Harper’s Magazine (December 18, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Ghost Music’ – Inside Spotify’s Fake-Artist Scheme; Among the Ruins of Lebanon and Cynthia Ozick on the Pleasures of Letter Writing…
Spotify’s plot against musicians by Liz Pelly
Is civil commitment rehabilitating sex offenders—or punishing them? by Jordan Michael Smith
On the epistolary life by Cynthia Ozick
This was a year in which billions of people living in more than 80 countries had the right to cast their democratic votes in elections. But with democracy around the world under ever-greater threats – from attacks on freedom of speech, equality of participation and plurality of media to name a few – how did the election process bear up? Jonathan Yerushalmy and Oliver Holmes find reasons for hope amid the pressure.
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The big story | France and the shadow of the Pelicot trial
The mass rape case, in which verdicts and sentencing are expected this week, has horrified the world. But this is not French society’s first attempt to confront a sexually abusive culture, writes Kim Willsher, who has witnessed the harrowing proceedings in Avignon
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Spotlight | How Ukrainian power plant workers keep the country running
As winter closes in, Shaun Walker visits a Soviet-era coal-fired thermal installation to explore how it has held up to Russian attacks
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Opinion | After the fall of Assad, the least Syrians deserve is our optimism
With the tyrannical dynasty gone, it’s important not to impose a negative script on what comes next. Syrians deserve support and hope, argues Nesrine Malik
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The shamelessness of Fifa’s process in awarding the 2034 tournament to Riyadh was a display of contempt for governance, democracy and good sense, writes Barney Ronay
With France on its fourth prime minister in a year and Germany facing a snap election in February, Paris and Berlin correspondents Jon Henley and Deborah Cole explain why the driving forces of the European Union are in the doldrums. An excellent primer to understand what will be a shaky start to next year for European politics. Isobel Montgomery, deputy editor
Monocle Radio (December 18, 2024): The European Union is reopening its delegation in Syria while France is sending envoys to Damascus. How can diplomacy help rebuild the country?
Then: we look at what Moscow describes as “inevitable retribution” towards Ukraine following the killing of a top general. Plus: Ecowas approves three-nation exit from the bloc, Taiwan gets new US-made tanks to boost its defences and ‘Le Monde’ newspaper turns 80.
A Ukrainian official said Kyiv was responsible for the assassination in Moscow of Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defense forces.
One of Europe’s powerhouses is losing its competitive edge, and the political class can’t agree on why — or what to do about it.
Federal agencies have opened at least three reviews into whether the company and its leader complied with disclosure protocols intended to protect state secrets, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Unable to find effective treatments at home, veterans with brain-injury symptoms are going abroad for psychedelics like ibogaine that are illegal in the U.S.
The Nation Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Code Red’ – On election night, our screens were a sea of red, suggesting that the US was more conservative than ever. But sometimes maps can be deceiving…
Breaking the grip of grifters who refuse to learn or leave won’t be easy. But it is essential to effectively opposing the coming plutocracy.
But between candidates who are defenders of the system and those who are anti-system. Democrats lost because they allowed Trump to be the only voice of antiestablishment rage.
Or reflexively denouncing every Trump policy. While we mustn’t underestimate the danger he poses to our democracy, when he says he wants to end war, the left should call his bluff.
The Atlantic Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Seamus Heaney, My Father, and Me’ by Catlin Flanagan…
What Seamus Heaney gave me
The U.S. failed to produce weapons and ammunition fast enough to supply Ukraine. Could it equip its own armed forces in the event of war?
The party’s debate about reinventing itself after the election has gotten more complicated.
Jacobin Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Why Bidenism Failed’….
“You and [Franklin] Roosevelt begin from two different starting points. But is there not a relation in ideas, a kinship of ideas, be-tween Moscow and Washington? In Washington I was struck by the same thing I see going on here; they are building offices, they are creating a number of state regula-tion bodies, they are organising a long-needed Civil Service.
Neoliberalism often presents itself as a victory for individual autonomy. In an interview, Grace Blakeley explains the hollowness of this claim — and why the Left needs to offer its own, better vision of human freedom.
Despite antitrust regulators’ efforts to rein it in, UnitedHealth Group has been growing to control ever more of the health care sector. The corporation’s expanding power has meant worse care, higher prices, and a mounting human toll.
Scientific American (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The Search for Planet Nine’….
If there’s a hidden world in the solar system, a new telescope should find it
Dezeen (December 17, 2024): The top 10 architecture and design books of 2024 include:
Kiosk by David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka
Simply named Kiosk, this book features photos of more than 150 modernist, modular kiosks that brighten streets across central and eastern Europe.
Authors David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka aimed to draw attention to the surviving, unusual structures that were constructed in factories in the Eastern Bloc from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Written by academics Harriet Harriss, Naomi House, Monika Parrinder and Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft, 100 Women: Architects in Practice showcases the work of architects from 78 different countries.
The book contains interviews with some of the world’s best-known architects including Liz Diller, Tatiana Bilbao, Mariam Issoufou Kamara and Lina Ghotmeh, along with numerous women who have not yet received extensive global attention.
Find out more about 100 Women: Architects in Practice ›
Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces by Dominic Bradbury
Published by Phaidon, the Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces is an encyclopedia featuring 450 mid-century-modern buildings from all across the world.
The book not only contains many of the key buildings created by the movement’s trailblazers but also those designed by more under-represented architects.
Find out more about Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces ›
Humanise by Thomas Heatherwick
The book that undoubtedly drew the most attention this year was Thomas Heatherwick’s Humanise.
In the book, along with a Radio 4 series and initiative of the same name, British designer Heatherwick takes aim at “boring” buildings.
Find out more about Humanise ›
Sacred Modernity by Jamie McGregor Smith
Sacred Modernity aimed to showcase the “unique beauty and architectural innovation” of brutalist churches across Europe.
The book contains 139 photographs of 100 churches taken by photographer Jamie McGregor Smith over five years, along with essays by writers Jonathan Meades and Ivica Brnic.
Find out more about Sacred Modernity ›
Simon Phipps’ follow up to his Brutal North and Brutal London books, Brutal Wales highlights architecture in the brutalist style across the country.
Alongside photography of 60 buildings, the book has explanatory texts in both Welsh and English, as well as an introduction by social historian John Grindrod.
Find out more about Brutal Wales ›
Donald Judd Furniture by Judd Foundation
The Donald Judd Furniture book contains photos of all the furniture pieces created by the artist for his New York and Marfa, Texas, properties that remain in production.
Along with the photos, the book contains archival sketches by Judd, newly commissioned drawings of each piece and several essays by the artist.
Find out more about Donald Judd Furniture ›
London Estates by Thaddeus Zupančič
London Estates documents the modernist council housing built in the UK capital in the post-war period.
Described by publisher Fuel as “the most comprehensive photographic document of council housing schemes in the capital”, the book was photographed by Thaddeus Zupančič.
Find out more about London Estates ›
Made in America by Christopher Payne
Photographer Christopher Payne’s Made in America book contains images taken over the past decade in the USA’s factories.
Payne created the book as a way of helping to preserve the legacy of industry in America, while documenting the skill of workers who are featured in the photography.
Find out more about Made in America ›
50 Design Ideas You Really Need to Know by John Jervis
The latest book in the 50 ideas series, 50 Design Ideas You Really Need to Know contains essays tracking the evolution of design from the 19th century to today.
Written by John Jervis, the book aims to make a broad range of design concepts accessible to a wide audience.
Find out more about 50 Design Ideas You Really Need to Know ›
