Instant Opinion: Why the morning-after-pill should be available over the counter

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. BPAS director Clare Murphy in The Telegraph

on the under-use of the morning-after-pill

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The morning-after-pill should be available over the counter - and here’s why

“Emergency hormonal contraception is not a silver bullet for unwanted pregnancy, but it is one of the best options we have when a regular method failed or was forgotten, when you miscalculated your cycle, or when things simply didn’t turn out as planned. It is a source of huge frustration for us at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) that a method which gives women a second chance has so many barriers. Less than a third of women use the morning-after-pill after an episode of unprotected sex, so it is absolutely an under-utilised resource.”

2. World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab in the South China Morning Post

on the future of capitalism

What kind of capitalism does the world need? One where business leaders fulfil their duty to society

“Business leaders now have an incredible opportunity. By giving stakeholder capitalism concrete meaning, they can move beyond their legal obligations and uphold their duty to society Is there any other way? State capitalism, its proponents would say, also pursues a long-term vision and has enjoyed recent successes, especially in Asia. But while state capitalism may be a good fit for one stage of development, it, too, should gradually evolve into something closer to a stakeholder model, lest it succumb to corruption from within.”

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3. Lina Mounzer in The New York Times

on a country on the brink

The Great Lebanese Ponzi Scheme

“The Lebanese political order is based on the idea that power sharing and sectarian quotas for the country’s various religious and confessional groups is the only way to preserve civil peace, and that this formula should extend to everything: From the way public funds are allocated to how even entry-level jobs are awarded. This order ensures that responding to citizens’ needs takes a back seat — and every chieftain and his cronies gets their pockets lined. Unemployment is rampant. And Lebanon’s top 1 percent earn about 25 percent of the gross domestic product, making it one of the most unequal economies in the world.”

4. Julie Norman in the HuffPost

on the rehabilitation of prisoners

The London Bridge attack shows we must bolster, not abolish, offender reintegration

“So what went wrong? In the case of [Usman] Khan, we may not ever know. He is not the first, and won’t be the last, to re-offend, even in the best rehabilitation systems. It is natural after a tragedy like Friday’s to condemn the policies that enabled Khan to be where he was, when he was, at that time, but that would be a mistake. Khan should be seen as an outlier, rather than emblematic, of a constantly evolving counter-terrorism strategy that has been overall effective.”

5. Jenna Price in The Sydney Morning Herald

on climate change

As a grandma-to-be I can no longer stay out of this debate

“I can’t breathe. I go to bed with a sore throat and my eyes sting. I wake up and feel no better. This is Australia in the middle of a calamitous bushfire season. Hundreds and thousands of burning hectares. Four lives lost. Hundreds of houses gone. Who knows how this season will end. I’ve hardly written about the environment in my 40-year career. I’ve always figured it’s better left to those with science expertise and a long history of reporting in the area. Now I realise I can’t avoid it any more. Next year, one of my children has responded to a decade of nagging and will – finally – have a baby, the first grandchild on both sides.”