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  • The Week Evening Review
    Europe’s migration strategy, the Stratus strain, and Bad Bunny’s lone US gig

     
    TODAY’S BIG QUESTION

    What’s behind Europe’s drop in illegal migration?

    European countries are “going to hell” because “illegal aliens are pouring in”, Donald Trump told the UN last week. But, in actual fact, the number of migrants arriving in Europe is going down – dramatically.

    EU border management figures show that, in the first eight months of this year, 112,000 people crossed illegally into Europe – down 21% from last year, said The Economist. That’s “an even more impressive” 52% drop from the comparable period in 2023, and a very small number compared with 2015, when “the continent’s biggest flows of refugees since the Second World War” saw over a million people enter Europe on asylum routes.

    What did the commentators say?
    The “underlying causes of migration” haven’t changed but the EU has been “experimenting with new ways” of heading migrants off, said The Economist. After the 2015 influx, the EU “put a long bet on deterrence” and, although that looked like “a poor wager” for some years, this summer “the bet seems to have paid off”.

    The bloc’s main strategy has been to “build a big, invisible wall far from its own borders” in countries through which migrants try to pass on their way to Europe. In return for cooperating, these “transit countries” get significant sums of aid and investment, as well as training and funds for their coastguards, border officials and police forces.

    There has been a “high degree of cooperation” from Tunisian and Libyan authorities to curtail “the departure of would-be illegal migrants from their shores”, said The Arab Weekly. Significantly, there has also been a “massive drop in Syrians seeking protection” since the Assad regime fell at the end of last year.

    But even as the numbers drop, “the pressure to get tough on migration has never been higher” and, for the “right-wing parties that hold sway in the European parliament”, deterrence must be accompanied by faster “returns” and tougher handling of “irregular arrivals”.

    There are now “numerous well documented cases of asylum seekers being pushed back across EU borders” in the bloc’s outermost member states, including Greece, Poland and Latvia, said the BBC.

    What next?
    A “landmark” EU migration pact that “hardens border procedures and envisages accelerated deportations” comes into force next year, said The Arab Weekly. “But many countries felt it did not go far enough”, and further talks are expected in the months ahead.

     
     
    THE EXPLAINER

    The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the rise

    A new strain of Covid, with an apparently telltale symptom, has reached the UK, and already accounts for a high proportion of newly recorded cases in England. The arrival of the Stratus strain comes as levels of coronavirus infection reach their highest point so far this year, according to UK Health Service Agency data.

    What is the Stratus strain?
    It is a catch-all nickname for XFG and XFG.3, sub-variants of the Omicron Covid strain. Stratus can trigger all the usual symptoms of Covid infection, including a cough, fever, sore throat and a change of taste and smell, but it has been, anecdotally, singled out for causing a particularly razor-blade-like sore throat.

    Despite Stratus now accounting for a majority of new Covid cases in the UK, health experts are not concerned. Circulation levels are officially “low” and “current data does not indicate” that Stratus leads “to more severe illness than other variants in circulation”, said the UK Health Service Agency.

    How has it become so dominant?
    The World Health Organisation has designated XFG a “variant under monitoring”, estimating that it now accounts for roughly 60% of Covid cases worldwide.

    Stratus “has become dominant because it is more infectious (able to bypass existing immunity to some degree) than prior variants”, Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told The Telegraph. “But its relative growth advantage is only about 31%, which is not that great”, compared with the 200% growth advantage of Omicron,  the variant that brought much of the world to a standstill in late 2021.

    Why are Covid cases rising?
    Covid spikes can happen at any time of year but history has shown us that the biggest waves tend to strike in the summer or early winter.

    A likely major factor in the recent uptick in cases in the UK – and also in the US and France – is that population immunity to Covid is now relatively low, as the antibody “fighter cell” protection we acquired from previous infection or vaccination starts to fade.

    The return to school in recent weeks could well encourage a further spike in cases, Peter Openshaw, an immunology professor at Imperial College London, told The Telegraph. “It may be that, during October, we’re going to see a lot more Covid.”

     
     
    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    “I just want to give you a good wash.”

    Prince William tells Gary Oldman that he likes the spy series “Slow Horses” but wishes the actor’s MI5 character was more hygienic. Oldman, who was accepting a knighthood from the prince at Windsor Castle yesterday, replied: “Well, I think I’ve scrubbed up OK today.”

     
     

    Poll watch

    More than half (58%) of British households are planning to limit their energy use this winter, as the price cap on gas and electricity units rises by 2% from today. The survey of 2,443 adults by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action found that people with chronic health conditions were even more likely to ration their heating.

     
     
    IN THE SPOTLIGHT

    Why Bad Bunny is a divisive Super Bowl headliner

    Spanish-language superstar Bad Bunny has been confirmed as the headline act at America’s Super Bowl half-time show in February, prompting both celebration from fans and consternation from critics disturbed by the performer’s strident opposition to Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

    ‘Just one date in the United States’
    The Puerto Rican singer (real name: Benito Ocasio) has just completed a 31-date residency at San Juan’s José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum – a pause in an ongoing global tour that has attracted notoriety for not taking in any US states.

    In an interview with i-D magazine last month, Ocasio said that he chose to forego US dates because “f**king ICE could be outside” venues, waiting to arrest concertgoers. “It’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he said. Just before the NFL confirmed him as the half-time headliner, Ocasio nodded towards the controversy with a post on X saying: “I think I’ll do just one date in the United States.”

    The news was met with excitement by Ocasio’s legions of US fans, many of them specifically “celebrating the power of having a Latino on one of the world’s biggest stages” in a “political era that has targeted Latinos”, said Rolling Stone.

    Pushing ‘a woke message’
    Super Bowl headliners have proven contentious before, said Forbes,  particularly last year, with what “many viewers interpreted as a politically charged performance” from rapper Kendrick Lamar.

    The NFL is “self-destructing year after year”, said conservative YouTuber Benny Johnson, calling Ocasio a “massive Trump hater”, while fellow right-wing social media activist Robby Starbuck predicted that the singer will “find some way to push a woke message”.

    But, while the choice is “likely to upset certain people” in America, the NFL is “playing the long game”, said USA Today. Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist on Spotify between 2020 and 2022, boasting a fanbase in the hundreds of millions across Latin America and beyond. With American football increasingly eyeing a global role, putting Ocasio at the centre of the Super Bowl is a business-minded “investment on that international future”.

     
     

    Good day👠

    … for dressing up, after the British Museum announced that it would hold a “landmark” annual ball that is already drawing comparisons to New York’s Met Gala. The organising committee for this month’s inaugural fundraising event, which has a pink theme and costs £2,000 a ticket, includes Naomi Campbell, Grayson Perry and Idris Elba.

     
     

    Bad day🖋️

    … for sloppy handwriting, after an Indian court said “legible” medical prescriptions were a “fundamental right”. Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri scolded a government doctor for a court report in which “not even a word or a letter” was decipherable. The judge has asked the government to introduce handwriting lessons as part of the medical school curriculum.

     
     
    picture of the day

    Royal visit

    Princess Anne meets Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a surprise visit to Kyiv. The Princess Royal left a teddy bear at a memorial for children killed in the war, and spoke to staff and children at a centre that supports young people affected by the fighting.

    Thomas Peter / Pool / AFP / Getty Images

     
     
    Puzzles

    Daily crossword

    Test your general knowledge with The Week’s daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

    Play here

     
     
    THE WEEK RECOMMENDS

    Chilling horror TV shows to watch this Halloween

    October is here, bringing us one step closer to Halloween, and there are plenty of eerie TV shows to get you in the mood for spooky celebrations.

    The Last of Us
    In the realm of apocalyptic horror, no recent release sparked more buzz than Neil Druckmann’s “The Last of Us”. The action follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) on his dangerous journey with 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsay) across an America overrun with zombies. The second season aired in the UK earlier this year and garnered 16 Emmy nominations and one win at the award show last month.

    Stranger Things
    The fifth and final instalment of “Stranger Things” (pictured above) is coming out next month, so this is the perfect time to catch up on the first four series about the residents of Hawkins, Indiana. Netflix has been relatively “tight-lipped” about the plot of the new series, said Esquire, but the action-packed trailer is filled with “dread, terror, panic and, potentially, heartbreak”.  

    The Institute
    This Stephen King adaptation follows the “horrors of unchecked regimes, and the children who dare to push back against them”, said Variety. A group of adolescents who display telekinetic or telepathic abilities are housed together in a shadowy government facility.

    Alien Earth
    This Disney TV series, which takes place two years before the original “Alien” film, is a must-watch for those new and old to the saga. Powerful corporations are in charge of the world, and a spacecraft containing dangerous extraterrestrial specimens crash-lands in a city run by a young trillionaire.

    IT: Welcome to Derry
    The long-awaited prequel to the film adaptations of Stephen King’s “IT” follows a new cast of children as they battle Pennywise the clown, played by Bill Skarsgård. The show is set to premiere on Sky Atlantic at the end of the month.

     
     

    Statistic of the day

    29,000: The number of prolific criminals behind 130,000 crimes a year, costing the taxpayer an estimated £5 billion. A study by consultants Newton Europe and charity Revolving Doors found that these repeat offenders each cost an average of £172,000 in public money spent on their imprisonment, mental health and addiction issues.

     
     
    instant opinion

    Today’s best commentary

    We need Ukraine as much as it needs us
    Chrystia Freeland in the Financial Times
    “It is time to change how we think,” writes Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s special representative for the reconstruction of Ukraine. We’ve framed Ukraine as a “righteous victim of an evil war” that it’s fated to lose “without extraordinary effort” from us, its allies. But the country “is fighting back with remarkable tenacity, ingenuity and effectiveness”. As we rush to re-arm, it has already shown it can “hold its own against the Kremlin” and act as “Nato’s shield against Russia”.

    Greater access to GP bookings will only overload surgeries
    Zara Aziz in The Times
    Universal access to online GP consultations “may initially sound like progress” but its “imposition” by the government is “ill-thought-out and untimely”, writes Bristol GP Zara Aziz. On busy days, we already have “almost 600 patients contacting our practice”. With “all-day open access”, our systems could “become swamped with relentless demand”, reducing face-to-face appointments and increasing “routine waiting times”. I am “concerned about the knock-on effect on NHS 111 and out-of-hours services”.

    The curious cult of solitude
    Rupert Hawksley in The Spectator
    “Solitude is becoming a middle-class movement,” writes Rupert Hawksley. Spending time alone with one’s thoughts is “the new wild swimming”, and “the thing that really fascinates me” is “the need to talk about it” – a “contradiction that seems lost on people”. Do we really need to “pathologise” being on our own, and dress the benefits up in “quasi-scientific jargon”? I like solitude but I “don’t need a social scientist to tell me it’s OK”.

     
     
    word of the day

    Enceladus

    Saturn’s sixth-largest moon is a “top target in the hunt for extraterrestrial life”, said Scientific American. A two-decade mission ending in 2017 found “clinching evidence” that it “harboured a liquid-water ocean beneath its bright-white icy crust”. Now, scientists revisiting the data have “spied even more tantalising ingredients” in the plumes of seawater that spray up from the moon’s south pole: organic “life-friendly” molecules. The discovery, published in Nature Astronomy today, “bolsters the case for follow-up missions” to Enceladus to “search for signs of life”.

     
     

    Evening Review was written and edited by Hollie Clemence, Rebecca Messina, Irenie Forshaw, Chas Newkey-Burden, Rafi Schwartz, Alex Kerr, Steph Jones and Helen Brown, with illustrations from Stephen Kelly.

    Image credits, from top: illustration by Stephen Kelly / Shutterstock / Getty Images; gemphotography / Getty Images; Kevin Mazur / Getty Images / iHeartRadio; Thomas Peter / Pool / AFP / Getty Images; Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

    Morning Report and Evening Review were named Newsletter of the Year at the Publisher Newsletter Awards 2025
     

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