Hello from the newsroom, By my reckoning, summer is now under way in the northern hemisphere. You might quibble over the start date, but in America at any rate, the July 4th holiday signals it’s time to sit back and relish the long days and sunshine. In the years when I lived in Chicago (is there a better urban lakeside to stroll along, anywhere on the planet?) I relished the near-tropical warmth, the sudden monsoon-like storms and the roar of the cicadas. We’re marking the summer months this year with some experiments. One is a dedicated page—our Summer reads collection—where we pull together some of our favourite stories for you. Another is our growing stock of reading lists, which we’re calling “Economist Reads”. Here’s where our language columnist chooses his five favourite books, our obituaries editor sets out her choice of the five biographies everyone should read and our food columnist serves up his recipe for the essential cookbooks. More serious fare continues in every season, of course. The rush of events in America in recent days has been exceptional, given a series of significant Supreme Court rulings, as well as some shocking testimony in Congress about the January 6th mob attack on the Capitol. I’d point you to the latest Lexington column to make sense of it all. Not only is it powerful, it’s also the valedictory effort of our departing columnist. (Look out, too, for the first by his successor this week.) Elsewhere, I’d flag our excellent essay on Hong Kong, where China’s leader, Xi Jinping, just paid a rare visit to mark 25 years since Britain ceded control of the territory. (Do have a look, too, at this book list on Hong Kong.) And later this week, expect more talk of the growing global food crisis as the UN releases a report on the topic. As a refresher, you might take a look at our recent cover story on the coming food catastrophe. Of course the war in Ukraine grinds on. Thankfully Sweden and Finland are poised to start the official process of joining NATO this week. Meanwhile we’re watching fighting in southern Ukraine, after Russian forces fled from Snake Island in the Black Sea and then struck residential blocks in Odessa. Tonight we publish a look at preparations for a counter-offensive in Kherson, as Ukrainian forces try again to push the Russians back. As ever, thank you for all of your kind feedback, including many thoughtful messages on the Roe v Wade news, on the merits of rival forms of energy and on the war in Ukraine. Ariel Frid Malis asks why Ukrainian forces don’t strike more targets over the border in Russia. I see two reasons. As the victim of unprovoked Russian aggression, Ukraine enjoys the moral high ground, and prefers not to lose that. And its Western friends and allies have no wish to escalate the war. Were Ukraine to start attacking Russia proper, the flow of military and other help from the West would surely dry up. Paul Tanto makes an early pitch for Ukraine to be picked as our “country of the year” in 2022. I’m all in favour, Mr Tanto, but we won’t get round to deciding before mid-December. By then, let’s hope there is some progress to cheer. Finally, do take a look at our editorial cartoon at the top of this newsletter, by Danielle Chenette, an animator based in western Massachusetts. It’s a part of an initiative in which we try out new cartoonists in our Espresso app. I’d love to know who has an appetite for cartoons (and also who does not…). Please keep sending your comments—we really do read them all—by writing to me at [email protected]. And you’re most welcome to follow me on Twitter @ARobertsjourno. |