Leaders
The crucible
What 2022 meant for the world
Some years bring disorder, others a resolution. This one asked questions
Inspiration nation
Our country of the year for 2022 can only be Ukraine
For the heroism of its people, and for standing up to a bully
Elon Musk’s $44bn education on free speech
He has had a crash course in the trade-offs in protecting free expression
After the storm
The year of the rate shock
Financial markets are adjusting to higher rates. That does not mean the chaos is over
The laws of nature
Why climate change is intimately tied to biodiversity
There is a financial case for investing in biodiversity
Letters
On needle-exchange programmes, Kenya, the EU, the Titanic, street names, job titles
Letters to the editor
Britain
Gift-giving economics
The inefficiencies of Christmas
Nursing a grievance
British nurses launch unprecedented strikes
Europe
Christmas in Kharkiv
A Ukrainian city celebrates despite the cold and the Russians
No room in the middle
Pope Francis has failed to be a spiritual mediator in Ukraine
The last taboo
France starts a debate on legalising assisted dying
Balkan barricades
Kosovo and Serbia are on the verge of conflict again
United States
Care or confinement
Is forced treatment for the mentally ill ever humane?
Disorder on the border
Title 42 might be nixed
The Americas
Man bites watchdog
An “electoral reform” in Mexico will make elections less safe
It was messy, but it’s Messi
Argentina clinch the World Cup after beating France on penalties
Middle East & Africa
Finding faith in the fund
Ghana has struck a preliminary IMF deal and halted debt payments
Urbanisation gone nuts
What the price of Zanzibari coconuts says about African development
Asia
Slum-mop billionaire
Can India’s richest man remake Mumbai’s biggest slum?
Dumplings and skewers
Japan’s cities are being remade for an ageing population
China
A pandemic stress test
A wave of covid-19 reveals flaws in China’s health system
Way back when
Bertrand Russell and “The Problem of China”
Christmas Specials
All uncreated men are equal
Should we care about people who need never exist?
A tale of oil and rubber
What Brazil’s 19th-century rubber crash could teach today’s oil drillers
Use your loaf
How food affects the mind, as well as the body
When money dies
The great inflation of the 1500s is echoing eerily today
City planning
The decline of the city grid
Take me out to the ball game
Why cricket and America are made for each other
The wibbly-wobbly circle of life
Deadly, dirty, indispensable: the nitrogen industry has changed the world
The weight of the world
The economics of thinness
The myth of the holy cow
India’s movement to protect cows is rooted in politics, not religion
Complex saviours
The new tech worldview
The three knife trilogy
Emigrants from a small corner of China are making an outsize mark abroad
Through a crystal curtain
The Chinese celebrate Tang poetry as a pinnacle of their culture
Secrets of the shallows
A megadrought has revealed a possible mafia murder mystery
Business
When brown meets green
Why the Gulf’s oil powers are betting on clean energy
Parting of the clouds
Airlines are closing in on their pre-covid heights
More Sino-American business tensions
America tries to nobble China’s tech industry. Again
Bartleby
How to make the most of LinkedIn
Finance & economics
Top of the charts
2022’s unlikely economic winners
To protect and to swerve
China’s leaders ponder an economy without lockdowns—or crackdowns
Robots and jobs
The pandemic and the triumph of the Luddites
No time like the present
The Bank of Japan shocks investors
Science & technology
Information technology
Artificial intelligence and the rise of optical computing
Optical cryptography
A better way to process encrypted data
Smart coatings
A golden sandwich that demists your windscreen
Culture
Heart of darkness
Francisco Goya’s vision of war is powerful and urgent
Back Story
The year of the underdogs
Economic & financial indicators
Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail
The year of Ukraine
War replaces disease as the world’s most newsworthy subject
By Invitation
The Economist explains
The Economist explains
Is Russia running out of ammunition?
The Economist explains
