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Books & arts

A masterful director brings Dostoyevsky’s characters to life

For Lev Dodin, as for the author, Alyosha is the most important of “The Brothers Karamazov”


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Imagine there were no banks

Buffett’s legacy • India’s nightmare • Germany’s green judgment • Somaliland’s unrecognised success


United States

Lexington: In praise of America’s founding fish

The Potomac river is a more vivid symbol of American history than any of the monuments along it


Books & arts

Johnson: The real reasons some languages are harder to learn

They slice up the messy reality of life differently from your own

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Leaders

Time’s up: Warren Buffett should step aside for his chosen successor

Berkshire Hathaway needs a leader who will take a fresh look at performance and governance

Finance & economics

What history tells you about post-pandemic booms

People spend more, take more risks—and demand more of politicians

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The legacy of Victorian-era pollution still shapes English cities

A new study uses 21st-century wizardry to solve a 19th-century mystery


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Special report: The future of banking

A future with fewer banks

Imagining a world without banks

How fintech will eat into banks’ business

Bankers, once kings of capital, may be dethroned by payment platforms

A bigger role for venture capital

Why bankers are scarce in Silicon Valley

When interest rates turn negative

Banks do less banking with interest rates at zero

When central banks issue digital money

Will banks survive the transition to a new monetary system?

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