
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – APRIL 2, 2026 PREVIEW



Trump’s top officials are in the pocket of Big Tech. It remains to be seen whether Democrats will be much better. by Robert Kuttner
A new rail bridge opens in New Jersey, but all eyes are on the Gateway Program’s tunnel funding crisis. by Gabrielle Gurley
Trump strips commercial driver’s licenses from 200,000 legal immigrants who bring your goods to market.

FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The World After Trump’…
Ten years hence, the world will look very different.
China is building a new green bloc, while the United States is doubling down on oil.
How Europe and the United States could end up in a healthier alliance.
Turning a popular idea from the American left outward.
A close reading reveals multiple barriers to such a coalition.
China is building a new green bloc, while the United States is doubling down on oil.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Roz Chast’s “City Beasts” – Where the wild things are. Also, Jon Lee Anderson on Cuba’s crumbling regime, Jia Tolentino on Robyn, Jill Lepore on entrusting A.I. with moral judgment, and more.
The cruellest irony is that of a President who addresses the Iranian people in the language of liberation and then threatens freedom of the press back home. By David Remnick
A new set of precepts is meant to make the chatbot Claude wise, decent, and safe. It also marks a striking transfer of public responsibility from constitutional government to private tech firms. By Jill Lepore
Trump’s campaign to topple foreign adversaries encounters a battered but defiant regime. By Jon Lee Anderson

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Is Computer Programming Still a Job for Humans?’
In the era of A.I. agents, many Silicon Valley programmers are now barely programming. Instead, what they’re doing is deeply, deeply weird.
While “Chinamaxxing,” users seem to be processing anxieties about the decline of their own country. By Kim Hew-Low
After years of racing, I wanted to take my sled dogs back into the wilderness. By Blair Braverman
A devastating wildfire forever changed the rare beauty of the secluded North Rim. By Kevin Fedarko

NATIONAL REVIEW: The latest issue features ‘The Miserables’…
Enough with the long faces. America is not, in fact, a hellscape. By Charles C. W. Cooke
An Inconvenient Truth at 20. By Bjorn Lomborg
When the priorities of national security, property, and privacy collide. By Andrew C. McCarthy
How to influence a changing culture. By Rachel Lu

The struggle between good and evil in William Golding’s fiction By Alan Jenkins
The many lives of W. H. Auden By Ian Sansom
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, the controversial US tech company By Emily Jones
Why do we experience consciousness?

As fighting in the Middle East entered its third week, focus has shifted to Tehran’s closure of a key maritime passage, and the potentially huge global economic impact.
For our big story this week, Jillian Ambrose explains how the war in Iran has effectively blocked the Gulf states from exporting a fifth of the world’s oil supply through the strait of Hormuz. Peter Beaumont sets out the significance of the route and the possible options to counter the blockade, while Hannah Ellis-Petersen reports on the building anger and resentment in the region over being dragged into a war they did not start and had diplomatically tried to prevent.
Peter also looks at “the escalation trap” that lies ahead for both sides in the conflict, and we have on-the-ground reports from Jason Burke in northern Israel and William Christou in southern Lebanon, as well as a stark account of day-to-day life from inside Tehran.
Spotlight | ‘Extraordinary cruelty’
Kaamil Ahmed and Alex Clark examine the evidence that starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Sudan
Technology | Star fruit
As Apple reaches its half-century, Chris Stokel-Walker rounds up its biggest triumphs and flops
Feature | Feminism’s not dead!
In a stirring riposte to all those who have declared the death of the women’s movement, Rebecca Solnit outlines the advances that have been made and argues it’s no time to give up the fight
Opinion | The British right’s Maga obsession
UK conservatives were once hostile to the US, but now are keen to emphasise loyalty to Trump above all else, writes Kojo Koram
Culture | One win after another
After 11 nominations without a single win, film-maker Paul Thomas Anderson deservedly struck gold at the Oscars with One Battle After Another, says Xan Brooks

Why the battle for Iran and Ukraine is coming for us all. By Will Lloyd
Iran has discovered a new weapon, much more powerful than its nuclear programme. By Katie Stallard
Britain’s most divisive designer on Labour’s lack of “cultural confidence”, housebuilding, and what makes a beautiful building. By Anoosh Chakelian

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Operation Blind Fury‘
By diminishing the president’s political superpowers, his reckless campaign may make him more dangerous
And Israel must not play the spoiler
But more needs to be done to ensure a prosperous future
A prolonged blockade risks creating a humanitarian crisis on America’s doorstep
But there are ways to rely less o