Category Archive: 5) Global Macro

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Tax driver: Labour’s budget

2024-10-31

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Rachel Reeves’s first budget as chancellor of the exchequer saw the biggest tax rises (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/10/30/the-british-budget-combines-large-numbers-and-a-narrow-vision) in decades, as well as promises of high spending and investment. Our correspondent explains what the announcement means for Britain. How Hurricane Helene may affect the election in North Carolina...

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Is Social Media Actually "Media," Or Is It Something Else?

2024-10-30

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2024-10-30

By placing search/social media in the bucket of newspapers, radio and TV networks, perhaps we've obscured their true nature as "Digital Marketing Mechanisms."

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What do you call your wife’s brother’s wife?

2024-10-30

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What do you call your wife’s brother’s wife? Or your daughter’s husband’s parents? Our language columnist explains why this is a particularly English problem.

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Hot shot: the wider promise of weight-loss jabs

2024-10-30

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First they treated diabetes. Then obesity. Now GLP-1 drugs (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/10/24/its-not-just-obesity-drugs-like-ozempic-will-change-the-world?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) are being tested on a range of other diseases too. Though the US economy...

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Welcome to the Circular Firing Squad

2024-10-29

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2024-10-29

If you find my scribblings upsetting, there's an easy solution: stop reading it. We'll both benefit. I'm never more than one inch away from converting my site from essays to photos of kittens and puppies as the only means to gain respite from being hammered for my many failings as a human being.

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Will Americans trust the outcome of the 2024 election?

2024-10-29

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Americans have the lowest confidence of all G7 countries in their national institutions. With a pivotal election looming, this is deeply worrying. Our social affairs editor explains why. America’s trust in its institutions has collapsed: https://econ.st/3NFgufl Our presidential forecast: https://econ.st/4eYYlox Sign up to The US in brief: https://econ.st/3UtTB2i Sign up to our daily newsletter: https://econ.st/4gyhHCm

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Ukraine reaction: Russia deploys North Koreans

2024-10-29

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Russia is advancing in Ukraine, has more troops and more weapons. In Kyiv and beyond, questions are being raised (https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/10/22/north-korea-is-sending-thousands-of-soldiers-to-help-vladimir-putin?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) about the future. Why does America make it so...

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Have Harris’s policies been “Trumpified”?

2024-10-28

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Kamala Harris and Donald Trump would be very different presidents. But a close look at Harris’s policy promises shows an interesting trend: in many ways they have been “Trumpified”. What does this say about American politics? The Trumpification of American policy: https://econ.st/48t4nM2 Our presidential forecast: https://econ.st/4eYYlox Sign up to The US in brief: https://econ.st/3UtTB2i Sign up to our daily newsletter: https://econ.st/4gyhHCm

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Timed bombs: Israel’s pre-election attack on Iran

2024-10-28

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Israel has been expected to attack Iran for weeks. Why was the assault at the weekend (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/10/26/israels-limited-missile-strike-on-iran-may-be-the-start-of-a-wider-assault?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) more limited than some expected? How Artificial...

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The Weekend Intelligence: The Apology

2024-10-27

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The subject of reparations - making amends for wrongs, is a topic which has been building momentum over the past decade. And last week it was especially relevant as the Commonwealth heads of government got together to discuss how they think Britain owes them financial reparations, and apologies, for enslaving their people over one hundred and fifty years ago. This is a subject we covered on The Weekend Intelligence in October 2023, in our third...

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Follow the leader: who will run Hamas?

2024-10-25

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There is a vacuum at the top (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/10/24/yahya-sinwar-made-hamas-his-own-fief?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) of Hamas following the killing of the militant group’s commander in Gaza. Our correspondent tells us about two of the men who could replace him....

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Coming up Trump: our election model puts Harris behind

2024-10-24

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The two American presidential candidates have been neck and neck. But this week, the Economist’s forecast mode (https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/10/21/why-donald-trump-has-moved-ahead-in-our-election-forecast?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners)l noted a shift towards Donald Trump. Why you might...

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Left field: a new force in German politics

2024-10-23

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Our correspondent interviews Sahra Wagenknecht, the popular leftist whose eponymous political party is now making the political weather in Germany (https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/09/05/germanys-party-system-is-coming-under-unprecedented-strain?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). How Russia is trying...

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Marching borders: what was Hizbullah’s plan?

2024-10-22

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Israel is planning to strike Iran within days, even as its wars in Lebanon and Gaza deepen. Our correspondent reports from the Lebanese border (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/10/21/americas-election-and-israels-wars-reach-a-crescendo-together?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners), where...

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The history of Taiwan’s relationship with China

2024-10-21

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The Chinese Communist Party’s obsession with the island of Taiwan is about more than just territory. A journey through 500 years of history reveals why. Sign up to our China newsletter: https://econ.st/4f6z0IW A short history of Taiwan and China in maps: https://econ.st/3UcyBgp Why investors should still avoid Chinese stocks: https://econ.st/408Ewqq

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Spies isn’t everything: Putin’s global-chaos machine

2024-10-21

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Aggression, election-meddling, “psychological destabilisation”: Russia’s leader is sowing chaos like never before (https://www.economist.com/international/2024/10/13/vladimir-putins-spies-are-plotting-global-chaos?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). We ask what power the West has left to curtail it. As...

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Which language takes the longest to learn?

2024-10-18

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Why do some languages take longer to learn than others? Lane Greene, our language columnist explains. Sign up to our weekly newsletter: https://econ.st/4eAhtZp Which languages take the longest to learn?: https://econ.st/3NtqdFf Why some languages pay closer attention to family ties than others: https://econ.st/4f69weP

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Leaderless: the death of Yahya Sinwar

2024-10-18

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Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7th attacks, is dead (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/10/17/how-yahya-sinwars-death-will-change-the-middle-east?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). What does that mean for Hamas, for a ceasefire in Gaza and for regional stability more widely?...

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Will young people let democracy die?

2024-10-17

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Younger generations are less satisfied with democracy than generations before them were at the same age. Our deputy editor, Robert Guest, asks what this means for the future of democracy. Film supported by @mishcon_de_reya 00:00 - Is democracy dead? 01:57 - Are young people to blame? 02:24 - Spain: from dictator to democracy 04:10 - Why are millennials disillusioned with democracy? 05:10 - What is the satisfaction gap? 06:30 - How media is...

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Shoal searching: the South China sea simmers

2024-10-17

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A constellation of islands, reefs and rock-piles has been the source of disputes for decades. As a new phase in the conflict (https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/09/12/more-storms-are-brewing-in-the-south-china-sea?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) begins, how to calm things down? In the first of a...

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