World

On the one hand, it’s good that Ed Vulliamy is in the Guardian today highlighting the appalling miseries of the Mexican Drug War; on the other it’s unfortunate that his piece is so very desperately confused. But this is not just a war between narco-cartels. Juarez has imploded into a state of criminal anarchy – the cartels, acting like any corporation, have outsourced violence to gangs affiliated or unaffiliated with them, who compete for tenders with corrupt police officers. The army plays its own mercurial role. “Cartel war” does not explain the story my friend, and Juarez journalist, Sandra Rodriguez told me over dinner last month: about two children who

Something is rotten in the state of Württemberg. Well, not quite Württemberg, because the young Frederich Schiller didn’t quite dare to express directly his criticisms of his first patron, Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg. Instead, he set this searing attack on whoring, machinating despots in an unnamed, ‘fictional’ German principality. The result is a drama of sweeping scope and universalist aspirations, but one that can’t hide the deeply personal anger of a young writer confronted with the world’s corruption. In Michael Grandage’s deftly handled production at the Donmar Warehouse, Luise Miller is gripping and beguiling, thanks to translator Mike Poulton’s mellow touch and an ensemble of consistently superb performances.

 Much of the

Europe is a doom-monger’s paradise at the moment. Riots in Greece; summary Cabinet reshuffles; meetings between Merkel and Sarkozy to save the single currency — and there’s still the potential for things to get worse, much worse. If the Greek government defaults on its debts, then there’s no knowing where the contagion will spread, only that it it will spread wide: from Spain and Portugal to markets across the world. Share indices have already been trembling at the prospect, although many of them rallied slightly today. One consolation, however scant, is that all this crystallises just what can happen to governments who operate beyond their means. Indeed, this seems to

Since Rick Perry’s campaign theme – assuming he runs – will be It Worked In Texas, it’s worth observing that Texas’s success in recent years is partly based upon the fact that it is easy and often cheap to move there. That’s because, as Matt Yglesias points out, it’s easy to build houses in Texas. In fact the average family in Houston is actually better off – once housing and transportation costs have been considered – than a comparable family in New York City. Since the great eastern seaboard cities have the advantages of antiquity and immense reserves of cultural capital that will always make them popular places in which

Suicide country The BBC is to broadcast a documentary featuring a man committing suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich. Where else in the world can assisted suicide be carried out without attracting a murder charge? Netherlands: prosecutions for voluntary euthanasia effectively ceased in 1973, after an agreement between doctors and the government. Formally legalised in 2001 by Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act 2001 Belgium: euthanasia legalised for adults in 2002. A bill to extend it to children failed in 2004 Oregon: law to allow doctor-assisted suicide (Death with Dignity Act) passed in 1994, and came into force in 1997 Washington state: Death with Dignity Act

Oh look! Newt Gingrich’s preposterous Presidential “campaign” has imploded. His top strategists and campaign staff have resigned en masse and so has his Iowa staff. What a shame. Turns out that staffers didn’t appreciate Newt taking his latest wife on a cruise around the Greek islands while they were working hard to sell the impossible dream of President Gingrich. Hence the Newtiny. Newt 2012: Making Rudy 2008 look good. Since Newt’s campaign manager Ron Johnson also ran Texas Governor Rick Perry’s re-election campaign last year and Newt’s erstwhile senior strategist Dave Carney has also worked for Perry it’s dollars to brisket that all this increases the chance Perry will enter

Selling New York City to the world must be one of the easier jobs in advertising but this beautiful time-lapse video does it brilliantly, capturing something of the stuff that makes Manhattan such a special place. In a way it’s also a hymn to the wonders of big cities everywhere. Mindrelic – Manhattan in motion from Mindrelic on Vimeo. More about it here.