Leaders
What would America fight for?
If the United States pulls back, the world will become more dangerous
Other democracies must start preparing
Power off the money printer
America’s economy needs tighter monetary policy
Why the Fed should raise interest rates soon
Ageing creatively
What the world can learn from Japan
The oldest big country has lessons for those that will soon age and shrink
Global finance
China courts global capital, on its own terms
It is looking to reduce its dependency on the West, while increasing the West’s dependency on it
Plugging the gap
The tricky business of charging electric cars
Building public networks will require business and government to work together
Letters
On the size of government, nuclear power, chess, Afghanistan, past tenses
Letters to the editor
Europe
Enter the quiet man
The challenges facing Olaf Scholz as Germany’s chancellor
Diplomacy with menaces
Joe Biden adopts a tough new tone with Vladimir Putin
Charlemagne
Angela Merkel, the invisible European
Britain
The revolution stalls
Behind the chaos and scandal of Boris Johnson’s government lies stasis
Cost drivers
A court bashes Uber into compliance—again
Underlying issues
For the clinically vulnerable, “Freedom Day” has yet to arrive
Santa’s little helpers
The robots are gathering to help beat Britain’s supply-chain shortages
Middle East & Africa
Naturalised selection
The Gulf states offer citizenship to a select group of foreigners
Fratricidal tendencies
The Muslim Brotherhood is tearing itself apart
All the president’s promises
Congo’s president has not kept his word
Taking the helm
Africans are winning top jobs at international institutions
United States
Money for something
What congressional funding reveals about America’s military priorities
Man it does show signs of stopping
Late snowfall in the American West is part of pattern
Sunset clauses and budgeting
The Democrats use a loophole to mask the cost of Joe Biden’s big bill
To rent or not to rent
How landlords thwart America’s attempts to house poor people
Briefing
A weary superpower
The world that the West built after Pearl Harbour is cracking
Not least because America is lukewarm about preserving it
The Americas
Asia
On a high
South-East Asia is awash in drugs
Algorithms and the law
Can Facebook be blamed for pogroms against Rohingyas in Myanmar?
Tragedy in the Nilgiris
Bipin Rawat, India’s chief of defence staff, is killed in a helicopter crash
China
Harbouring no malice?
America worries about China’s military ambitions in Africa
The chips are down
China wants Macau to break its gambling addiction
International
Special report
Foreign and security policy
Why Japan needs more forceful defence
Climate and the environment
Japan has a chequered record on climate change
Immigration
Letting more migrants in by stealth
Looking ahead
The future could be brighter
Business
Current situation
A lack of chargers could stall the electric-vehicle revolution
Bartleby
The shortcuts to Theranos
The great reallocation
Want to own shares in Chinese companies?
How can we be heroes?
Why Germany is such tough terrain for food delivery
Schumpeter
Big business v big labour
Finance & economics
All mouth and no trousers
Evidence for the “great resignation” is thin on the ground
Only disconnect
The difficulties of policing remote work
Giving less generously
In word and deed, China is easing economic policy
Emergency exit
Two key questions for the European Central Bank
On the rails
The economics of a new China-Laos train line
Buttonwood
Why the dollar’s ascendancy won’t last
Crypto’s crew
Crypto lobbying is going ballistic
Free exchange
Why the demographic transition is speeding up
Science & technology
High-tech chickpeas
Chickpeas, a neglected crop, may soon get a high-tech makeover
Mechanical engineering
How to build machines from liquid metal
Crowd behaviour
What architects can learn from bull-running
Culture
Our books of the year
The best books of 2021
Staff books of the year
In 2021 our writers considered technology, meritocracy and the trans debate
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail
Obituary
Climbing that hill