2021-12-18-Economist Graphs

1. The world this week

1.1 The world this year

1.2 KAL’s cartoon

2. Leaders

2.1 The way things were: The new normal is already here. Get used to it

The era of predictable unpredictability is not going away

2.2 Midterm blues: Something has broken in Boris Johnson’s government

This week’s rebellion in Parliament is just the start of his difficulties

2.3 From Moscow with menaces: How to deter Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine

The West, and Ukrainians, should raise the cost of Russian aggression

2.4 Asset prices: How American stocks could continue to climb

What doesn’t kill the bull market only makes it stranger

2.5 Triumphal honours: Which is The Economist’s country of the year for 2021?

In a gloomy year, a few stars shone

3. Letters

3.1 On Brexit, satellite pollution, local taxes, cheese, Fairphone, art, Stephen Sondheim, the Beatles: Letters to the editor

A selection of correspondence

4. Europe

4.1 No room at the inn: Why have Danes turned against immigration?

Many fear that refugees are a drain on their welfare state

4.2 The Lolland exception: A Baltic island bucks a Danish anti-immigrant trend

It has a tunnel to build

4.3 Here come the Harvards: A reformist prime minister takes over in Bulgaria

Alongside a fellow new broom

4.4 Charlemagne: Emmanuel Macron’s tricky Christmas present

He must “run Europe” even as he runs for re-election as president of France

5. Britain

5.1 Covid-19: The triumph of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

Despite setbacks, the jab has probably saved more lives than any other

5.2 Saving Ulster: Anti-gay attitudes in Northern Ireland are changing

Parties that support the union with Great Britain are modernising—some faster than others

5.3 The Marble Arch mound: How to lure shoppers off their computers?

With a heap of earth, apparently

5.4 Bagehot: Liz Truss declares an end to the age of introspection

A new foreign secretary seeks to reshape British diplomacy

6. Middle East & Africa

6.1 On your marks, get set, now what?: Libya’s presidential election was meant to unite the country

It is not going as planned

6.2 The bitter taste of sanctions: Iranian saffron dealers are struggling

Like all their country’s exports, their wares have been stigmatised

6.3 Back to the mountains: Ethiopian forces have recaptured key towns on the road to Tigray

But it is far from clear that Abiy Ahmed has defeated the Tigrayan rebels

7. United States

7.1 Movers and shakers: Internal migration

7.2 The long road back: Kentucky’s tornado

7.3 Lexington: America’s Christmas wars

Knock yourself out, Fox: Americans have vied over Christmas for centuries

8. The Americas

8.1 Studying Ceará: What a Brazilian state can teach the world about education

Ceará offers a model for rebuilding schools after the pandemic

8.2 The final stretch: Chile’s presidential front-runners edge towards the centre

Days before the election, candidates are moderating their radical platforms

9. Asia

9.1 A decade of despair: Ten years into Kim Jong Un’s rule, North Korea is more North Korean than ever

Diplomatic failure and covid-19 have prompted unprecedented self-isolation

9.2 Rule of three: New Caledonia votes against independence from France for the third time

A boycott by pro-independence parties results in a landslide

9.3 Banyan: Democracy declined across Asia in 2021

But there are ways it can revive

10. China

10.1 Frigid farewells: Lithuania evacuates its embassy in China

It is the worst diplomatic crisis between China and a European state in decades

10.2 Old and sad: Nearly one-third of suicides in China are by old people

It can be lonely when your child has moved to a city

11. International

11.1 Seeing the need for speed: The Omicron variant advances at an incredible rate

Even if infections prove mild, that speed will have grave consequences

12. Christmas Specials

12.1 Unearthing the truth: Archaeology

12.2 teach your children well: DOES GOOD PARENTING IN HONG KONG MEAN SUBMITTING TO THE PARTY?

Some say no. Some say yes. And some leave

12.3 the pleasures of the table: AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF RESTAURANTS

And how the pandemic may change them

12.4 gimme shelter: THE RISE AND RISE OF CORRUGATED IRON

The past and present of an unfairly ignored building material

12.5 quadratic voting: THE MATHEMATICAL METHOD THAT COULD OFFER A FAIRER WAY TO VOTE

It allows you to give more support to your preferred outcome

12.6 fighting fit: HOW TO PREVENT CONFLICT ON THE WAY TO MARS

Missions to the red planet will need a new breed of astronaut

12.7 it takes a village: SCENES FROM AN ALMOST VANISHED SINGAPORE

Holdouts in a rich country’s last rural settlement

12.8 he came, he saw, he lied: RETRACING JULIUS CAESAR’S PATH THROUGH FRANCE

And learning from his chest-thumping dishonesty

12.9 pocock’s pen pals: THE VIRTUES OF AN UNREPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE

An epistolary history of Britain’s changing society

12.10 a forced brotherhood: WHY RUSSIA HAS NEVER ACCEPTED UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE

It might have, had it chosen democracy

12.11 the kalergi plan: SONS OF TOKYO, DREAMS OF EUROPE

Two men, a century apart, contend for Europe’s future

12.12 a bloodless revolution: MEATLESS MEAT IS NOTHING NEW

But it is getting tastier and more popular

12.13 murder of the orient express: RAILWAY LINES ONCE CONNECTED THE MIDDLE EAST

Now the tracks that joined continents lie in wreckage

12.14 one woman’s trash: FASHION AS AN ASSET CLASS

Technology has made it easy and worthwhile to sell old clothes

12.15 movies: INDIA’S TOURING CINEMAS ARE DYING, AND BEING REBORN

A film-mad country is in need of more screens

12.16 a world of two halves: NORTH-SOUTH ANTIPATHIES ENDURE AROUND THE GLOBE

They are much more than a cultural curiosity

12.17 under the hoodies: THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN CRYPTO

Four very different billionaires

12.18 on the wings of song: OF BIRDS AND MEN

How men long to be at one with the spirits of the air

13. Business

13.1 All at sea: Why supply-chain snarls still entangle the world

Shipping delays show little sign of easing

13.2 Plots unearthed in 2021: A year in four charts

Our graphics capture the big business trends of 2021

13.3 Cloud atlas: The battle of the computing clouds is intensifying

Insurgents take on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform

13.4 Bartleby: The Beatles and the art of teamwork

A new documentary on the Fab Four is a must-watch for managers, too

13.5 Schumpeter: The billionaire battle for the metaverse

Forget space. The race is on to take people beyond reality

14. Finance & economics

14.1 Spinning around: The private-markets party reaches fever pitch

As valuations surge and interest-rate rises loom, can it last?

14.2 SWIFT thinking: The hidden costs of cutting Russia off from SWIFT

America’s foes would rush to alternatives, hastening its financial decline

14.3 Follow the money: After a shocker in 2021, where might inflation go in 2022?

We chart two alternative paths

14.4 Hidden danger: China’s property slowdown sheds light on another worrying debt problem

Local-government financing vehicles, not just developers, are saddled with lashings of debt

14.5 Free exchange: Has the pandemic shown inflation to be a fiscal phenomenon?

A decade of QE did not cause much inflation. Fiscal stimulus has sent it soaring

15. Science & technology

15.1 Apiarism: Honey bees, Varroa mites and unintended consequences

Beekeepers may have accidentally helped a plague of their charges

15.2 Marine propulsion: Nature does not use propellers. So why do people?

Real fintech

15.3 Geomagnetic archaeology: Earth’s magnetic field illuminates Biblical history

It casts light on an obscure period called the Hallstatt plateau

16. Books & arts

16.1 Arabian lights: After banning cinema for decades, Saudi Arabia is making movies

Breathtaking landscapes and hefty rebates are helping foreign producers overcome their culture shock

17. Economic & financial indicators

17.1 Economic data, commodities and markets: Indicators

18. Graphic detail

18.1 If it spreads, it’s read: 2021’s biggest stories were covid-19 and America’s presidential transition

The online audiences of 7,000 publishers spent 275m hours reading about the year’s 45 biggest stories

19. Obituary

19.1 How little Ant became big Ant: Antony Sher pushed the boundaries of Shakespeare’s plays

The South African-born actor died on December 2nd, aged 72