The Intelligence from The Economist

Europe must move boldly [https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/02/20/how-europe-must-respond-as-trump-and-putin-smash-the-post-war-order?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] as the American-led world order shatters beneath it; we explain how. Many people view the freedom to work from home as a perk. Some academics reckon there should be, in effect, a tax on it [https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/02/06/when-will-remote-workers-see-their-pay-cut?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] (10:41). And we pay tribute to Pableaux Johnson [https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/02/20/pableaux-johnson-peerless-host-and-chronicler-of-new-orleans?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], a New Orleans fixture who understood that supper was more about company than food (18:02). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

Africa’s young are educated, ambitious side-hustlers. But they are hampered by their economies and dispirited by their politicians. How to harness their vast potential? America’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is, in a real-world accounting [https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/02/12/elon-musk-is-failing-to-cut-american-spending?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], not actually budging the budget much (8:25). And why Germans take more days off sick [https://www.economist.com/business/2025/01/23/germans-are-world-champions-of-calling-in-sick?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] than other Europeans do (15:48).  Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

The possibilities for an inevitable coalition government are a head-spinning colour wheel of party logos. We look at the most likely outcomes [https://www.economist.com/interactive/2025-german-election-polls-prediction-forecast?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], and the smaller parties that may well play kingmakers. A series of scandals [https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/02/06/japan-could-finally-face-its-own-metoo-crisis?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] in Japan has propelled the country to a belated #MeToo crisis (10:35). And London’s once-abundant pie shops struggle [https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/01/21/londons-pie-and-mash-shops-are-disappearing?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] with changing tastes and relocating clientele (16:53). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

We investigate China’s under-the-radar push [https://www.economist.com/international/2025/02/09/chinas-stunning-new-campaign-to-turn-the-world-against-taiwan?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] to get other countries to change their official language on Taiwan’s independence. Would it make a difference in a bid to reunify by force? The case of a nurse jailed for killing babies exposes deep problems [https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/02/10/it-increasingly-looks-as-if-lucy-letbys-conviction-was-unsafe?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] with British justice (10:10). And how top footballers get a smaller slice [https://www.economist.com/business/2025/01/30/football-clubs-are-making-more-money-than-ever-players-not-so-much?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners] of their clubs’ take than they once did (17:35). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.

Backing away from European security guarantees and seeking mineral rights in Ukraine as recompense for military aid: at the Munich Security Conference the Trump administration made its convention-trashing, transactional nature clear [https://www.economist.com/international/2025/02/16/donald-trumps-assault-on-europe?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners]. What Europe will or even can do is not so obvious. And a tribute to Donald Shoup [https://www.economist.com/obituary/2025/02/13/donald-shoup-knew-how-to-get-cities-going?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners], whose studies on keeping cars moving focused on where they parked (17:45). Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+ [https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus]. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page [https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts] or watch our video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY] explaining how to link your account.