p The Metropolitan#8217;s new director gives his first interview/pp#8220;I FEEL like Dorothy in #8216;The Wizard of Oz#8217;; picked up by a whirlwind and dropped down in a land where everything is much more brightly coloured,#8221; says Thomas Campbell, who on January 1st became the new director and CEO of New York#8217;s Metropolitan Museum of Art. His description is both apt and unexpected./ppUntil five months ago, the British-born 46-year-old, educated at Oxford University and London#8217;s Courtauld Institute of Art, was by his own account, #8220;an open shirt, tweed jacket sort of guy#8221;. He liked to clear his diary to give time to his research and writing. Now he owns several new suits and has a crammed schedule. The studies to which he has devoted the past 20 years have had to become a hobby, like the watercolours he paints. The Campbells have moved from the suburbs to a flat near the Fifth Avenue museum. It comes with what many consider the international museum world#8217;s top job. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=1dBWK9Ry"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=jbN0vTUv"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=jbN0vTUv" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=543NqkPE"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=543NqkPE" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=E5Nw5L8G"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/ZI7aVubb07Y" height="1" width="1"/

pThey know many things, and mean more/ppARISTOTLE believed hedgehogs could predict the weather. Arthur Schopenhauer, a philosopher, used them to illustrate the challenges of human intimacy. Beatrix Potter#8217;s Mrs Tiggy-Winkle has enchanted children and adults alike since 1905, while Sonic, her modern-day counterpart, is one of the world#8217;s best-known video game characters./ppIn this engaging memoir Hugh Warwick draws on 20 years of knowledge to explain why hedgehogs have gained such iconic status. He sprinkles his book with facts: hedgehogs snooze through the winter in an aptly named hibernaculum; they have up to 7,000 spines; their fleas are species specific; North America has no native hedgehogs although thousands of imported ones are kept as pets. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=BMP5wNup"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=FVL5nLYu"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=FVL5nLYu" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=33CF8cC9"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=33CF8cC9" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=ayu1yRGF"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/_WflkuuCU4U" height="1" width="1"/

pWhat Barack Obama can learn from Bill Clinton#8217;s failed peacemaking/ppIF ONLY men could learn from history. Alas, experience is a #8220;lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us#8221;. It is fitting that Martin Indyk, one of America#8217;s most seasoned diplomats in the Middle East, starts his insider#8217;s account of peacemaking under Bill Clinton with this famous passage by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. For if Barack Obama intends to make peace between Israel and the Arabs, his first job is to understand why Mr Clinton, the last president to make a real effort to do so, discovered that he could not. /pp Mr Clinton faced far riper circumstances in the 1990s than Mr Obama inherits today. He had in Yitzhak Rabin, Israel#8217;s prime minister, a visionary leader willing to return the Golan Heights to Syria and negotiate directly with Yasser Arafat, whom previous Israeli leaders considered an incorrigible terrorist. America wielded vast regional influence following its routing of Saddam Hussein in Kuwait and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Arafat himself, having alienated many Arab leaders by supporting Saddam, was short of friends, cash and alternatives; the #8220;freedom fighter#8221; seemed anxious to give diplomacy a chance. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=HvJcirRX"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=54EH3iNM"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=54EH3iNM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=DsN74zOS"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=DsN74zOS" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=4qHZaXMu"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/zC9z-J4upOY" height="1" width="1"/

pAn unhappy family in Iran/ppAZAR NAFISI#8217;S new book is both prequel and sequel to her earlier memoir, #8220;Reading Lolita in Tehran#8221;. Her latest work, #8220;Things I#8217;ve Been Silent About#8221;, reveals some inconvenient truths about Ms Nafisi#8217;s upbringing that she chose to keep private while her parents were alive. The book is less inventive than her earlier work, which was not so much about the author than about the contradictions of post-revolutionary Iran. But it still has appeal as a portrait of a family and a country that are at once alluring and deeply dysfunctional./pp All happy families resemble each other, Tolstoy wrote, while unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way. For Ms Nafisi, the unhappiness flows primarily from her mother, Nezhat, a beautiful but demanding woman who lost her own mother at an early age and finds it hard to love and be loved in return. She exaggerates the merits of a first husband who died shortly after their marriage, browbeats a second to the point that he is unfaithful, and tries to force their daughter to inform on her father. She assembles an odd collection of acquaintances for Friday coffees and has trouble curbing her tongue. Ms Nafisi writes of her mother that #8220;each person would pass her on to the next, like a dangerous explosive, hoping she would blow up somewhere else.#8221; Yet Nezhat spurs her daughter to excel, accompanying her to England for education, bragging about her accomplishments and frequently plopping chocolates and orange segments into her mouth. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=rhwYx3KN"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=GYFPNjy8"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=GYFPNjy8" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=vnl0bret"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=vnl0bret" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=meE5aNdQ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/_PpBAJ-KuhY" height="1" width="1"/

pFrom pike to spike to college, the head is his/ppBEHEADED posthumously, as punishment for his part in the execution of Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell#8217;s fate after death matches his grippingly controversial life. Was it really his body that was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1658, with jarring pomp and ceremony? Was the same corpse exhumed and mutilated after Charles II came to the throne, ending Britain#8217;s brief experiment with republicanism and military rule? Was it really the Lord Protector#8217;s head that was rammed on a pike in Whitehall, to discourage regicides, only to be blown down in a gale and swiped by a soldier? And was it really that same head, battered and worm-eaten, with an iron spike still rammed through the skull, that became a souvenir, a vulgar curiosity, a treasured relic and was finally in 1960 secretly laid to rest in the chapel of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where the young Cromwell briefly studied? /ppJonathan Fitzgibbons answers these questions ably. The head is indubitably Cromwell#8217;s: though the provenance is a little cloudy in the early 18th century, it beggars belief that a fraudster of that era would be able to fool forensic science many years later. The body was embalmed before it was beheaded; and the skull measurements correspond almost exactly with extant portraits of the Lord Protector. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=HPF57V4U"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=Sd5MHpOr"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=Sd5MHpOr" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=2wY2JMLS"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=2wY2JMLS" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=8RITsL15"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/hQNoJPXRaPA" height="1" width="1"/

pA sobering, rational look at the worldwide consequences of ageing/ppEVERY age has its big demographic scares. In 1798, when the world#8217;s population was about 1 billion, Thomas Malthus published his #8220;Essay on the Principle of Population#8221;, predicting that, thanks to mankind#8217;s enthusiastic procreation habits, by the middle of the 19th century there would no longer be enough food to go round. In the event, people happily continued both to multiply and to eat. /ppIndeed, in the early part of the 20th century, when the world#8217;s population had grown to double that at Malthus#8217;s time, fears started to run in the opposite direction: that people were having too few babies and mankind was in danger of dying out. The super-abundant baby-boomer generation after the second world war gave the lie to that. But by 1972 the argument had come full circle again. The Club of Rome, a global think-tank, produced a doom-laden report, #8220;The Limits to Growth#8221;, which claimed that within less than a century a mixture of man-made pollution and resource shortages would once again cause widespread population decline. What the think-tankers had not reckoned with was the green revolution. By the start of the new millennium the world#8217;s total population had reached 6 billion. It is now expected to rise to nearly 9 billion by 2050. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=vYbMFDzN"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=ZxnwS8gL"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=ZxnwS8gL" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=sDuY82ZA"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=sDuY82ZA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=jI3B3lao"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/qX0J9U_izwM" height="1" width="1"/

pSIR #8211; I read your article about the possibility of putting Sudan#8217;s president on trial at home instead of carting him off to The Hague (#8220;A middle way for justice in Sudan#8221;, December 13th). The International Criminal Court#8217;s constitution does support justice being seen to be done nearer to the crime scene. However, although a hybrid court based in Sudan might sound like a good idea, the political environment there is hardly conducive to a free and fair hearing at which witnesses could expect proper protection. /ppOn December 3rd, the ICC prosecutor told the United Nations Security Council that #8220;genocide continues#8221; and human-rights defenders are #8220;arrested and tortured in Khartoum#8230;on account of giving information to the ICC.#8221; Sudan has previously made a mockery of justice in its own special courts in Darfur, set up during an attempt to avert investigations by the ICC in 2005. As you explained, the indictment of President Omar al-Bashir could be deferred in order to consider an alternative court in Sudan, but the Security Council would be misusing the original intent of Article 16 of the ICC#8217;s governing statutes. Justice is better closer to home, but not if that means no justice at all. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=clsG8TNj"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=EPnVR1Qe"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=EPnVR1Qe" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=U8r8w8xf"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=U8r8w8xf" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=BPKUqWic"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/jGXwSBIWPdw" height="1" width="1"/

pMan is assaulting the oceans. They will smite him if he does not take care/ppNOT much is known about the sea, it is said; the surface of Mars is better mapped. But 2,000 holes have now been drilled in the bottom, 100,000 photographs have been taken, satellites monitor the five oceans and everywhere floats fitted with instruments rise and fall like perpetual yo-yos. Quite a lot is known, and very little is reassuring./ppThe worries begin at the surface, where an atmosphere newly laden with man-made carbon dioxide interacts with the briny. The sea has thus become more acidic, making life difficult, if not impossible, for marine organisms with calcium-carbonate shells or skeletons. These are not all as familiar as shrimps and lobsters, yet species like krill, tiny shrimp-like creatures, play a crucial part in the food chain: kill them off, and you may kill off their predators, whose predators may be the ones you enjoy served fried, grilled or with sauce tartare. Worse, you may destabilise an entire ecosystem. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=37cPmNxW"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=RPdJ6a4p"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=RPdJ6a4p" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=B8WCPZEf"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=B8WCPZEf" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=UjDbzHdH"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/7tyyY0dq5yQ" height="1" width="1"/

pBoth in Cuba and in American policy towards it/ppAFTER a scintilla of regret over lost youth, to turn 50 should be to enter the prime of life, with a plenitude of projects and achievements. That is not the case for the Cuban revolution. Fifty years after Fidel Castro took power and started to impose communism in Cuba, the island is once again close to bankruptcy. #8220;The accounts don#8217;t square,#8221; Raul Castro, Fidel#8217;s slightly younger brother who last year took over as president, declared this week. His message was that Cubans will have to work harder and longer. Perks such as free holidays will be scrapped or curtailed./ppBut the Castro brothers do have one cause for grim satisfaction. Later this month George Bush will become the tenth American president to leave office without having seen their overthrow. That is not for want of trying: although America has for decades traded with communist regimes in China and Vietnam, it persists with an economic embargo against Cuba, and under the Helms-Burton act even tries to hinder Cuba#8217;s trade with other countries in defiance of international law. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=MIXOytiZ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=hcvkUma0"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=hcvkUma0" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=z3gLiVjP"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=z3gLiVjP" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=aaEZiiAo"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/XbBDx9DPQnY" height="1" width="1"/

pEurope#8217;s currency has been more successful than sceptics expected, but it now faces its stiffest test/ppTHE European Union is entitled to crow as it marks this week#8217;s tenth birthday of the euro. Remember the sceptics (especially in Britain and America) who confidently predicted that the single currency would never happen; or that, if it did, it would soon fall apart? And the traders who, in the euro#8217;s feeble early months, called it a #8220;toilet currency#8221;? Today the euro is well-established and strong#8212;so much so that it is widely seen as a haven from the world#8217;s storms (see article)./ppYet it would be wrong to infer from the birthday celebrations that the euro#8217;s troubles are over. In truth the single currency is heading for the trickiest moments of its short life. Eurosceptics were right that the real test of the single currency would come when Europe#8217;s economies fell into deep recession. As job losses mount and businesses go under, criticism of the euro and the European Central Bank can be expected to mount. And in the places that suffer the most#8212;Italy and Greece, say#8212;more voices may begin to question whether euro membership was such a wise idea. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=i9M55wPw"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=Hq2YGx7E"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=Hq2YGx7E" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=TErhvGgA"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=TErhvGgA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=bV21QU9r"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/iz4StWv2gq8" height="1" width="1"/

pThe balance of power between old-school managers and young talent is changing#8212;a bit/ppTHEIR defenders say they are motivated, versatile workers who are just what companies need in these difficult times. To others, however, the members of #8220;Generation Y#8221;#8212;those born in the 1980s and 1990s, otherwise known as Millennials or the Net Generation#8212;are spoiled, narcissistic layabouts who cannot spell and waste too much time on instant messaging and Facebook. Ah, reply the Net Geners, but all that messing around online proves that we are computer-literate multitaskers who are adept users of online collaborative tools, and natural team players. And, while you are on the subject of me, I need a month#8217;s sabbatical to recalibrate my personal goals./ppThis culture clash has been going on in many organisations and has lately seeped into management books. The Net Geners have grown up with computers; they are brimming with self-confidence; and they have been encouraged to challenge received wisdom, to find their own solutions to problems and to treat work as a route to personal fulfilment rather than merely a way of putting food on the table. Not all of this makes them easy to manage. Bosses complain that after a childhood of being coddled and praised, Net Geners demand far more frequent feedback and an over-precise set of objectives on the path to promotion (rather like the missions that must be completed in a video game). In a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy, 61% of chief executives say they have trouble recruiting and integrating younger employees. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=krHXFOAO"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=oletEZWa"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=oletEZWa" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=EZaSK04q"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=EZaSK04q" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=fXMxa39i"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/1bnlLe0Iyp8" height="1" width="1"/

pIsrael was provoked, but as in Lebanon in 2006 it may find this war a hard one to end, or to justify/ppTHE scale and ferocity of the onslaught on Gaza have been shocking, and the television images of civilian suffering wrench the heart. But however deplorable, Israel#8217;s resort to military means to silence the rockets of Hamas should have been no surprise. This war has been a long time in the making. /ppSince Israel evacuated its soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip three years ago, Palestinian groups in Gaza have fired thousands of rudimentary rockets and mortar bombs across the border, killing very few people but disrupting normal life in a swathe of southern Israel. They fired almost 300 between December 19th, when Hamas ignored Egypt#8217;s entreaties and decided not to renew a six-month truce, and December 27th, when Israel started its bombing campaign (see article). To that extent, Israel is right to say it was provoked. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=at7Jj88g"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=Ma6FBsX7"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=Ma6FBsX7" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=OQyNacpU"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=OQyNacpU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=22NFhg8O"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/FINWZjUgLXI" height="1" width="1"/

pOne of America#8217;s great public intellectuals died on Christmas Eve/ppIN THE early 1990s America#8217;s opinion-makers competed to outdo each other in triumphalism. Economists argued that the #8220;Washington consensus#8221; would spread peace and prosperity around the world. Politicians debated whether the #8220;peace dividend#8221; should be used to create universal health care or be allowed to fructify in the pockets of the people or quite possibly both. Francis Fukuyama took the optimists#8217; garland by declaring, in 1992, #8220;the end of history#8221; and the universal triumph of Western liberalism. /ppSamuel Huntington thought that all this was bunk. In #8220;The Clash of Civilisations?#8221; he presented a darker view. He argued that the old ideological divisions of the Cold War would be replaced not by universal harmony but by even older cultural divisions. The world was deeply divided between different civilisations. And far from being drawn together by globalisation, these different cultures were being drawn into conflict. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=mydNec8A"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=7ZjWYNWq"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=7ZjWYNWq" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=UYO9V4yy"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=UYO9V4yy" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=KuJ2pfmy"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/TNjLhXZy9RM" height="1" width="1"/

pThousands of workers are losing their jobs. America now faces the hard task of getting them back to work/ppMOIRA MCKAMEY is one of many Americans with more free time than she would like. In November DHL, an express delivery company, said that it would close its American domestic operations at the end of January. Up to 10,000 jobs may be lost in Wilmington, Ohio, where DHL has its main hub for domestic traffic, and where it is the town#8217;s largest employer. Ms McKamey#8217;s job has already vanished. She is trying to keep busy but, on a break from painting her kitchen a cheerful yellow, she succumbs to tears. She worked at the hub for 20 years. Her husband is a small farmer; she supplied a steady income and the family#8217;s health insurance. She will be 52 this month. #8220;I just never thought I would have to start all over at my age,#8221; she explains. /ppAmerica#8217;s overall unemployment rate is 6.7%. But in some states sweeping lay-offs make the outlook much gloomier. Wilmington#8217;s predicament is among the worst in Ohio#8217;s recent history, while in Michigan at least 90 firms have announced firings in the past two months. More will surely come as the Big Three carmakers cut costs and possibly enter bankruptcy. Town and state officials across America now face a daunting prospect: helping millions of workers find new jobs. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=OP6gYzxv"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=eHlGQmHM"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=eHlGQmHM" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=4u85KO4Y"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=4u85KO4Y" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=89Uf1H1f"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/Fh9TqsAScuA" height="1" width="1"/

pThe benefits awaiting America#8217;s unemployed are outdated and skimpy/pp COMPARED with the systems in other industrialised countries, the American unemployment-insurance (UI) scheme pays lower benefits for less time and to a smaller share of the unemployed. In expansions this encourages the jobless to return quickly to work#8212;and unemployed Americans do indeed work harder at finding jobs than their European counterparts (see chart). But in recessions, when there is less work to return to, it causes hardship. Like America#8217;s training system, UI is ripe for attention from the incoming Obama administration./ppLike much of the social safety net, the current UI system was a product of Franklin Roosevelt#8217;s New Deal. States were prodded to provide benefits in accordance with federal guidelines; in return the federal government paid their administrative costs. But the system has not kept up with changes in America#8217;s labour force. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=lbb2HQUM"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=AweDmjGI"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=AweDmjGI" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=IHpFcYtc"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=IHpFcYtc" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=AnORNO3c"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/okCRABoCdB8" height="1" width="1"/

pAnother look inside the president-elect#8217;s BlackBerry, soon to be confiscated on security grounds/pp#8220;FIRST the good news. While the recession is getting worse, the financial crisis that started it has been contained#8212;for now. The government has had to bail out only one big financial institution in the past six weeks./pp The bad news is that the Bush administration and the Fed had nothing resembling a consistent strategy. They crushed Fannie#8217;s and Freddie#8217;s stock holders. They saved Citigroup#8217;s. Ad-hockery is costly: it keeps private capital on the sidelines for fear of being wiped out in the next Sunday night rescue. And the government is now on the hook for perhaps trillions of dollars of guarantees and new capital, in return for which it got no extra power to protect the system and the taxpayer in the future. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=dKvaEoIW"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=HMH5N70t"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=HMH5N70t" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=1PaSMOLJ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=1PaSMOLJ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=VAeVJu4f"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/B68pJkpQW8I" height="1" width="1"/

pA blue-collar military town transforms itself into a white-collar security cluster/ppUNTIL the government closed it in 1996, the navy base in Charleston was the region#8217;s economic engine. The navy was Charleston#8217;s largest employer, directly providing work for more than 22,000 people. But after a decade of decay, some 340 acres (140 hectares) of the site is now part of a 3,000-acre redevelopment plan in North Charleston called Noisette, billed as #8220;a city within a city#8221; and costing $3 billion over 20 years. The redeveloped navy shipyard has already attracted a number of green businesses. Clemson University#8217;s research campus has also moved there. /pp Partly as a result, the region#8217;s economy is healthier and more diversified than it was a decade ago. Job growth for the Charleston region was 16.5% between 2000 and 2007; nationally, it was less than half that. Charleston#8217;s growth in GDP, wages and bank deposits all outpace national averages. Household income has increased by 30% since 2000. In July Inc, a magazine for entrepreneurs, described it as among the best cities for doing business. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=hRUOYWUw"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=bAjTksrm"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=bAjTksrm" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=JYiBTbW5"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=JYiBTbW5" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=DfISd6WA"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/YCFQP-6xoKs" height="1" width="1"/

pA splendid tradition in its 109th year/ppDECORATING the tree, sending out new year wishes, counting birds? Thousands of Americans have adopted the annual holiday tradition of the Christmas bird count, now in its 109th year and run by the Audubon Society. From Canada to South America and points in between experienced birdwatchers and novices, armed with binoculars, checklists and bird guides, have been journeying to forests and fields./ppIn the 19th century it was common for hunters to bag a Christmas bird for dinner and enjoy a competitive #8220;side hunt#8221; for sport at the same time. In 1900 Frank Chapman, an ornithologist, suggested a count instead of a kill at Christmas time. Only 27 observers in 25 places in the United States and Canada took part in that first hunt. In the 2007-08 three-week count, 59,918 people took part and 57,704,250 birds were tallied. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=kefYSeAP"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=FBQYgPTP"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=FBQYgPTP" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=GNIc7fjk"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=GNIc7fjk" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=0IxbyMOj"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/khdr1Kd4TDI" height="1" width="1"/

pThe next president is already making his mark on America#8217;s cities/ppDELMAR BOULEVARD is an arterial road running through some of the poorest and richest, and most racially divided, neighbourhoods of St Louis, Missouri. Some city aldermen are now trying to rename the street after Barack Obama before he takes office. /ppSt Louis is not alone in its efforts to stick Mr Obama#8217;s name on public property. Opa-locka, in Miami-Dade County, Florida (one of the most dangerous cities in America), plans to rename one of its avenues after the next president. A Long Island elementary school in Hampstead, New York, recently changed its name from Ludlum to Barack Obama after students organised a campaign. Another Long Island school thought of doing the same until parents intervened. One in Portland, Oregon, is still considering it. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=J5PoYUdE"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=lwCqmmjt"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=lwCqmmjt" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=EkC4SaJ0"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=EkC4SaJ0" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=wf5HI8r7"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/MNIsSz2Utsg" height="1" width="1"/

pHugo Chavez embarks on a race against the impending impact of world recession/ppDURING a turbulent decade in power, Venezuela#8217;s president, Hugo Chavez, has been greatly helped by his own remarkable ability to inspire loyalty among ordinary Venezuelans on the one hand, and the sharp rise in the price of oil, the country#8217;s only significant export, on the other. But the world price of oil has fallen from a peak of $147 last July to $40. And popular discontent with Mr Chavez#8217;s corrupt and autocratic regime is mounting. So 2009 looks like being a difficult year for Mr Chavez and his #8220;Bolivarian revolution#8221;./ppRe-elected as president in December 2006, Mr Chavez is not due to leave office until January 2013. But he is rushing to hold a referendum on a constitutional amendment that would remove the limit on further presidential terms. This measure has already been defeated once, albeit narrowly, in a referendum on a wider bundle of constitutional proposals in December 2007. As five years of oil-induced economic boom turn to imminent bust, Mr Chavez needs to move fast, lest the mood of the electorate should turn decisively against him. .../pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=QWTyk6f7"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=uRv2XNzt"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=uRv2XNzt" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=J73AQiuJ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?i=J73AQiuJ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?a=6Q3kCtFf"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/economist/full_print_edition?d=52" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/full_print_edition/~4/j4-rDlXibmE" height="1" width="1"/