A fancy igloo
Halley VI, the British Antarctic survey's new research station, has to deal with extreme conditions: temperatures below -50°C, strong winds and shifting ice shelves. Hugh Broughton, the architect behind it, talks about its innovative, modular design

The Economist debate: Africa on the up
How real is the rise of Africa? Wolfgang Fengler of the World Bank argues that the continent has just begun a profound transition, while Rick Rowden, a development consultant, argues that Africa is not about to repeat Asia's economic trajectory

Class and cricket
Working-class heroes once bestrode English cricket, but today fewer players from modest backgrounds reach the top of the game than at any time in its history. With so little cricket now played in state schools, the situation is only going to get worse

From our blogs

Johnson: Canada's language police
Over-zealous government language inspectors in Quebec find themselves mocked for their part in the furore now known as “pastagate”

Culture: Women's liberation
An archive of interviews with the unsung heroines of Britain's 1970s feminist movement are unveiled online and at the British Library, London

Business: Amen to that
A new social-media service simpler than Twitter gets users to vote “Amen” or “Hell no” on what they like. Algorithms then turn the data into rankings

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Tibet's future
The region is once again in crisis

Unrest in Bangladesh
A flawed tribunal is provoking violence

Is Britain's influence in Europe waning?

Venezuela after Chávez
What lies ahead for the country

Featured comment

"It would seem that the demand for medicinal rhino horn is one of the most powerful demonstrations of the placebo effect on Earth. Species are wiped out due to the insane difficulty of persuading people that eating ground-up hair has absolutely no medicinal value—except for the power of self delusion."
—anabasis81 on “Trade protection”, March 5th