This week I wrote in The Economist about the incredible progress that we have been making against dementia. Though total numbers are rising (because we are living longer), the actual rate at every age has been coming down sharply for decades. A short 🧵

Reduced immigration will have huge consequences for US demography. Fascinating map by @brookings.edu

Opening Pandora’s box: This week in @economist.com I wrote about how the old nuclear order, underpinned by America, is collapsing and that in a might-makes-right world, many countries may conclude that only nukes can keep them safe www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

How to think about new risks of nuclear proliferation

In a might-makes-right world, many countries may conclude that only nukes can keep them safe

economist.com

Amazing how voters on the right, who might have been expected to be supportive of defence, are actually the most squishy on this issue. www.thetimes.com/article/fb20...

For this week's issue of @economist.com I got to think hard about something I've not had to think about for more than 20 years: the world of dating and singles. What I found shocked me. Rates of singlehood (singledom) have been rising for decades, but have suddenly accelerated in recent years. 1/

Yikes

Great piece. The only thing I worry about is that cycling (esp ebike hires) replace bus/ metro journeys, not car trips, and thereby worsen the economics of public transport without changing streets much. But hopefully I am wrong @dlknowles.bsky.social

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport This week we have a change of pace in the International pages of @economist.com we have a great piece by @dlknowles.bsky.social where he takes a look at how pedal power is booming around the world, but also spinning up a new culture war. 1/

The stuff in the Baltic isn't really getting the traction over here it might. We're currently doing seabed surveys off Gdansk in Poland but have lost well over a week now to GPS jamming and spoofing originating in Kaliningrad making the vessel's systems show it as being off Sweden.

Jonathan Rosenthal@journalistjon.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Russia's grey-zone conflict against the West is escalating at sea as well as in the air, as evident in drone incursions in Denmark and a the boarding of Boracay by France This week in @economist.com we look at the threat posed by Russia's shadow fleet, and NATO efforts to counter it. A short 🧵 1/3

Russia's grey-zone conflict against the West is escalating at sea as well as in the air, as evident in drone incursions in Denmark and a the boarding of Boracay by France This week in @economist.com we look at the threat posed by Russia's shadow fleet, and NATO efforts to counter it. A short 🧵 1/3

Come on @crisisgroup.org You have chosen to hold a discussion on the New Middle Eastern order on the one day in the year (Yom Kippur) that pretty much all Jews will be unable to attend. I don’t believe you deliberately intended to exclude Jews, but that’s what you’ve done.

America’s new plan to fight a war with China economist.com/internationa... This week’s International section in The Economist.

America’s new plan to fight a war with China

Readying for a rumble in the jungle

economist.com

"Worse than showing indifference, many Israelis deny the clear realities: that Gaza is in chaos and teetering on the edge of widespread starvation, and that Israel has played a major role in bringing about this terrible state." This is worth reading www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

Opinion | The Reasons Israelis Have Closed Their Eyes to Gaza

nytimes.com

I'm writing this week on the crisis in international law and have just come across the most spectacular example of judicial activism (in an ICJ case), where in two paragraphs a judge explains that he voted for something, even though he thinks it has no basis in law. www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...

Thank you.

Horrifying milestone of 150,000 deaths in Africa linked to jihadists groups over the past 10 years. africacenter.org/spotlight/en...

Africa Surpasses 150,000 Deaths Linked to Militant Islamist Groups in Past Decade – Africa Center

Fatalities linked to militant Islamist violence in Africa have surged by nearly 60% since 2021.

africacenter.org

I’m completely in favour of closer EU defence co-operation and procurement, but if France wants to insist that the UK pay a % on all contracts to UK companies, then we should start charging the EU a fee for our contribution to collective security (and France for fishing our waters).

Lessons from Ukraine "Innovation does play a role…but quantity has a quality of its own. Mass is not going anywhere. We need to adopt and adapt faster than our adversaries, but that does not replace the need for us to outproduce them on ammunition: Benedetta Berti, Director, Policy Planning, NATO

Very punchy comments by General Ben Hodges at Chatham House conference #CHLondon on European NATO defence spending: "Europe is itself a super power. It should quit whining and act like a superpower." Also thanks for the shoutout to @economist.com 1/

Speaking in London at a Chatham House event, Sir John Sawers (former head of MI6) thinks it likely that America will intervene in Iran and bomb nuclear facilities. Argues it should get on with it, as delays give Iran time to move material out. Argues UK should stay out. #CHLondon

Surprising line by John Sawyers (former head of MI6) that "Israel is achieving its goals" in Iran, considering it has barely touched the deeply-buried enrichment sites at Fordow and Natanz (as far as we know). www.ft.com/content/45bf...

This week in the International pages of @economist.com we point out that on current trends Russian casualties in Ukraine will pass the 1m mark in the next few weeks. 1/2 www.economist.com/internationa...

Putin’s sickening statistic: 1m Russian casualties in Ukraine

His regime uses payouts to salve Russian families’ grief

economist.com

This is a masterclass is trolling - whether it is true or not, you will now have FSB agents across Russia smashing down the doors of their neighbours.

When I started reading this I thought it was satire. Sadly not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | The Signal chat’s big takeaway? Trump has built an effective team.

Americans got a fly-on-the-wall view of a group working together to execute the president’s policy.

washingtonpost.com

And wrapping up this week's International Section in @economist.com is the always-brilliant @dsorennie.bsky.social with a nuanced look at the history of the refugee convention, and why judgments about who deserves protection have always been subjective. www.economist.com/internationa...

The right way to fight nativists

A revealing new history of the cold-war crisis that inspired modern refugee law

economist.com

Also in my pages at @economist.com is an excellent piece @antonlaguardia.bsky.social on why the shutdown of VOA, RFE/RL and other broadcasters weakens America and supporters of democracy.

Anton La Guardia@antonlaguardia.bsky.social · last yr.

Donald Trump shoots his own mouthpiece. My. take on the abrupt elimination of @VOANews, @RFERL, @RadioFreeAsia and more. Once again admin is choosing destruction over reform. America's foes are gloating at this latest retreat from the global war of ideas. www.economist.com/internationa...

The Five Eyes spy pact is the world's most successful SIGINT (or signals intelligence) alliance in history. Is Donald Trump putting it at risk? This week in the International pages of @economist.com we have a crunchy look at how it works by @shashj.bsky.social www.economist.com/internationa...

Donald Trump v the spies of Five Eyes

Will America’s president damage the world’s most powerful intelligence pact?

economist.com

Fascinating insights on a new CSIS report on Ukraine using AI in drones. A short 🧵 1/ "The Ukrainian military’s objective is to remove warfighters from direct combat and replace them with autonomous unmanned systems. This goal reflects the need to conserve a limited human force"