, the work she is perhaps best known for, introduced ideas of gender as performance. It asked how we define “the category of women” and, as a consequence, who it is that feminism purports to fight for. Today, it is a foundational text on any gender studies reading list, and its arguments have long crossed over from the academy to popular culture. Gender Trouble was published, the world has changed beyond recognition. In 2014, TIME declared a . Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature at Berkeley, see this debate today? And does she...…, the work she is perhaps best known for, introduced ideas of gender as performance. It asked how we define “the category of women” and, as a consequence, who it is that feminism purports to fight for. Today, it is a foundational text on any gender studies reading list, and its arguments have long crossed over from the academy to popular culture. Gender Trouble was published, the world has changed beyond recognition. In 2014, TIME declared a . Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature at Berkeley, see this debate today? And does she...WW…

Tomorrow morning (16 January), 1,001 delegates from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will log in from around the country to watch three men in Berlin give speeches and subsequently to elect one of them as the party’s new leader. The winner will probably, but not automatically, be the party’s candidate to succeed Angela Merkel at the general election scheduled for 26 September.It was not meant to be this way. Merkel announced in October 2018 that she was standing down as CDU leader. The party had just suffered poor state election results and this timing would...…Tomorrow morning (16 January), 1,001 delegates from Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will log in from around the country to watch three men in Berlin give speeches and subsequently to elect one of them as the party’s new leader. The winner will probably, but not automatically, be the party’s candidate to succeed Angela Merkel at the general election scheduled for 26 September.It was not meant to be this way. Merkel announced in October 2018 that she was standing down as CDU leader. The party had just suffered poor state election results and this timing would...WW…

If you could fly two billion miles in the direction of the Pegasus constellation, and knew where to look, you would find a thin, flat object, about the size of a football field and up to ten times more reflective than the average comet. If you watched it for a while, you would notice that it is tumbling as it moves away from the sun, turning end over end roughly every seven hours.This object passed the Earth in October 2017. As it began its return to interstellar space, the Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk identified it among the images from what was then the world’s most powerful camera, a...…If you could fly two billion miles in the direction of the Pegasus constellation, and knew where to look, you would find a thin, flat object, about the size of a football field and up to ten times more reflective than the average comet. If you watched it for a while, you would notice that it is tumbling as it moves away from the sun, turning end over end roughly every seven hours.This object passed the Earth in October 2017. As it began its return to interstellar space, the Canadian astronomer Robert Weryk identified it among the images from what was then the world’s most powerful camera, a...WW…

HSBC’s most recent TV ad campaign is a montage of lush, slow-motion footage of stalwart everyday #heroes stacking shelves, shouldering bags of grain and politely asking people to queue for shops. “We are not an island”, intones Sandi Toksvig over footage of a softly gleaming Britscape, “we are part of something far, far bigger”.The bank expressed a similar sentiment on WeChat, China’s ubiquitous social network, last night – except that this time, the place it considered to be “not an island” was Hong Kong, and the “something far, far bigger” was the criminal and security jurisdiction...…HSBC’s most recent TV ad campaign is a montage of lush, slow-motion footage of stalwart everyday #heroes stacking shelves, shouldering bags of grain and politely asking people to queue for shops. “We are not an island”, intones Sandi Toksvig over footage of a softly gleaming Britscape, “we are part of something far, far bigger”.The bank expressed a similar sentiment on WeChat, China’s ubiquitous social network, last night – except that this time, the place it considered to be “not an island” was Hong Kong, and the “something far, far bigger” was the criminal and security jurisdiction...WW…

“We will ROC you. From Russia with love.” The video  by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to cheer on “Russian Olympic Committee” (ROC) athletes sent to the Tokyo Olympic Games offers little space for ambiguity: the Russian government is claiming the team currently placing fourth in the medals table as Russia’s.Officially, they aren’t. There are 330 Russian athletes competing in Tokyo under the ROC banner because the Russian team was banned in 2019 from participating in all international sport, after Russia was found to have participated in...…“We will ROC you. From Russia with love.” The video  by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to cheer on “Russian Olympic Committee” (ROC) athletes sent to the Tokyo Olympic Games offers little space for ambiguity: the Russian government is claiming the team currently placing fourth in the medals table as Russia’s.Officially, they aren’t. There are 330 Russian athletes competing in Tokyo under the ROC banner because the Russian team was banned in 2019 from participating in all international sport, after Russia was found to have participated in...WW…

Over the next two weeks, the boards of , , ,   and the all face the possibility of shareholder revolts over executive pay at their forthcoming annual general meetings (AGMs). As the AGM season begins, there is a particular focus on pay.Executive pay is often the most contentious item at an AGM, but this year is clearly exceptional. The people running companies that have been severely impacted by Covid-19 can’t be blamed for the devastation of their revenues by the pandemic, but they also can’t take credit for the government stimulus that has kept them afloat. Last week, for example,...…Over the next two weeks, the boards of , , ,   and the all face the possibility of shareholder revolts over executive pay at their forthcoming annual general meetings (AGMs). As the AGM season begins, there is a particular focus on pay.Executive pay is often the most contentious item at an AGM, but this year is clearly exceptional. The people running companies that have been severely impacted by Covid-19 can’t be blamed for the devastation of their revenues by the pandemic, but they also can’t take credit for the government stimulus that has kept them afloat. Last week, for example,...WW…

In “Cancelled at 17”, a New York magazine cover story that has ignited a Twitter and media storm, the features writer Elizabeth Weil profiles an “” high school boy, Diego (all the names used were pseudonyms). While drunk at a party, Diego showed his friends nude photographs of his girlfriend, Fiona. After Fiona found out, Diego’s friends began ostracising him and later, as the school pupils launched a campaign against sexual harassment and abuse on campus, Diego was identified (along with around 20 others) as one of the worst offenders. On campus he became a pariah, known to all as an...…In “Cancelled at 17”, a New York magazine cover story that has ignited a Twitter and media storm, the features writer Elizabeth Weil profiles an “” high school boy, Diego (all the names used were pseudonyms). While drunk at a party, Diego showed his friends nude photographs of his girlfriend, Fiona. After Fiona found out, Diego’s friends began ostracising him and later, as the school pupils launched a campaign against sexual harassment and abuse on campus, Diego was identified (along with around 20 others) as one of the worst offenders. On campus he became a pariah, known to all as an...WW…

rising authoritarianism. New Statesman, the 91-year-old US linguist and activist said that the current perils exceed those of the 1930s. of the  (18-20 September), a new organisation founded by Bernie Sanders, the former US presidential candidate, and , the former Greek finance minister, to counter right-wing authoritarianism. In an echo of the movement’s slogan “internationalism or extinction”, Chomsky warned: “We’re at an astonishing confluence of very severe crises. The extent of them was illustrated by the last setting of the famous Doomsday Clock....…rising authoritarianism. New Statesman, the 91-year-old US linguist and activist said that the current perils exceed those of the 1930s. of the  (18-20 September), a new organisation founded by Bernie Sanders, the former US presidential candidate, and , the former Greek finance minister, to counter right-wing authoritarianism. In an echo of the movement’s slogan “internationalism or extinction”, Chomsky warned: “We’re at an astonishing confluence of very severe crises. The extent of them was illustrated by the last setting of the famous Doomsday Clock....WW…