Author
Reporting and analysis from the Morning Week editorial desk.
Halfway through the year, the shelves are unusually full. From confident debut novels to history that speaks to the present, here is what has made the first half of 2026 so rewarding for readers, and how to choose where to begin.
5 min read
Apple has spent two years looking like a straggler while rivals dazzled with chatbots. Yet its reach, its grip on personal data, and the trust of a billion users could still make it the contest's dark horse.
5 min read
Even as its economy matures and its population ages, China puts in hours that the rich world long ago abandoned. The grind has powered its rise, but the same culture of overwork is starting to exact a heavy price.
5 min read
European savers pour their wealth into American shares, funding the very companies inventing the next era. The returns are real, yet the continent risks becoming a customer of the future rather than its maker.
5 min read
Spending has carried the United States economy past one gloomy forecast after another. Beneath the resilient headline, though, a widening gap between richer and poorer households is testing how long the run can last.
5 min read
India's most trusted conglomerate is pouring billions into chips, cars, and airlines in a bid to build the industries of the future. The ambition is vast, the bill is larger, and the rewards remain stubbornly out of reach.
5 min read
The systems that once needed armies of human engineers are starting to design, train, and improve their own successors. That promises faster progress, and it raises a harder question about who stays in charge.
5 min read
After decades of stagnation, the return of inflation and rising interest rates has revived the profits of Japan's biggest lenders. The good times are real, yet the same forces lifting them could just as easily turn.
5 min read
Meeting in France, the club of rich democracies offered just enough common ground to revive talk of a settlement. Whether that opening leads anywhere depends on Moscow, Washington, and a wary Europe.
5 min read
Higher oil and gas prices, driven by fear of disruption in the Gulf, have lifted the fortunes of Norway's state energy champion. The boost is real, the timing is awkward, and the long game is far from settled.
5 min read
Once known mainly for its caution, the maker of Claude has become one of the fastest growing companies in technology. That success now invites fire from rivals, regulators, and its own soaring ambitions.
5 min read