Education The great university con: how the British degree lost its value Never before has Britain had so many qualified graduates. And never before have their qualifications amounted to so little. By Harry Lambert
Asia Six takeaways from Japan and South Korea scrapping their intelligence-sharing agreement “There has been a tremendous disturbance in the Force.” By Nicky Woolf
Economy No, Angela Merkel hasn't handed Boris Johnson a lifeline on the backstop The choice before the United Kingdom remains unchanged. By Stephen Bush
Europe How austerity has caused an emergency service crisis in France Hospital staff and thousands of others are striking in protest at a lack of funding, deteriorating working conditions and rampant precarisation. By Pauline Bock
Business and finance “Just another item on our to-do list”: The popcorn maker’s Brexit business diary In the first of our inside stories from British businesses, the founder of a popcorn manufacturer takes us through his no-deal prep. By Adam Sopher
UK My working-class dad became a writer by accident: he wanted to speak to his “own people” He saw people like the ones he knew – market traders, small-town people – on the stage, and said to himself, “I’m going to do that.” By Megan Nolan
North America Justice in the balance: the fight for power and influence in the US Supreme Court Controversial abortion laws threaten to bring a woman’s right to choose back before America’s highest court. And with its liberal justices outnumbered, this could be just the beginning. By Colin Kidd
Culture Personal Story: Grief, memory and an old PlayStation game Our favourite game was a platform adventure called Croc: Legend of the Gobbos. Now that 20-odd years have passed and my friend has died, I dream about Croc. By Imogen West-Knights
UK Women against a no-deal Brexit, luring swifts to my garden and wishing Greta well Media coverage brushed aside the fact my suggestion of an “emergency cabinet” was in inverted commas, and never meant to be taken literally. By Caroline Lucas
Q&A Ezra Furman Q&A: “I would have enjoyed the hunter-gatherer era” The musician talks the Beatles, Halakhic Man by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, and the urgency of climate change. By New Statesman
UK The strange cult of Dominic Cummings The self-mythologising special adviser is built on studied dishevelment, maverick energy and excoriating irreverence. By Ailbhe Rea
Elections Will the next general election be 2017 all over again? Labour hope that they can repeat their campaign success. Can they? By Stephen Bush
Elections Jeremy Corbyn knows how he wants to attack Boris Johnson – will it work? Labour's hope is that in the end, distaste for the Conservatives will see off Boris Johnson. By Stephen Bush
UK Commons Confidential: Leadsom’s leakers Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster. By Patrick Maguire
Economy Why increasing the state pension age to 75 is a terrible, divisive idea A simplistic plan to save money would bring hardship to those least able to cope. By Ros Altmann
UK Just when you think it can't get any worse, the government wants to scrap HS2 The real reason we need a new rail link can be summed up in one word: capacity. By Jonn Elledge
Education Leader: The great British university con For decades, governments have systematically undermined the value of a degree as education has been forced to operate under market conditions. By New Statesman
Music & Theatre The return of rave culture The spirit of rave is back in music, film, art and even political protest. Could it be not just a re-enactment of the past, but a roadmap for the future? By Andrew Harrison
TV & Radio BBC Two’s The Octopus in My House reveals the humanity of a sea creature Anna Fitch’s joyful film gets us closer to a highly intelligent animal that has three hearts and blue blood. By Rachel Cooke
Film Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory is limp and lacklustre Lead actor Antonio Banderas has a tentative charm – but he’s fighting a losing battle against the lugubriousness of the material. By Ryan Gilbey
Books Fear, shame, guilt, suicide: ordinary Germans at the end of the Second World War The German people were seduced by Hitler’s message of glorious blood sacrifice – right up until it needed to be paid. By Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Music & Theatre Ariana Grande is magnificent. Her fans are even more so At London's O2 Arena, fans of the pop superstar stand transfixed, united, and empowered in their adoration. By Ellen Peirson-Hagger
UK The new book magazine with 30,000 words per issue – written entirely by one man To produce each issue of Strong Words, which contains around a hundred book reviews, Ed Needham works seven days a week, with just one Sunday off in every six-week press cycle. By Kate Mossman
Technology Social care robots privatise loneliness, and erode the pleasure of being truly known If society continues devaluing social care, we may depend on automated smiles to break the isolation of the chronically lonely. By Emily Beater
TV & Radio Netflix’s model means it makes shows no one else would. It also means it’ll cancel them The cancellation of The OA after two seasons could be just the start of a distressing pattern for TV fans. By Jasper Jackson
Business and finance How Peter Thiel’s Palantir quietly won £10m of MoD contracts Palantir, which is seeking to expand its work with the UK government, has become a lightning rod for unease about Silicon Valley’s role in the state sector. By Oscar Williams
UK The police know what you’ll do next summer When police use crime-predicting algorithms, they risk bringing into being the world they foresee. By Hettie O'Brien
Europe How austerity has caused an emergency service crisis in France Hospital staff and thousands of others are striking in protest at a lack of funding, deteriorating working conditions and rampant precarisation. By Pauline Bock
Europe Why Italy is heading for crisis once more As the country's prime minister resigns, Italy may face an early election that could put hard-right Lega leader Matteo Salvini in power. By David Broder
Asia Hong Kong's battle for democracy “People are prepared to try everything and see how it goes”. By Paul Mason
Europe French MPs are protesting police violence in Hong Kong. They should look closer to home Protesters fight for vastly different causes, yet are faced with similar experiences of police’s tear gas, grenades and rubber bullet guns. By Pauline Bock
Books Europe's many migrant crises Today's migrant crisis is often talked about as an anomaly. But high levels of displacement and mobility have long been routine and widespread in postwar Europe. By Rowan Williams
Middle East The long search for Iraq’s missing Hundreds of thousands of people have gone missing over decades of conflict in Iraq. There are so many bodies that exhumations teams are struggling to cope. By Lizzie Porter
