The Biden administration’s early moves suggest no “reset” in relations; we recall a time when the game of ping-pong brought the countries back to the table. Although economics has transformed in the past quarter-century, the way it is taught has not; we examine efforts to rewrite the textbooks. And a forgotten album by British-Pakistani teenagers gets another lease of life. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffe
Bob Shapiro is on a mission from God, F. Lee Bailey joins the Dream Team, and we get in our DeLorean to meet two of the most notorious Florida Men of the '60s: Carl Coppolino and Murph the Surf. Digressions include Linda Evangelista, Patty Hearst, "The Commitments" and the upside of peaking in your 50s.
Philip Boehm, who has translated over thirty books from German and Polish into English, has translated a recently discovered German manuscript Darkness at Noon (Scribner, 2019) by the late Arthur Koestler. Originally published in 1940, Koestler’s book eventually became an international bestseller. He told in fictional form the realistic story of a former Soviet Communist Party leader who became a victim of Stalin’s purges in the 1930s. The story is loosely modeled on Nikolai Bukharin’s show trial in 1938. Koestler’s book was originally translated into English by his girlfriend and the original was thought to have been lost during World War II. However, in 2015, a graduate student in Switzerland discovered a copy of the original German manuscript and this was the work Boehm translated into English for this recent edition. During this interview we discuss the plot, its relevance to real Soviet purges, and the translation process.
Ian J. Drake is Associate Professor of Jurisprudence, Montclair State University.
EdTech icon Coursera jumped 25% after going public, but we noticed 1 word mysteriously missing in its IPO paperwork. Microsoft just snagged a $22B augmented reality deal with the US Army that we’re calling “Iron Man 3.” And so many companies just copied Clubhouse’s core business that we had to push the big red emergency button.
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Last week, The New York Times reported that Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was under investigation by the Justice Department over his relationships with women recruited online for sex, and whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Gaetz gained national attention for his trollish, Trumpian antics and fiery loyalty to the then-president. What happens if the Trump playbook doesn’t work for the 38-year-old congressman?
Guest: Jeff Weiner, Criminal Justice and Public Safety Editor for the Orlando Sentinel
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“Live” from Yale Law’s ACS chapter, Leah and Kate recap the end of the March sitting, break down recent opinions, and kvell over some court culture -- the first batch of judicial nominees from the Biden administration!
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
Reports of a mental health epidemic among young people both leading up to and during the pandemic are now widespread. Sally Holland is the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and a former social worker. She tells Andrew Marr that mental health services in Wales, and the rest of the UK, need a serious rethink, because too many children are waiting too long for help.
But the health researcher and psychologist Lucy Foulkes asks whether we have become fixated with labelling the stresses and challenges of human experience as a mental disorder. In Losing Our Minds she explains what is known about mental health problems, and why they so often appear during adolescence. But she argues that it’s vitally important to distinguish between ‘normal’ suffering and actual illness.
Defining what is and isn’t an illness is also the subject of Suzanne O’Sullivan’s latest book The Sleeping Beauties – And Other Stories of Mystery Illness. Here the neurologist looks at startling cases of what appear to be psychosomatic illnesses which have infected groups of people – from refugee children in Sweden unable to wake up, to American high school students having seizures, to mass headaches and memory loss in the US embassy in Cuba. O’Sullivan looks at how far these disorders are influenced by societal forces and human biology.
Currently, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. But research shows that suicide is preventable. Host Emily Kwong talks with NPR health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee about the signs that someone you know may be thinking about dying, the ways you can support them, and how to possibly prevent suicide.
To read more of the story, find Rhitu's reporting here.
The MLB is officially moving the All-Star Game out of Georgia after Republicans in the state passed a restrictive voting law. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp insinuated the move amounts to so-called “cancel culture.” And in Texas, big businesses are starting to speak out against a similar voter suppression law there before it’s on the books.
The CDC released new guidance for vaccinated Americans on how to safely travel. Plus, “vaccine passports” are emerging as a major flashpoint for both politics and privacy. We explain.
And in headlines: Chicago Police will release video of an officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy, major wastewater leak in Florida, and VP Harris moves into the VP residence.
