Notations On Our World (Special Year-End Edition): As 2021 Comes To a Close.....

 We have been working away as we wanted to present a snapshot as we gear up for 2022 courtesy the team at the Economist as we look forward to the privilege to serve in 2022: 

All at sea A return to container shipping’s pre-pandemic days is a long way off Long delays and high costs to cross the ocean waves

Frigid farewells Lithuania evacuates its embassy in China It is the worst diplomatic crisis between China and a European state in decades

To rent or not to rent How landlords thwart America’s attempts to house poor people It is one thing to receive a housing voucher and quite another to successfully use it

The World Ahead 2022 Latin America is in danger of going back to the old normal Economic stagnation, social discontent and threats to democracy loom

Bello Despite the polls, a centrist could win Colombia’s election in May Undecided voters may shun Gustavo Petro, a populist of the left

Seeing the need for speed The Omicron variant advances at an incredible rate Even if infections prove mild, that speed will have grave consequences

Daily chart Which countries are best protected against Omicron? Boosters, or a combination of infection and vaccination, are needed against the new variant

Wave of mutation What the spread of Omicron means for the world Hospitals are likely to struggle but boosters will help, predict two new studies

The way things were The new normal is already here. Get used to it The era of predictable unpredictability is not going away

Babbage Unpacking Omicron—making sense of the data Our podcast on the science and technology making the news. This week we explore how expert modellers project the spread of Omicron, and why scientists often disagree on covid-19 data

#WewantKarl As Omicron looms, Germany’s new covid tsar girds for battle Karl Lauterbach favours mandatory vaccination and tighter restrictions

If it spreads, it’s read 2021’s biggest stories were covid-19 and America’s presidential transition The online audiences of 7,000 publishers spent 275m hours reading about the year’s 45 biggest stories

Covid-19 The triumph of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Despite setbacks, the jab has probably saved more lives than any other Seeing the need for speed The Omicron variant advances at an incredible rate Even if infections prove mild, that speed will have grave consequences Hither and thither The Bank of England surprises investors by raising interest rates Britain becomes the first big rich economy to experience rate rises Studying Ceará What a Brazilian state can teach the world about education Ceará offers a model for rebuilding schools after the pandemic Christmas Special: Murder of the Orient Express Railway lines once connected the Middle East Now the tracks that joined continents lie in wreckage Schumpeter The billionaire battle for the metaverse Forget space. The race is on to take people beyond reality Daily chart Young Americans are souring on Joe Biden Without the threat of Donald Trump, the president’s policies are coming under increasing scrutiny Geomagnetic archaeology Earth’s magnetic field illuminates Biblical history It casts light on an obscure period called the Hallstatt plateau The Economist Asks: Anish Kapoor Should artists stand up to cancel culture? The renowned sculptor and Turner prize winner talks about appropriation and representation in the arts