'The time has come for mutual respect between the West and the rest'

It's time for the West and the rest to talk to each other as equals

Kishore Mahbubani in the Financial Times

Something "profound" is happening in the world, said Kishore Mahbubani in the Financial Times: a "metaphysical detachment of the West from the rest". Billions are silently losing respect for Western countries, where "incompetence has replaced competence" and formerly well-ordered societies become politically volatile, as demonstrated by the rise of Trump. The West and the global south "have to talk to each other", but as equals. "The condescension must end."

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What it really takes to fix a monstrosity like climate change

Auden Schendler in The New York Times

There were "glimmers of hope" from Cop28, said Auden Schendler in The New York Times. But mostly, there were cop-outs. The "purely voluntary" commitment by fossil fuel companies to better capture potent greenhouse gas methane, lauded as a "breakthrough", is merely a way to "appear beneficent while continuing to traffic in oil and gas". Overall, the climate summit's propsals for voluntary commitments – on methane, on renewables, on phasing out fossil fuels – were "theatre". 

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It turns out that Sunak can do politics after all…

John Rentoul in The Independent

Rishi Sunak triumphed on the Rwanda bill so "decisively" that expectations on what comes next "have to be adjusted", said The Independent's chief political correspondent John Rentoul. The government should be "confident" of getting the bill through the Commons. Nevertheless, voters will judge the policy's success by its results. If it fails to stop the boats, "the crisis of the Sunak government will just keep rolling on".

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My two weeks of French exchange were lonely – but life-changing

Jemima Lewis in The Daily Telegraph

A foreign language exchange was "a rite of passage for my generation", said Jemima Lewis in The Daily Telegraph. But now, only 25% of state schools offer the opportunity, and MPs warned this week that "numbers are sliding fast". But to learn a language properly, "immersion is the only option". Students leave exchanges "braver, worldlier and more resilient" than when they arrived. 

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