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

I agree that SAFE is an important step towards improving European security. I also think it was a mistake for EU countries (really France) imposed such onerous conditions that the UK did not join the initiative.

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

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...

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...

I had great privilege of working with two talented colleagues who made the article so much better. Thank you @hollieberman.bsky.social and @suelinwong.bsky.social

All over the rich world, fewer people are hooking up and shacking up Social media, dating apps and political polarisation all play a part

These changes have freed untold numbers of people from unhappy unions. For women, especially, being able to choose to stay single is the great emancipation of our age. But there are also many "involuntary singles". Deep dive into changes in the dating market ⬇️5/5 www.economist.com/briefing/202...

There are many reasons for this, ranging from the shock of the pandemic (it wasn't easy to date if all the bars were closed) to increased use of digital devices (more time spent on Netflix, less on chill) and structural shifts including the opening of university doors and workplaces to women. 4/

In Europe each new generation is less likely to be married or living with a partner than previous ones at the same age (see chart). 3/

The share of people living alone (not with a spouse or partner, though they could be with friends or other family-members) has increased in 26 out of 30 countries in the OECD. In America 41% of women and 50% men aged 25-34 were single in 2023, a share that has doubled over the past five decades. 2/

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 Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

Full piece here
www.economist.com/internationa...

Though bike lanes take up less than 2% of road space in Montreal (cars get 80% and pedestrians the balance), they are a hot issue in its mayoral election on November 2nd. Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the leading opposition candidate, wants to pause new bike lanes and remove some if the cause anxiety 4/

In London cyclists now outnumber cars in the City, the financial district, by two to one. Paris, where they now outnumber motorists across the whole city, is catching up with Europe’s traditional bike capitals, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. 3/

Though robotaxis have notched up impressive growth, they look ploddingly pedestrian compared with e-bikes. Waymo proclaims that its cars do around 250,000 trips a week. Yet in New York alone that number of trips is made every three days using the city’s bike-share scheme. 2/

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/

Thanks for explaining

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.

Crikey. That sounds worrying. I was aware of the GPS spoofing in the region and its effect on aircraft, but had not given much thought to the impact on precision navigation that is required for other things like the work you are doing.

Good question. I would think it is that he sees an opportunity and is pushing limits.

A long battle lies ahead. Shadow fleets surged after the war in Ukraine began, but they are likely to outlive it, having exposed the weakness of maritime governance. “I don’t think the genie is going back into the bottle,” says one expert
3/3
www.economist.com/internationa...

Estonia's navy is at the frontline. It sometimes tracks dozens of shadow fleet vessels a day. But for its small fleet of MCM and patrol vessels, chasing tankers is“like smaller dogs trying to get to the big dog”, says a sailor involved in a pursuit earlier this year. 2/3

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 Readying for a rumble in the jungle

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

Opinion | The Reasons Israelis Have Closed Their Eyes to Gaza

"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...

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.