2026-02-09 20:50:22
The resignation of Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, on Sunday brings the Starmer era in British politics to an end. The precise timing and mechanism of the prime minister’s defenestration is unclear. But his authority is shot to pieces, and his government has lost what purpose it had.
2026-02-09 20:00:07
It should be no surprise that a stagnant US housing market has slowed the flow of people moving to Florida and Texas. If home transactions are weak, it stands to reason migration will be too. What was surprising, and instructive, in recently released census data was the growing appeal of a handful of midsized states in the southeast.
2026-02-09 19:30:07
“What happens to a nation when its citizens largely stop having children and, when they do, eschew marriage?” asks the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank. The size of its 164-page report “Saving America by Saving the Family” is outdone only by the 60-by-30-foot banner draped across the outside of its building. Quoting the late Charlie Kirk, it reads: “Get married. Have children. Build a legacy.”
2026-02-09 19:00:21
As in Venezuela last month, as in Iraq in 2003 — as in so many places for thousands of years — so perhaps again in Iran soon: The leader of a major power weighs an attack, and adjusts his reasons to justify the war, rather than making the war depend on the objectives. There ought to be a law against shifting war aims and all other forms of mission creep, the costs of which are tallied in the blood of innocents.
2026-02-09 18:30:07
In a world being conquered by China’s auto companies, one redoubt stands out: The US. It deters Chinese companies with sky-high tariffs and a ban on auto software systems developed or controlled by them. It is also the biggest auto market in the world by revenue and one of the most profitable — China’s auto giants would love to find a way in.
2026-02-09 18:00:07
Investing these days feels harder than ever. So much has changed, and there are so many uncertainties, from the financial (what’s going on with tech stocks?) to the cosmic (what will the new economic world order look like?). To make matters worse, there is no haven — not gold, not crypto, not even US Treasuries.
