The Knesset vote last week to curtail the power of Israel’s supreme court deals a blow to the country’s status quo. For months, ordinary Israelis have been on the streets protesting against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightwing government’s plans. Now thousands of army reservists are threatening to refuse duty. Jerusalem correspondent Bethan McKernan reports on why reservists are hanging up their boots in protest and what acts of civil disobedience mean for Israel’s stability and security. And columnist Jonathan Freedland looks at the parallels between Netanyahu and Donald Trump, both strongman leaders facing criminal trials and determined to use political processes to circumvent personal responsibility.
We return to Odesa after last month’s terrible airstrike on the cathedral to discover how Moscow’s determination to break the spirit of the historic city has in fact solidified support to de-Russify its culture. Shaun Walker talks to museum staff considering what to do with the statue of Odesa’s founder, Catherine the Great, taken down from its plinth and lying in the museum’s store, and he meets the mayor, who was once suspected of being pro-Moscow but has been turned by war into a staunch Ukrainian patriot.
Another figure who changed his mind is the subject of our main feature, by Ben Tarnoff. Computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot. Eliza was programmed to act like a human psychotherapist, but as he observed how humans interacted with his software, Weizenbaum delved further into understanding the difference between human and artificial intelligence and determined that the line between the two should not be blurred.
We also interview Stormzy and the first two graduates of his inaugural Cambridge scholarship programme for black students. The three talk to Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff about education, their common experience of growing up in south London and future plans to give back to their communities.
If you are looking for your next read or to discover a new author, our Culture feature by John Self on the growing popularity of international fiction will provide inspiration. Translators and publishers talk about the writers who are gaining new English-speaking fans and we feature five novelists to watch. We stay off the English-speaking track to explore Hong Kong, interviewing photographer Wong Chung-Wai about his intimate and unexpected portraits of a city he has been forced to leave behind.
