Category Archives: Stories
Previews: New Humanist Magazine – Autumn 2022

Making sense of war
Polishing the crystal ball
The intelligence community often fails to make accurate predictions. Amy Zegart, an expert brought in to improve analysis in the United States, sets out what can be done to overcome our cognitive biases.
Improving analysis to prevent nuclear catastrophe isn’t just a matter of history. Great power competition is back. Russia and China are trying to rewrite the international order along authoritarian lines.
Arts & Literature: ‘Before And After’ – Paul Gaughin
Explore Paul Gauguin’s final manuscript
Below, you can explore Avant et après, the final manuscript of the highly influential French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin. It is available both in its original form, as well as translated.
Part-memoir and part-manifesto, Avant et après reveals important insights into Gauguin’s life, relationships and thoughts. It includes numerous drawings and monotype prints by the artist.
Avant et après is an important addition to what is already the most significant collection of works by Gauguin in the UK – joining amongst other works the masterpieces from his Tahitian period, Nevermore and Te Rerioa – and further strengthens The Courtauld’s resources for Gauguin scholarship.
Preview: New Scientist Magazine – August 20, 2022
Public Transport: Inside Tokyo’s Electric ‘Red Bus’
An electric bus service has injected a new playfulness into a borough of Tokyo in need of a revamp. We hop aboard and meet Eiji Mitooka, its creator and Japan’s foremost train designer, who explains why he puts fun at the top of his list when designing public transport. All aboard!
Read more in the June issue of the magazine: [https://monocle.com/shop/product/2155…
News: U.S.-Taiwan Trade Talks, Ukraine Strikes Back At Russia In Crimea
A.M. Edition for Aug. 18. Recent explosions at a Russian air base and an ammunition depot in Crimea have made the Russian-occupied peninsula the latest battleground in the Ukraine war.
WSJ European security correspondent James Marson explains what the attacks signal about Ukraine’s capabilities and Russia’s ability to fight the war in southern Ukraine.
Preview: The Guardian Weekly – August 19, 2022

Joe Biden’s political capital is riding high after a key plank of his legislative programme came to fruition. But the US president has greeted this “hot streak” in his usual quiet fashion. For his predecessor, it was a decidedly rough week after his home was raided by the FBI, looking for official documents that Donald Trump had held on to after his presidential term had ended. The reaction was a typical explosion of rage and accusation. David Smith, our Washington bureau chief, follows this compare-and-contrast theme to see which of the two men, who at this juncture still look likely to face each other again in the 2024 presidential election, came out on top.
Cover Preview: Scientific American – September 2022

New Solutions to Black Holes, Snake Phobia and Forecasting Atmospheric Rivers
These fun stories show progress from the scale of quantum effects to that of snakes and from Earth to the edge of the universe
Monkeypox Explained: Transmission, Symptoms, Vaccines and Treatment
AI Can Help Indigenous People Protect Biodiversity
What Megafires Can Teach Us about California Megafloods
Previews: Times Literary Supplement – Aug 19, 2022
The summer double issue of The Times Literary Supplement @TheTLS , featuring @YsendaMG on the British abroad; @questingvole on Roald Dahl; poems by John Fuller and Simon Armitage (both titled ‘The Repair Shop’); @RebeccaSpang on cryptocurrencies; @Skye_Cleary on love – and much more
News: Indonesia’s Widodo, Russia-Ukraine, France Exits Mali, Mexico Cartels
As Indonesia celebrates its independence day, we discuss President Joko Widodo’s plan to act as a diplomatic bridge between Russia and Ukraine. Plus: French troops officially leave Mali, cartel-driven violence in Mexico and the latest aviation news.