Growth is abysmal; wages are low. But seen from the outside, Britain is a great place to contract services and buy bargain-basement bonds. We explore the opportunities amid the challenges. After months of reporting, our correspondent shares what he learned about Austin Tice, a missing American journalist. And our obituaries editor remembers Jimmy Swaggart, a famed and fallible televangelist.

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Immigration is a political lightning rod in part because the ageing global asylum pact is no longer fit for purpose. We examine how best to update it. As paycheques for top-notch AI researchers go stratospheric, demand for rank-and-file coders is quickly cooling. And what a gimmicky free show in London reveals about the city and the nature of modern fame.

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Once again President Donald Trump extended the deadline for spine-stiffening tariffs to go into effect on trading partners. We look at the effects of all the uncertainty. Brazil once dominated the world of football; we ask where it went wrong and assess the route to a comeback. And England’s historic obsession with trim, green lawns is fading (except at Wimbledon).

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