France’s tottering government is stuck in a hard place. Premier Sébastien Lecornu (pictured above), in office for only a few weeks, needs the backing of the country’s Socialist Party to stay in office. But the party is demanding a new wealth tax on the country’s wealthiest citizens, and the rich are hitting back.

The wealth tax, which would impose a 2% annual tax on the country’s biggest earners, was inspired by economist Gabriel Zucman, said The New York Times. Zucman’s ideas “align closely” with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s push to raise taxes on that city’s wealthiest individuals. In France and the U.S., “people see that everyone pays a lot of tax, with one exception: ultra-high-wealth individuals,” said Zucman. One other commonality: Business leaders oppose Zucman’s ideas “on both sides of the Atlantic,” said the Times.

What did the commentators say?
Opponents of the tax say France’s budget woes are the result of the nation’s “profligate welfare obligations,” Harrison Stetler said at The New York Times. Another explanation is that “tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy” under pro-business President Emmanuel Macron helped cause the shortfall. The public generally believes the latter idea. 

A wealth tax, its detractors say, is “not the kind of invention France needs right now,” Lionel Laurent said at Bloomberg. The proposal is “insanely popular with the 99.99% who wouldn’t pay it.” And the tax might not be worth the effort. A wealth tax would be “more placebo than magic remedy.”

Zucman has come under “intense attack by France’s billionaires,” who have called his idea “communist,” Harold Meyerson said at The American Prospect. That might be true if the tax took 100% of their wealth, but “taking 2% falls 98% short of that.”

What next?
Lecornu is the “fifth French prime minister in less than two years,” said Politico. He probably cannot muster support in the National Assembly for “tens of billions of euros of budgetary belt-tightening.” But he may have some room for maneuvering. If Lecornu will not get behind the wealth tax but “increases the minimum wage, we will take a look,” said an unnamed Socialist official to Politico.

The Scottish Parliament’s decision to scrap a centuries-old option of a “not proven” verdict in jury trials has delighted many crime survivors but raised legal worries about justice and conviction rates. The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill will abolish the “legal idiosyncrasy” that gave juries the option of the third possible verdict, along with guilty and not guilty, said the BBC. It also raises the “bar for guilty verdicts” to a “two-thirds majority,” instead of a simple majority, to “allay concerns of some defense lawyers” that removing the “not proven” verdict could “make it harder” for clients to get a fair trial. 

‘Uncertainty and incompleteness’ 
Politicians hope that removing the “not proven” verdict will improve the “shamefully low conviction rates for rape and attempted rape,” said The Scotsman. In 2022-23, only half (48%) of such cases resulted in a conviction — well below the “overall conviction rate of 88%,” said The Standard. 

“Not proven” is technically a differentiated acquittal. Although the jury may not be convinced enough of the accused’s innocence to agree on a not-guilty verdict, the accused is considered innocent in the eyes of the law. It’s often called a bastard verdict because juries see it as a “compromise between guilt and innocence,” said The Times. But it also carries a sense of “uncertainty and incompleteness” and has “often felt like a legal limbo, leaving emotional scars that can last decades,” said The Herald. 

‘Act of self-harm’ 
Critics of the changes to the Scottish judicial system worry about potential miscarriages of justice. Scotland will now have a “system where a person can be convicted despite five members of the jury having significant doubts about their guilt,” said Stuart Munro, of the Law Society of Scotland, to The Times. Other countries that allow only guilty or not-guilty verdicts require juries to reach a unanimous or near-unanimous guilty verdict. 

It’s a “predictable act of self-harm” to abolish a “legal construct that sets the Scottish criminal justice system apart, and ahead of, every other criminal justice system in the world,” said criminal attorney Thomas Ross at Scottish Legal News. This is a “capitulation to influential advocacy groups, with little regard for the resultant increased risk of miscarriages of justice.”

A miniature candy crab blends in beneath the waves. The “dinky” crustacean, “measuring a mere centimeter,” was “perched on her pink coral mattress” in the Philippines’ Tañon Strait, said Jade Hoksbergen, who was among the finalists for Ocean Photographer of the Year for this image.
Jade Hoksbergen / Ocean Photographer of the Year

New releases include several from heavy hitters, along with debut works from extremely personal restaurants. Some are optimal for weekend projects, while others rely on a well-stocked pantry for turnkey meals.

‘Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love’
Samin Nosrat’s first cookbook, the lauded “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,” was an anti-recipe manifesto that mostly elided recipes, providing instead blueprints to help the reader think like a cook. Her long-anticipated sophomore book, “Good Things,” beats with the same teaching heart, but this go-round relies more on real-deal recipes. Nosrat lets her hospitable, knowing self shine so you can do the same. (out now, $45)

‘My Cambodia: A Khmer Cookbook’
Nite Yun runs the restaurant Lunette in San Francisco’s Ferry Building, and her debut cookbook, “My Cambodia,” captures the flavors of her Khmer cooking. Yun’s famous pork noodle soup, a pomelo salad with shrimp and crispy shallot, and round mochi orbs filled with palm sugar and covered in fresh coconut are some of the starring recipes. (out today, $35)

‘Something from Nothing: A Cookbook’
Dill, anchovies, brown butter, olives, turmeric — these are just a few signature flourishes from the Alison Roman recipe vault. In “Something from Nothing,” she wields anchovies in a romano-bean braise with wine, serves roasted squash with dates warmed in brown butter, and gilds chicken with turmeric and crushed olives. This pantry-centric cookbook counts the boundless ways you can do the very most with the very least. (Nov. 11, $38)