In Israel, as elsewhere, politics is a perplexing mix of sound policy and the cynical erosion of institutions Mar 30th 2019 HIS DEVOTEES call him “The Magician”, “The Winner” and—the ultimate accolade—melekh yisrael, “King of Israel”. Binyamin Netanyahu is Israel’s most gifted politician in a gene ...

Some of his election pledges would kill the chance of a two-state solution Apr 11th 2019 MAKE IT OFFICIAL: henceforth, the Hebrew word for magician is Bibi. This is not just because Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, appears to have won a record fifth term in office on April 9th. It is a ...

Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon were integral to some of the 20th century’s biggest musicals Prospero | Apr 16th 2019 “FOSSE/VERDON”, a new mini-series about two Broadway legends, could have been a simple paean to the magic of the stage. Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell), a director, and his wife Gwen Verdon (Mi ...

The deal signals greater consolidation in the shale business Apr 13th 2019 IN RECENT MONTHS a question has been hanging over the plains of Texas: what would be the next big shale deal? The logic for consolidation seemed clear. Texas’s Permian basin is America’s most productive oilfield, despite a ...

But if history is any guide, he is running out of time to beat Jack Nicklaus’s 18 major victories Game theory | Apr 15th 2019 JUST A YEAR and a half ago, the most common question about Tiger Woods’s future was not whether he would win another major tournament, but whether he would ever play compet ...

Can the bank reinvent itself? Apr 15th 2019 NO ONE IS more aware of the value of a brand than Goldman Sachs. The investment bank, founded in 1869, has advised the biggest and best American companies on the value of theirs for the past 150 years. It helped F.W. Woolworth, a pioneering department st ...

Stunned Parisians watch centuries of history dissolve in flames Apr 15th 2019 THEY GATHERED on the bridges over the Seine to watch in disbelief. Some Parisians were in tears; most watched in eerie silence. The devastating fire that broke out in the wood-timbered roof of the gothic cathedral of Not ...

Recent opinion surveys show the new Brexit Party is gathering support Apr 15th 2019 BRITAIN’S NEW Brexit party has gathered support with remarkable speed. Formed in January 2019, it is already registering double-digit support in opinion polls and has nearly caught up with the UK Independence Party ...

The generals have blinked and replaced one of their own Apr 15th 2019 AWAD IBN AUF was leader of Sudan for just over a day. In his brief spell as head of state the former vice-president and defence chief declared a three-month state of emergency, suspended the constitution, arrested a few senior o ...

The problem often lies in the staging, not the works themselves Prospero | Apr 15th 2019 ARTHUR MILLER did not aim to please his audiences. He reckoned that new ideas were a “humiliation” and an “affront” not only to people’s sensibilities but to their convictions, too. Like the ancient Greeks, M ...