Economist, April 26

(posted Saturday, April 26)

The European election issue. The Economist endorses the Tories--tepidly--in next week's British election. The cover editorial, "Labour Doesn't Deserve It," says that while the party's ideas are "no longer disastrous," they're not as sensible as the conservatives' free-market policies. An editorial and article say that next month's French election could determine the future of European union. The re-election of President Jacques Chirac would probably guarantee France's participation in currency union. A Socialist victory would put it in doubt. A story about the new Sino-Russian "strategic partnership" concludes that it's nothing to worry about. For the moment, China and Russia are united by their unease about the United States, but Russia will quickly learn that it has more to fear from Chinese expansionism than from Western capitalism.

New Republic, May 12

(posted Friday, April 25)

A long article doubts whether online media can attract the loyal "communities" of readers that newspapers used to have. It compares the Webzine Salon to legendary San Francisco columnist Herb Caen: The Web can't replicate the "emphatically local" sense of place that made Caen so popular. The cover book review pans Norman Mailer's autobiography of Jesus (The Gospel According to the Son) as an unimaginative imitation of the real Gospels. Also, a piece about Mauritanian slavery, a truly peculiar institution: Slaves in the northwest African nation are frequently richer than their masters.

New York Times Magazine, April 27

(posted Thursday, April 24)

"Learning Poverty Firsthand" profiles welfare scholar Kathryn Edin, who claims that all welfare mothers cheat, but only because they have to. Welfare and food-stamp benefits are not nearly enough to pay for essentials, so welfare moms need outside income to survive. The other striking fact: Women who work at menial jobs are poorer than women on welfare. The cover story reprints an exchange of letters between a desperate German Jew and an American cousin who tried to save him from the Holocaust. A sportswriter plays a pickup basketball game with Oscar Robertson, who has lost a step but not his competitive spirit. Also, a column about "Slaves 'R' Us," a business that recruits submissive men to clean the apartments of dominant women. (It's even weirder than it sounds.)

Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, April 28