Slow ideas, written by hand.
Weekly long-reads from correspondents who write under pen names — so the argument matters more than the author.
Latest essay
The ethanol bargain.
India hit 20% ethanol blending five years early and is already drawing up the road to E30. The savings are real, the backlash is real, and both deserve to be taken seriously.
Read the essay- Why India's smartest readers are starving on the world's loudest media diet. Indian news has never produced more content, and never said less. A note from the editor on what we are trying to fix, and why we believe it matters.
- The quiet decade of Indian state capacity. The story most Indian commentators have missed: the slow, undramatic, mostly successful project of rebuilding the state's ability to do things.