The Intelligence from The Economist

In a special episode, our Paris bureau chief witnesses the political divides that become apparent as she switches from France’s famed high-speed railways to forgotten lines. Our culture editor considers the improbably prophetic nature of the film “Titanic”. And, as the last 747 rolls off the line, our correspondent reflects on how the jet reshaped the airline industry. 

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At the beginning of the war, editors from The Economist went to Kyiv, the first Western journalists to interview Ukraine’s president. Our Russia editor has now returned, finding a brighter capital—and a wearier leader still capable of flashes of humour. We consider the power the president has wielded through hundreds of speeches, and share his Christmas message to our listeners.

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Elon Musk may be stepping down as chief executive, but he has already changed the firm’s fortunes—and shown that social media’s free-speech struggle is far from over. A bit of fried dough in Kenya reveals how cost-of-living concerns in Africa manifest as shrinkflation. And why members of South Korea’s pop behemoth BTS are headed into the armed forces. 

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The Congressional committee probing the riot at America’s Capitol recommended that the Justice Department bring four charges against Donald Trump. But the road to indictment and prosecution of the former president is long and winding. The UN’s biodiversity summit ended with a historic but still unsatisfying agreement. And our language columnist presents his choice for word of the year.

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The country has been slinging missiles skyward at an alarming pace, and with ever-greater technological advancement. We ask why things are heating up, and how the West might at last cool them down. Reforms to Indonesia’s criminal code that sparked mass protests in 2019 are back; restrictions including an extramarital-sex ban look set to pass. And Wales’s booming leech-and-maggot business. 

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A strategy approved today peels back some of the country’s constitutional pacifism; in large part that is because of its tense relationship with a hawkish China. Despite some promising reforms, violence against women remains rampant in India. And our obituaries editor looks back on the life of Britain’s last surviving Dambuster.

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Scientists have reported a long-awaited nuclear-fusion breakthrough, using lasers to ignite hydrogen-isotope fuel in a self-sustaining burn. But that marks just one step on a long, uncertain road to clean fusion energy. Same-sex marriage in America is now protected by legislation, in a compromise that could provide a template for future culture-war clashes. And the uncertain future of Darjeeling teas.

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A pair of crises will bedevil Europe, starting with crippling energy prices in the short term. And American protectionism threatens a longer-term dent in the continent’s green-industry ambitions. A visit to Ivory Coast’s cocoa operations reveals why balancing farmers’ welfare and market forces is so tricky. And what Britain’s street names reveal about its history and its ideals.

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