...
Labour’s love lost: Keir Starmer’s first 100 days
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s Labour Party came to power promising to restore order and stability. Our correspondent e...
Paradise lost: Hurricane Milton bashes Florida
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Global warming is increasing the intensity of storms like the one that just hit Florida. Our corresp...
Google’s lurch: how to fix its monopoly
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This summer, an American judge ruled that Google’s search dominance was illegal. Now the Departmen...
Climbers (part one): A way out of China
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Necoclí is a tiny town on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Beach bars blast party music and sell brigh...
General rule: how to reinvent America’s army
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago America was fighting insurgents in Afghanistan and Iran. As state-on-state clashes ...
Year of destruction: how October 7th shattered the Middle East
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After Hamas militants attacked Israel a year ago, few people predicted how deep and devastating the ...
The Weekend Intelligence: Gaza, after the dust settles (republished)
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
*This episode was first published 20/07/24After a year of war in Gaza, people are beginning to discu...
The Weekend Intelligence: Black boxes (part one): Michael Kovrig on how he became a political hostage in China
05 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One evening, Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, grabbed a late dinner in Beijing with his p...
A key Keystone: the race for Pennsylvania
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whoever wins Pennsylvania will probably win the presidency: according to The Economist’s forecast ...
The arc of war: a bloody week in Lebanon
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a matter of weeks the conflict between Israel and Hizbullah has transformed life in Lebanon. Our ...
Yuan for the money: China stimulates its economy
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After years of slowing growth, the Chinese government is finally attempting to bolster consumer dema...
Veep state: the running mates debate
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After JD Vance and Tim Walz squared off against each in last night’s vice-presidential debate, our...
Ground assault: Israeli forces invade Lebanon
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Israeli troops move into Lebanon and missiles strike Damascus in Syria, can Israel’s next offen...
Beirut force: Israel kills Hizbullah leader
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Yemen this weekend will have implications far beyond the militant ...
The Weekend Intelligence: Crunch time for Ukraine
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine’s President has been in New York this week. With a victory plan in his pocket, he’...
Woke croaks: “peak woke” has passed
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past decade a form of wokeness arose on the illiberal left, characterised by extreme pessim...
Missile-stop tour: Zelensky in America
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine’s president is again on American shores, trying to secure support of all kinds. He needs i...
War or less? Lebanon on the brink
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For now, Israel’s moves seem to be posturing, a means to intimidate Hizbullah into backing down. B...
No right left: Afghanistan’s oppressed women
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Even before last month’s revised religious rules, Afghanistan’s women were being crushed under t...
Shun while it lasted: never-Trumpers’ fading sway
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A handful of Republican leaders have been denouncing Donald Trump since his first presidential campa...
Bulls’ AI: funding artificial intelligence
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial Intelligence has gained ground so fast that OpenAI, the firm powering ChatGPT, is changin...
Election rejection: fears of a contested result
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Republicans are already preparing to contest the result if Kamala Harris wins the presidency. Americ...
Rocketing: Israel escalates Lebanon conflict
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After Israeli fires rockets into Lebanon and Hizbullah warns of “red lines” crossed, the Middle ...
Fed-letter day: at last, a rate cut
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first reduction in interest rates for four years shows America’s Federal Reserve thinks inflat...
Pager turn: the Israel-Hizbullah conflict escalates
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The explosion of thousands of pagers across Lebanon and Syria was an attack on Hizbullah, a Shia mil...
Playing the fuel: reforming Nigeria’s subsidies
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Large fuel subsidies in Nigeria are popular but ruinous to other public services. Our correspondents...
Foiled again: a second attempt on Trump
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With less than eight weeks to go to the presidential election, tension is running high after a secon...
Open to debate: Harris and Trump clash
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Tuesday night in Philadelphia Donald Trump and Kamala Harris took part in what might be the only ...
Come on out, the vacuum’s fine: SpaceX
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Capsule that can withstand vacuum? Check. Low-pressure spacesuit? Check. Space-friendly Doritos? Che...
Chip wreck: Intel is on the rocks
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of America’s stalwart tech giants is on the ropes, having first missed the move to mobile and ...
Don wan: Harris keeps Trump tame
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The vice-president turned in a confident if imperfect performance, leaving Donald Trump flustered. B...
Mario druthers: Draghi’s plan for Europe
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The EU’s unofficial chief technocrat issued a doorstop of a report outlining how the bloc can boos...
Plainly reigns but on a plane to Spain: Venezuela’s leader
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nicolás Maduro has stolen an election, again—but this time the rightful winner felt so threatened...
Grand Barnier: France’s new prime minister
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Two months ago, French politics was thrown into crisis after a snap election left no party with a cl...
Current affairs: how batteries will green the grid
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Though we use more renewable energy than ever before, electricity grids need ways to cope with inter...
Beyond the bullets: we go to Ukraine
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We take a look at the grim conditions in and prospects for the frontlines in the country’s east an...
The sound of fury: pressure builds within Israel
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The recovery of six hostages from Gaza has provoked mass demonstrations on the streets of Israel and...
Extremes come true: Germany’s far-right triumph
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The hard right has taken Germany into uncharted territory, winning one state election and racking up...
For whom the well tolls: Why we must price water
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Water scarcity is growing even in parts of the world that used to be drought-free. Since most ...
Nvincible? What could curb Nvidia’s supremacy
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The American chip designer has become one of the world’s most valuable companies on the back of th...
Cryptic message: why arrest Telegram’s founder?
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Pavel Durov sits in a French cell waiting to find out if he will be charged, our correspondent pr...
Block busters: how Russia flouts sanctions
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the West has deployed massive economic restrictions on Russian trade....
The chips are down: will diet drugs devour junk food?
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Snack-food companies have long shown their adaptability to changing diets. How could the rise of app...
The Weekend Intelligence: The war the world ignores
24 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Weekend Intelligence, Africa correspondent Tom Gardner tells the story of 21s...
KamaChameleon: What does Harris stand for?
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After an electric week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Kamala Harris now faces the...
Electric eye: AI is helping fight terrorists
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Predicting political violence is a painstaking job. Now AI is helping analysts look for clues and th...
The human strain: can mpox be contained?
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mpox is spreading fast across Africa, yet public information campaigns are scant and vaccines in sho...
Byte by byte: Iran and Israel’s escalating cyberwar
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While many people fear the risk of a wider war breaking out in the Middle East, a parallel battle is...
Hail Harris: the Democratic convention begins
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Democrats convene in Chicago, polls suggest Kamala Harris is ahead by a whisker in the US preside...
Landing padded: the global-recession risk
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation, interest rates and jobless numbers are on healthy trends; markets are gaining back ground...
One peace at a time: Gaza, Israel and Iran
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peace talks in Doha have a chance at progress even in Hamas’s absence. The outcome could determine...
Bait the hook! Fishing in the global talent pool
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Skilled immigrants bring more than just their expertise to job markets. But governments miss opportu...
AIOU: what if the AI boom busts?
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Corporate investment in artificial-intelligence infrastructure reaches $1.4trn by some estimates. We...
The boot is on the other foot: Ukraine’s surprise incursion
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part of Russia is under foreign control for the first time since the second world war. We ask about ...
Expelling mistake: the costs of hardline immigration policy
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The rich world is experiencing record migrant flows—and the attendant social upheaval. Finding imm...
Arrivals haul: anti-tourism’s folly
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tourists are getting decidedly less-warm welcomes in popular spots, but blunt anti-tourism policies ...
Walz onto the stage: Kamala Harris’s VP pick
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Walz, a folksy Midwesterner who came late to politics, is on the Democratic ticket. We ask how h...
More than Sheikh could stick at: Bangladesh’s PM resigns
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheikh Hasina, who led the country for 20 of the past 28 years with an increasingly authoritarian gr...
Enter staged right: misinformation feeds Britain’s riots
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Unrest across the country has been driven in part by the provably false claims of right-wing provoca...
Tense exchange: Russia’s prisoner swap
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The biggest exchange of prisoners between Russia and the West since the Cold War included opposition...
Yuan direction: Chinese firms head south
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As domestic demand in China slows, and the West puts up trade and political barriers, Chinese firms ...
Struck out: A Hamas leader is assassinated
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, what are the prospects for ceasefire...
Down to the wires: Africa’s digital lag
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The dearth of fixed-line infrastructure that allowed the continent to leapfrog into the mobile-phone...
Warpath: Israel vows revenge on Hizbullah
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After an airstrike killed 12 children in Israel-controlled territory at the weekend, retaliation in ...
Field of streams: sports viewing changes
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the Olympics begin, more people than ever will be watching via streaming services. We examine the...
Bibi talk: a speech light on detail
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anyone hoping to glean hints of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plans for the Gaza war and its...
Destruction instruction: Western armies learn from Gaza
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From tunnels to tanks to drones, Gaza’s horrors provide object lessons in urban warfare. We ask wh...
Keep Kamala and carry on: Harris’s smooth route
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A day is a long time in American politics: Kamala Harris has reportedly already secured the votes to...
Joe of good faith: Biden bows out
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden has at last succumbed to the pressure to step aside and has endorsed his vice-president, K...
Dicky birds: the next pandemic?
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The scars of the covid pandemic are still raw, but now a virus spreading among farm animals could le...
Veep show: America meets J.D. Vance
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
J.D. Vance was largely unknown in American politics until Donald Trump picked him as his running-mat...
Food for thought: raising the world’s IQ
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you don’t have enough food in the first 1,000 days of your life, your brain may never reach its...
Lost in stagnation? Japan’s economic paradox
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After decades of torpor, is Japan recovering its dynamism? Our correspondent turns to an ancient ben...
An assassination attempt: what next for America?
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After the shocking attempt to kill former President Donald Trump, how will America respond? Though l...
An officer and a gen AI: the future of war
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence is already making a difference in the theatre of war, and more involvement w...
Bidin’: will Joe go or no?
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats’ worried murmurs have become public statements. Polls give Donald Trump a widening lead....
Change of heart surgeon: Iran’s reformist president
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Masoud Pezeshkian rode to victory on a promise of reforms that Iran’s people seem desperately to w...
Holey alliance: NATO’s worries at 75
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It was formed to unite the world’s strongest countries and preserve peace, but as NATO holds a cel...
Lurch in the left: France’s election shock
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A tactical ploy to diminish the chances for Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally has worked—...
Boom! Episode 1: 1968 - Born to be wild
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why are two old, unpopular men the main candidates for the world’s most demanding job? It’...
Starming victory: Labour sweeps to power
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Britain has elected a Labour government for the first time in 14 years. The party inherits a spatter...
1. 1968 - Born to be wild
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The generation born in the 1940s grew up in a land of endless growth and possibility, ruled by a con...
Leader of the package: Amazon turns 30
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It has changed our lives and become one of the world’s most valuable companies. As Amazon turns 30...