The Economist

The Economist is a global weekly magazine written for those who share an uncommon interest in being well and broadly informed. Each issue explores domestic and international issues, business, finance, current affairs, science, technology and the arts.

Coronavirus data • To 6am GMT January 20th 2022

The world this week

Supersized ambitions • America’s tech giants are spending heroic sums in an effort to stay on top. Good

The parable of Boris Johnson • And what it says about the country he governs

Momentum is building for war • Vladimir Putin is courting disaster for Russia’s neighbour—and himself

From hero to zero • Today’s policies on property and the pandemic are becoming harder for China to sustain

Food for thought • Our new Culture section is a sign of the times

Letters

Big tech’s private passions • SAN FRANCISCO

Help wanted, now and in the future • WASHINGTON, DC

Money, money, money • HUDSON, NEW YORK

Annette gets her guns • LOS ANGELES

Pole dance • NEW YORK

Heroic Barbie

One mistake after another • WASHINGTON, DC

The worst or the best? • WASHINGTON, DC

Funnier than thou • LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

Merrick Garland and his critics • The attorney-general needs to bolster the Department of Justice’s defences against Trumpism

Omicron comes to Mexico • MEXICO CITY

Bills be damned • MEXICO CITY

Clamping down • The Communist regime charges pro-democracy protesters

Protecting the deep blue sea • PUERTO AYORA

Battling the superbugs • Drug-resistant infections kill close to 1.3m people a year. To see why, look at South Asia

A kingdom cut off • WELLINGTON

A captain walks • SINGAPORE

Mud on mud • Voters do not think much of either of the two main candidates

Because I say so • SYDNEY

Year of the absent tiger • Asia is reopening to foreign tourists, but Chinese ones are staying away

How propaganda became watchable • Patriotic blockbusters are so entertaining people willingly buy tickets

Speaking in tongues • BEIJING

Egalitarianism revisited • The Communist Party tries to keep the stressed middle class onside

Welcome back • ABU DHABI

Torturers on trial • DUBAI

Full of tension • MANAMA

Soot, loot, reboot • JOHANNESBURG

Potions for prudes • ABUJA

The guns of January • As war looms larger, what are the Kremlin’s military options?

An ever-closer union • PARIS

Must you be jabbed? • BERLIN

Back in charge • STOCKHOLM

A not very new broom • BERLIN

The noisy union • A cacophony of national policies stands in the way of Europe’s geopolitical aspirations

The price of survival • Boris Johnson may cling to office, but his premiership has been broken

Children of Boris • Rebellious MPs are built in the image of their prime minister

Breaking up is less hard to do • SYDNEY

In search of mastery • HONG KONG

High score • Microsoft places a $69bn bet on the future of entertainment

Going green-ish • NEW YORK

Flight tracker • The rebound of the aviation industry is coming in fits and starts

Health cheque • The consumer-goods giant wants less tea and more toothpaste

Drinking in the office • Don’t ban, don’t binge and don’t badger

East v West, Venus v Mars • A tale of two surprisingly different Turkish tech giants

Omicronic pains • HONG KONG

Chain reactions • WASHINGTON, DC

Mixed messages • Why bank stocks are tumbling...