It’s always notable how a public holiday – especially one in the United States – can have a becalming effect on the news agenda. So while Donald Trump thankfully set his phone aside to tuck into his Thanksgiving turkey, the Guardian Weekly took the opportunity this week to venture beneath the hood of the normally well-oiled machine of German politics.
For so long the crucible of stable but dull grand coalitions, Germany’s government appears to be venturing towards new territory after chancellor Angela Merkel’s failed attempts to form a new ruling administration. It’s a situation that has had some analysts casting a nervous eye back to the chaotic Weimar years between the wars. But are they right to worry, asks Berlin bureau chief Philip Oltermann in our cover story this week.
Inside the paper we report from Egypt following the devastating attack on a mosque in Sinai. There’s also great coverage from India, where male cab drivers are receiving gender awareness lessons to tackle sexual harassment, and from Brazil, focusing on the problems of São Paulo’s drug-ridden district known as Cracolandia.
We find out how gun sales in Las Vegas have been affected since October’s shooting tragedy, and hear why the Canadian prairie town of Saskatoon is investing heavily in cultural reinvention. From Zimbabwe, there’s a report on the prospects of new president Emmerson Mnangagwa, while Simon Tisdall considers the other African strongmen nervously watching events in Harare after Robert Mugabe’s sudden fall.
The Weekly Review has a long read on neoliberalism, the economic creed now commonly used as a catch-all for the world’s problems, but also a concept that can be harder to define under close examination. There’s also a look under the lid of WhatsApp, the group messaging service used as an effective organising tool by everyone from shopkeepers to lawmakers.
Culture catches up with Björk, Iceland’s queen of artistic reinvention, who has a new album and a new direction. Sport looks back on a familiar losing start to the Ashes series for England’s cricketers in Australia.
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