0:00

Have you ever Googled your own name? Prepare

0:02

for a shock because your personal info, including

0:04

addresses and phone numbers, is all out

0:06

there. It's all harvested by data brokers

0:09

and sold legally. Aura

0:11

is a personal digital security service that scans

0:13

the internet for your sensitive information and

0:15

provides a full suite of privacy-enhancing tools.

0:18

For a limited time, Aura is offering listeners a

0:20

14-day free trial at aura.com.safety.

0:23

That's a-u-r-a-dot-com-slash-safety

0:27

to learn more and activate the 14-day trial

0:29

period.

0:40

For

0:54

more than a week, the attacks in Israel and

0:56

Gaza have become a political and humanitarian

0:59

crisis on a scale and complexity

1:02

that is difficult to comprehend.

1:05

These events will change both sides forever.

1:09

Our cover story this week therefore asks,

1:11

will Israel's agony and retribution end

1:14

in chaos or stability?

1:18

Next, we turn to the global backlash

1:20

against green politics. As

1:23

climate-friendly policies around the world are coming

1:25

under attack, we argue

1:27

that governments must seek to reduce their burden

1:30

on the individual.

1:33

And finally, our Bartleby columnist,

1:35

who reflects on the world of work and management,

1:38

puts the trendy new two-day

1:40

work week

1:41

to the test.

1:48

First up, what the Israel-Palestine crisis

1:51

means for the future of the region.

1:59

believe that real change is possible.

2:02

Be in no doubt, however, that

2:04

Hamas's murderous assault has

2:06

blown up the status quo between

2:09

Israel and the Palestinians. The

2:11

coming weeks will determine whether war in

2:14

Gaza sinks the Middle East deeper

2:16

into chaos, or whether despite

2:18

Hamas's atrocities, Israel

2:20

can begin to create the foundations

2:23

for regional stability and one

2:25

day peace. Change

2:28

is inevitable because of the gravity of Hamas's

2:30

crimes. More than 1,200 Israelis,

2:34

most of them civilians, many of those

2:36

women and children, were murdered in their

2:38

homes on the street in Kibbutzim

2:41

at a music festival. Perhaps 150

2:43

more have been

2:46

dragged to Gaza and shut in

2:48

makeshift dungeons. Israel's

2:51

belief that it could indefinitely manage

2:53

Palestinian hostility with money

2:56

and airstrikes crumpled early

2:58

on October 7th, as the

3:00

first Hamas bulldozer breached

3:03

the security fence. Hamas

3:05

has chosen mass murder, and

3:08

there is no going back. Gaza

3:11

is now awaiting a huge Israeli ground

3:13

offensive. Its extent and

3:16

success will determine the legacy

3:18

of Hamas's bloody assault. So

3:21

will the fundamental choice that Israel's

3:23

politicians face after the

3:25

worst catastrophe in their country's

3:28

history? Do they unite

3:31

or continue to exploit divisions for

3:33

their own advantage? A third factor

3:36

is the choices of Israel's Middle Eastern

3:38

neighbors, including Iran.

3:42

In the weeks and months ahead, Israel's

3:44

leaders carry a heavy responsibility

3:47

to temper their understandable desire

3:49

for fire and retribution with

3:52

a hard-headed calculation about

3:54

their country's long-term interests

3:57

and an unwavering respect for the rules

3:59

of Israel. war. They left

4:01

their people vulnerable by failing

4:04

to foresee Hamas's looming attack.

4:07

They must not compound their error by

4:09

failing to see ahead clearly for

4:11

a second time. The

4:14

need for vision begins with the imminent

4:16

ground offensive. The Israel

4:18

Defense Forces will rightly strike

4:21

deep and hard at Hamas. But

4:23

how deep and how hard? Israel

4:26

will be tempted to unleash a spasm

4:29

of briefly satisfying violence.

4:32

Its defense minister has called Hamas fighters

4:35

human animals and announced

4:37

a blockade of food, water and energy.

4:40

Israeli officials and President Joe

4:42

Biden have taken to comparing

4:44

Hamas to Islamic State

4:46

or ISIS, an Islamist group

4:48

that America vowed to eradicate.

4:52

That comparison is dangerous

4:55

because although Hamas deserves to

4:57

be eradicated, achieving

4:59

that goal in an enclave of two million

5:01

impoverished people with nowhere to

5:03

flee will be impossible.

5:06

A better comparison than ISIS is

5:09

the 9-11 attacks in 2001,

5:12

not just because of Israel's agony,

5:15

but also because America's invasions

5:17

of Afghanistan and Iraq show

5:19

how steeply the costs of invasion

5:22

mount, which is precisely Hamas's

5:25

calculation. At

5:27

such a moment, self-restraint matters

5:30

more than ever. It is in Israel's

5:32

interest because street fighting

5:35

is perilous and the hostages

5:37

are defenseless. It makes

5:39

the operation militarily sustainable

5:42

and preserves international support.

5:45

It avoids playing into the hands of foes

5:47

who calculate that dead Palestinian

5:50

women and children will further their

5:52

cause. By clinging to

5:54

its identity as a state that

5:56

values human life, Israel

5:59

becomes stronger. stronger. Restraint

6:02

in the ground offensive depends

6:04

on the choices of Israel's politicians.

6:07

Before the war, they were tearing the country

6:10

apart over a new law curbing

6:12

the Supreme Court. For now,

6:15

grief and horror have brought people

6:17

back together. But the left blames

6:19

the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu,

6:22

the Prime Minister, for poisoning

6:24

relations with the army and security

6:26

services over the court and

6:29

neglecting security in Gaza because

6:31

of a fixation with helping Jewish settlers

6:34

in the West Bank. The right,

6:36

counters that calls for civil disobedience

6:39

by senior officials opposed to

6:41

Mr. Netanyahu, were a green

6:43

light for Hamas. Mr.

6:46

Netanyahu must try to use his new

6:48

war cabinet announced this week to

6:51

unite Israel. Only

6:53

by healing its own politics will

6:56

the country be able to deal with Gaza.

6:58

Mr. Netanyahu will not want to help

7:00

his most plausible rivals for

7:02

office. Yet he was the man

7:05

in charge when Hamas struck, and

7:07

his political career is ending. Having

7:10

spent a lifetime seeking power at

7:12

any price, he should finally

7:15

put his country before himself.

7:18

A unified centrist government would

7:21

also be better placed to cope with the last

7:23

set of challenges, the politics

7:26

of the Middle East. Israel

7:28

will be in grave peril if

7:30

the war in Gaza spreads to its

7:32

northern border with Lebanon, where

7:34

tensions with Hezbollah, a formidably

7:37

armed militia, are already growing

7:39

ominously. The longer and

7:42

bloodier the fighting in Gaza, the

7:44

more Hezbollah will feel it must

7:46

be seen to support its brethren. There

7:49

is also a possibility of war with

7:52

Iran, which has replaced Arab

7:54

governments as the sponsor of Palestinian

7:57

violence. Even Iran

7:59

hawks. in the West should not wish

8:01

for that. A wider

8:04

war would wreck the detente built

8:06

on the Abraham Accords between

8:09

Israel and its Arab neighbors, including

8:12

Bahrain, Morocco, the United

8:14

Arab Emirates and potentially Saudi

8:17

Arabia. This grouping stands

8:20

for a new Middle East that is

8:22

pragmatic and focused on

8:24

economic development rather than

8:26

ideology. It is still

8:28

inchoate but it has the potential

8:31

to become a force for moderation and

8:34

possibly even security. Simply

8:37

by surviving the Abraham

8:40

Accords could emerge from this crisis

8:42

stronger. However Hamas

8:44

has shown that the signatories neglect

8:47

of the Palestinians is a mistake.

8:50

Israel and its Arab partners need

8:52

a new optimistic vision for Gaza

8:55

and the West Bank as an alternative

8:57

to Iran's cult of violence and

8:59

killing. And that leads

9:01

back to the fighting in Gaza. How

9:04

does it end? Israel

9:06

has no good options. Occupation

9:10

is unsustainable. A Hamas

9:12

government is unacceptable. Rule

9:15

by its rival Fattah is untenable.

9:18

An Arab peacekeeping force is unattainable

9:22

and a puppet government is unimaginable.

9:25

If Israel destroys Hamas in Gaza

9:28

and pulls out, who knows

9:31

what destructive forces will fill the

9:33

vacuum left behind? Israeli

9:36

strategists must therefore start

9:38

thinking about how to create the conditions

9:40

for life alongside the Palestinians,

9:44

however remote that seems today. All

9:47

those elements may have a part. A

9:49

short period of martial law in Gaza,

9:52

a search for Palestinian leaders acceptable

9:55

to both sides and the good

9:57

offices of Arab intermediaries.

10:00

The only way to eradicate Hamas

10:04

is for Israel and its Arab allies

10:06

to create stability and

10:09

one day

10:10

peace.

10:30

Did

10:32

you know that personal information like

10:35

addresses and phone numbers is collected

10:37

and sold by data brokers across the internet? Fortunately,

10:40

Aura steps in, scanning the web,

10:42

sending you alerts, and requesting the removal

10:45

of your info when found. Get

10:47

a 14-day free trial of Aura's full

10:49

toolkit, including ID theft protection,

10:51

parental controls, and more, at

10:54

Aura.com.safety. That's

10:57

A-U-R-A dot

10:59

com slash safety. This

11:06

is Editor's Picks from The Economist. Next,

11:09

how to reduce the backlash against

11:11

green policies.

11:14

The shift to electric cars is

11:16

a transition to hell that

11:18

will destroy your beautiful way of

11:20

life, says Donald Trump. He

11:22

is far from the only politician to

11:25

oppose greenery. Rishi Sunak,

11:27

Britain's Prime Minister, has kicked plans

11:30

to phase out petrol cars years into

11:32

the future, saying it cannot

11:34

be right to impose such significant

11:36

costs on working people. On

11:39

October 8th, voters in two

11:41

big German states walloped the parties

11:44

of the green-tinged ruling coalition. Even

11:47

Sweden has cut fossil fuel prices

11:49

several times in the past year. A backlash

11:53

against climate-friendly policies is

11:55

underway in rich democracies.

11:58

It has many causes. Some

12:00

voters deny that climate change is

12:02

happening. Others accept that

12:05

it is, but do not want to pay

12:07

higher taxes or energy prices

12:09

to tackle it. Many object

12:12

to the hassle of installing new equipment.

12:15

Some, especially the old, resist any

12:17

kind of change. Others ask

12:19

why they should make sacrifices when

12:22

other countries, especially ones they dislike,

12:24

are doing less. Under

12:27

this cauldron of grievances, populist

12:30

politicians have heaped lighted coals.

12:33

Many exaggerate the costs of going

12:35

green, embellish the details.

12:37

Britain's opposition had no plans for

12:40

a meat tax, whatever Mr Sunak

12:42

says, and seek to turn climate

12:44

into a culture war battleground. The

12:47

metropolitan elite will grab your

12:49

car and make you eat tofu. Such

12:52

tactics have proved potent. Although

12:55

awareness of climate change has increased,

12:58

a political divide has opened. Voters

13:01

on the left in Australia, Canada,

13:03

Germany and Sweden are 23 to 44

13:05

percentage points more

13:08

likely than those on the right to

13:10

see it as a major threat. In

13:12

America, the gap is a stunning 63 points

13:15

according to Pew upholster. Such

13:19

polarisation means bigger flip-flops

13:21

when power changes hands. Imagine

13:24

France under the wind farm loathing

13:27

Marine Le Pen. Everywhere

13:29

making climate policy less predictable

13:32

makes it harder for investors to

13:34

plan for the long term as they must.

13:37

What can be done? President

13:40

Joe Biden's approach has been to throw hundreds

13:42

of billions of dollars at everything from batteries

13:45

to smart grids and to call

13:47

it a programme to create jobs and face

13:49

down China.

13:51

Even voters who do not care about

13:53

greenery like

13:54

jobs and fear China

13:56

goes the calculation and a future

13:59

Republican President

13:59

would shrink from scrapping

14:02

subsidies that are popular with recipients

14:04

in red and blue states alike. All

14:08

true, but this approach has big

14:10

drawbacks. First,

14:12

framing green energy as a matter of

14:15

industrial policy and national security

14:18

opens the door to protectionism, which

14:20

raises the cost of green technology

14:23

by shutting out some of the best suppliers.

14:26

Second, a subsidy-based approach

14:28

will be far more expensive than one

14:30

that makes more use of carbon pricing,

14:33

which encourages the reduction of emissions

14:36

throughout the economy. The

14:38

IMF estimates that in a typical

14:40

rich country, trying to reach net

14:43

zero using mostly subsidies would

14:45

raise public debt by an unsustainable 45

14:48

to 50 percent of GDP by 2050. Using a well-designed mix

14:54

of carbon taxes and other measures would

14:57

raise debt by a more manageable 10 to 15

15:00

percent of GDP. The

15:02

downside of carbon taxes is

15:05

that voters don't like the sound of them,

15:07

since they are, as the name implies,

15:10

taxes. Governments

15:12

have typically succeeded in putting a price

15:14

on carbon only by stealth, using

15:17

emissions trading schemes that few

15:19

voters understand. Carbon

15:22

prices now cover almost a quarter of

15:24

global emissions, but that is not nearly

15:26

enough. To curb

15:28

carbon fast enough without generating

15:31

too much resistance, climate

15:33

policy should be designed to inflict as

15:35

little hassle and cost on households as

15:37

is practical. To reduce

15:40

hassle, government should remember that

15:42

voters' time is valuable and many

15:44

green chores are dull. So,

15:47

for example, instead of placing the burden

15:49

on householders to install heat pumps,

15:51

governments could place it on the utilities

15:54

that hook up homes to the grid. Such

15:57

firms could work their way across

15:58

a country in store

15:59

calling a big heat pump in each road

16:02

and connecting all the nearby houses to

16:04

it, a process a bit like the rollout

16:06

of broadband over the past two decades.

16:09

To curb costs,

16:11

governments should create predictable incentives

16:14

to reduce emissions efficiently,

16:17

meaning far more use of carbon pricing.

16:20

Workers in industries that will eventually

16:23

be shut down such as coal should

16:25

be offered help, including training

16:27

for new jobs. Judicious regulation

16:30

can also play a role.

16:32

If car firms are given a deadline

16:34

to stop selling new petrol cars,

16:36

they will strain to bring down the price

16:39

and extend the range of electric vehicles.

16:42

If deadlines are realistic,

16:44

cleaner tech may already be cheaper

16:47

than the dirty sort before it is

16:49

compulsory.

16:51

Plenty of clean technologies

16:53

are cheaper in the long run but have stiff,

16:56

upfront costs. Many

16:58

voters in rich countries will need help

17:01

with these. So will developing

17:03

countries where the high cost of capital

17:05

still makes many green projects unaffordable.

17:09

Globally, politicians who care about the

17:11

climate should take the backlash seriously.

17:14

That means being honest with voters about the

17:16

inevitable disruption and striving

17:19

to minimise the pain.

17:25

Before we continue with our final article

17:27

of the week,

17:29

you'll hopefully know by now that we're launching

17:31

a new podcast subscription which

17:33

starts on the 24th of October, just

17:35

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If you're too busy to do that right now, it's

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If you already subscribe to The Economist,

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don't worry – you'll receive all of our content

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you for being part of our community.

18:38

And now, back to this week's editor's picks.

18:42

Our final story asks, Is

18:44

the two-day work week misery

18:47

or bliss?

18:48

We have completed our pilot

18:51

of the two-day work week and

18:53

present our findings below. We

18:56

would like to thank the leadership team for

18:58

being imaginative enough to allow

19:00

this experiment. We are also

19:03

very sorry.

19:04

We are consistently

19:07

looking for ways to stand out as an

19:09

employer of choice.

19:11

Recent trials of the four-day

19:13

work week at other companies suggest

19:16

that there might be ways to improve work-life

19:18

balance and satisfaction without

19:21

hurting productivity. Our

19:24

former head of HR, Joe King,

19:26

pushed us to be bolder.

19:28

If people were able to fit a whole week

19:31

into four days, was it possible

19:33

to go further still? The

19:36

idea to trial a two-day work week

19:38

in our North American Territory was born,

19:41

and to reiterate the point above,

19:43

you all agreed to this.

19:46

Outline of the trial. This

19:49

began work at 9am on

19:51

a Monday as usual. They

19:53

did a 20-hour shift until early

19:55

Tuesday morning and then had an

19:58

eight-hour break before beginning a new trial.

19:59

second 20-hour shift.

20:02

The work week ended at 9am

20:05

on Wednesday morning, at which point

20:07

employees took the next five days

20:09

off and returned the following Monday.

20:12

To make things simple, all employees

20:15

in the region were opted into this new

20:17

arrangement.

20:18

Regrettably, we quickly

20:21

lost all colleagues who were single

20:23

parents and many other employees

20:25

with young children.

20:27

Some legal action is continuing

20:30

as a result.

20:31

But the initial

20:32

response from those who remained was

20:34

extremely positive.

20:36

Results of the trial. It immediately

20:39

became clear that most people were unable

20:41

to stay awake during either shift

20:44

without needing some kind of stimulant.

20:46

A few members of the marketing team

20:49

remained extremely animated

20:51

throughout their shifts.

20:53

As you know, the early morning cleaners later

20:56

reported that they had come across three of

20:58

them snorting cocaine off

21:00

the reception desk. In

21:02

later weeks, we invested in various

21:05

options to keep staff peped up, including

21:08

energy drinks, guarana powder

21:10

and free M&Ms. We

21:13

also provided sleeping bags for people

21:15

to grab power naps.

21:17

The extent of other problems became clearer

21:20

as the pilot proceeded. Customers

21:23

who tried to reach us outside our new

21:25

working hours were told to contact

21:28

us again at 9am on the following

21:30

Monday. We saw enormous

21:33

core waiting times at the start

21:35

of each week.

21:36

In one case, a customer was

21:38

told they would be put on hold for

21:41

an estimated 49 hours,

21:44

putting them outside the window of that

21:46

work week too.

21:47

We attracted a lot of criticism

21:50

for this on social media, though

21:52

none of us noticed.

21:54

The rush to get everything done in two

21:56

days caused other problems.

24:00

We do not recommend a repeat

24:02

of this experiment. This

24:04

may be academic since the North American

24:07

business is now closing down.

24:09

If creativity is a willingness

24:11

to take immensely stupid risks,

24:14

we can all look back on this episode

24:17

with pride. On any

24:19

other definition, we cannot.

24:26

If you like that story, you'll

24:28

no doubt enjoy Boss Class, our

24:30

upcoming podcast series on management.

24:33

It's hosted by Bartleby himself, the

24:35

columnist who brought you that final story.

24:39

As you'd expect, Boss Class is full of practical

24:41

advice, it's relatable, and,

24:43

trust me, it's funny. To

24:46

listen to Boss Class when it comes out later

24:48

this month, and to listen to a very special weekend

24:51

version of The Intelligence, featuring

24:53

my colleagues' finest reporting and storytelling

24:55

every week, you need Economist

24:57

Podcast Plus. Just google

25:00

Economist Podcast to find out more

25:02

about our new subscription service. That's

25:05

all from us. Thank you for listening to Editor's

25:07

Picks. I'm Adam Roberts, and

25:09

in London, this is The Economist.

25:15

Did you know that personal information, like addresses and phone numbers,

25:24

is collected and sold by data brokers across the internet?

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