America is producing more high-school graduates—but on average, they know less. We ask how a push for equity can in reality seed a systemic failing. London’s Canary Wharf was built as a high-rise jungle for white-collar workers; how is it surviving in a work-from-home world (7:57)? And amid a general decline in cinemagoing, the high end of the market is thriving (14:02).
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The Intelligence: F is for falling standards

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Mumbai is famously an open city, known for welcoming all comers, regardless of colour, caste, or creed. 
But as the city goes about building its future, Economist correspondent Leo Mirani, a proud Mumbaikar, fears his city’s character is being buried beneath the rubble.
In this episode of the Weekend Intelligence Leo contemplates how all this construction will change his beloved Bombay, and who the Mumbai of the future is really designed for.
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The Weekend Intelligence: Bombay, open city?

A bid to squeeze money from social-media platforms that link to news content has backfired: what was intended to help publishers is instead harming them. America’s workers still work more than Europe’s; what is changing is where they do it (9:44). And remembering Shirley Conran, whose books were more than merely saucy: they helped women with everything from money to mathematics (16:22). 
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Swat off the press: Meta v Canada’s news ploy

An attempt on Robert Fico’s life comes at a time of deep-running polarisation in his country—much of which is his own doing. A vote today among auto workers in America’s historically union-unfriendly south will indicate whether an organised-labour revolution can take hold (9:26). And the perception of time varies depending on what you are looking at (17:24).
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Boiling over: an attempt on the Slovakian PM’s life

Michael Cohen has been testifying in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial. Did the former president’s fixer provide what the prosecution had hoped for? The Middle East has a militia problem. Many of the region’s governments are too weak to keep them down; others simply let them in (10:36). And investigating whether there is more or less sex on the silver screen these days (19:06).
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Expenses claims: Trump’s hush-money trial

At a hidden command centre our correspondent finds deflated but defiant soldiers. Fight against Russia now, they say, or fight for Russia against Europe later. With inflation poised to play a critical role in America’s election, we ask why voters despise it even though it can signal rude economic health (11:58). And how a century-old novella called “The Vortex” pioneered eco-literature (19:23).
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The Intelligence: F is for falling standards

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