RUTH BADER GINSBURG, the trailblazing liberal justice who died aged 87 on September 18th, will lie in repose at the top of the Supreme Court’s steps on Wednesday and Thursday. As mourners pay their respects, Donald Trump and his advisers will be huddling a few miles across town to pick a nominee to replace her. The choice, Mr Trump said on September 21st, will be revealed on Friday or Saturday—days before Ms Ginsburg is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Though she gained widespread celebrity as a lion of the liberal legal movement later in her career, Ms Ginsburg arrived at the Supreme Court as a moderate in 1993. The president who tapped her, Bill Clinton, said “she cannot be called a liberal or a conservative” as she has “proved herself too thoughtful for such labels”. Indeed, several progressive groups, including the Alliance for Justice, expressed misgivings at the time that she might not be bold enough on the bench.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, the trailblazing liberal justice who died aged 87 on September 18th, will lie in repose at the top of the Supreme Court’s steps on Wednesday and Thursday. As mourners pay their respects, Donald Trump and his advisers will be huddling a few miles across town to pick a nominee to replace her. The choice, Mr Trump said on September 21st, will be revealed on Friday or Saturday—days before Ms Ginsburg is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Though she gained widespread celebrity as a lion of the liberal legal movement later in her career, Ms Ginsburg arrived at the Supreme Court as a moderate in 1993. The president who tapped her, Bill Clinton, said “she cannot be called a liberal or a conservative” as she has “proved herself too thoughtful for such labels”. Indeed, several progressive groups, including the Alliance for Justice, expressed misgivings at the time that she might not be bold enough on the bench.

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, the trailblazing liberal justice who died aged 87 on September 18th, will lie in repose at the top of the Supreme Court’s steps on Wednesday and Thursday. As mourners pay their respects, Donald Trump and his advisers will be huddling a few miles across town to pick a nominee to replace her. The choice, Mr Trump said on September 21st, will be revealed on Friday or Saturday—days before Ms Ginsburg is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Though she gained widespread celebrity as a lion of the liberal legal movement later in her career, Ms Ginsburg arrived at the Supreme Court as a moderate in 1993. The president who tapped her, Bill Clinton, said “she cannot be called a liberal or a conservative” as she has “proved herself too thoughtful for such labels”. Indeed, several progressive groups, including the Alliance for Justice, expressed misgivings at the time that she might not be bold enough on the bench.

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, the trailblazing liberal justice who died aged 87 on September 18th, will lie in repose at the top of the Supreme Court’s steps on Wednesday and Thursday. As mourners pay their respects, Donald Trump and his advisers will be huddling a few miles across town to pick a nominee to replace her. The choice, Mr Trump said on September 21st, will be revealed on Friday or Saturday—days before Ms Ginsburg is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Though she gained widespread celebrity as a lion of the liberal legal movement later in her career, Ms Ginsburg arrived at the Supreme Court as a moderate in 1993. The president who tapped her, Bill Clinton, said “she cannot be called a liberal or a conservative” as she has “proved herself too thoughtful for such labels”. Indeed, several progressive groups, including the Alliance for Justice, expressed misgivings at the time that she might not be bold enough on the bench.

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

SCALING MOUNT Everest was once a feat reserved for only the bravest mountaineers. These days even relatively inexperienced alpinists attempt the climb. This is in part because it carries less risk. According to a recent paper in PLoS ONE, a journal, just 1% of climbers die on the world’s tallest mountain, with its peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet). The success rate, moreover, has more than doubled. Between 2010 and 2019 two-thirds of first-time Everest climbers reached the summit, up from less than one-third in the 1990s. (This year’s season has been cancelled owing to covid-19.)

Even elderly thrill-seekers now have a shot at reaching the top of the world. The researchers found that success rates have increased across all age groups. Twenty years ago, climbers in their 60s had just a one-in-eight chance of reaching Everest’s summit; now the odds are closer to one in three. Before 2006 no one in their 70s attempted to reach the peak for the first time. Since then the...

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

SCALING MOUNT Everest was once a feat reserved for only the bravest mountaineers. These days even relatively inexperienced alpinists attempt the climb. This is in part because it carries less risk. According to a recent paper in PLoS ONE, a journal, just 1% of climbers die on the world’s tallest mountain, with its peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet). The success rate, moreover, has more than doubled. Between 2010 and 2019 two-thirds of first-time Everest climbers reached the summit, up from less than one-third in the 1990s. (This year’s season has been cancelled owing to covid-19.)

Even elderly thrill-seekers now have a shot at reaching the top of the world. The researchers found that success rates have increased across all age groups. Twenty years ago, climbers in their 60s had just a one-in-eight chance of reaching Everest’s summit; now the odds are closer to one in three. Before 2006 no one in their 70s attempted to reach the peak for the first time. Since then the...

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

SCALING MOUNT Everest was once a feat reserved for only the bravest mountaineers. These days even relatively inexperienced alpinists attempt the climb. This is in part because it carries less risk. According to a recent paper in PLoS ONE, a journal, just 1% of climbers die on the world’s tallest mountain, with its peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet). The success rate, moreover, has more than doubled. Between 2010 and 2019 two-thirds of first-time Everest climbers reached the summit, up from less than one-third in the 1990s. (This year’s season has been cancelled owing to covid-19.)

Even elderly thrill-seekers now have a shot at reaching the top of the world. The researchers found that success rates have increased across all age groups. Twenty years ago, climbers in their 60s had just a one-in-eight chance of reaching Everest’s summit; now the odds are closer to one in three. Before 2006 no one in their 70s attempted to reach the peak for the first time. Since then the...

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

SOME MIGHT have thought that, as president, Donald Trump would abandon the racially divisive campaign strategy he adopted in 2016. If anything, he has pursued it even more tenaciously. In July Mr Trump called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate”. Days later, speaking at Mount Rushmore, he described efforts to remove Confederate monuments in the South—considered by many to be symbols of white supremacy—as “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history”. After the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, sparked protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr Trump warned that if he were not re-elected, America’s suburbs would be “overrun” with “looters” and low-income housing projects (and, by implication, the people who live there).

Similar rhetoric has helped Mr Trump win over less-educated white voters in the past. According to an analysis by The Economist of polling data from the University of California, Los Angeles and Democracy Fund, a charity, this group...

Sources: US Census Bureau; MIT Election and Data Science Lab; 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study; US Bureau of Economic Analysis; American National Election Studies; 270towin.com; Gallup; FiveThirtyEight; YouGov

Forecast by The Economist with Andrew Gelman and Merlin Heidemanns, Columbia University

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

SOME MIGHT have thought that, as president, Donald Trump would abandon the racially divisive campaign strategy he adopted in 2016. If anything, he has pursued it even more tenaciously. In July Mr Trump called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate”. Days later, speaking at Mount Rushmore, he described efforts to remove Confederate monuments in the South—considered by many to be symbols of white supremacy—as “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history”. After the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, sparked protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr Trump warned that if he were not re-elected, America’s suburbs would be “overrun” with “looters” and low-income housing projects (and, by implication, the people who live there).

Similar rhetoric has helped Mr Trump win over less-educated white voters in the past. According to an analysis by The Economist of polling data from the University of California, Los Angeles and Democracy Fund, a charity, this group...

FOR MORE than a century scores of investors have prospered through “value investing”, or buying shares in firms which appear cheap given their “fundamentals”. Warren Buffett, an eminently quotable value investor, summarised the approach succinctly: “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Although many value investors, including Mr Buffett, have done well in the long run, they have had a rougher time over the past decade. You can gauge just how pricey a stock is by looking at its price-to-book ratio, which measures how much the market thinks a company is worth relative to the net assets on its balance-sheet. Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest...

SOME MIGHT have thought that, as president, Donald Trump would abandon the racially divisive campaign strategy he adopted in 2016. If anything, he has pursued it even more tenaciously. In July Mr Trump called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate”. Days later, speaking at Mount Rushmore, he described efforts to remove Confederate monuments in the South—considered by many to be symbols of white supremacy—as “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history”. After the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, sparked protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr Trump warned that if he were not re-elected, America’s suburbs would be “overrun” with “looters” and low-income housing projects (and, by implication, the people who live there).

Similar rhetoric has helped Mr Trump win over less-educated white voters in the past. According to an analysis by The Economist of polling data from the University of California, Los Angeles and Democracy Fund, a charity, this group...

SOME MIGHT have thought that, as president, Donald Trump would abandon the racially divisive campaign strategy he adopted in 2016. If anything, he has pursued it even more tenaciously. In July Mr Trump called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate”. Days later, speaking at Mount Rushmore, he described efforts to remove Confederate monuments in the South—considered by many to be symbols of white supremacy—as “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history”. After the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, sparked protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mr Trump warned that if he were not re-elected, America’s suburbs would be “overrun” with “looters” and low-income housing projects (and, by implication, the people who live there).

Similar rhetoric has helped Mr Trump win over less-educated white voters in the past. According to an analysis by The Economist of polling data from the University of California, Los Angeles and Democracy Fund, a charity, this group...

TEARING DOWN crosses from church spires may not sound the best way to win a promotion. But in Xi Jinping’s China, it might do the trick. In 2014 Xia Baolong, the Communist Party chief in Zhejiang, a coastal province, oversaw a campaign to remove more than 1,500 crosses from places of worship in the province. Bibles were confiscated; pastors were locked up. It certainly did Mr Xia’s career no harm. A long-time ally of the president, he was promoted first to a plum job in Beijing and then, in February, to a new assignment as head of the office overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

As for China’s Christians, their numbers continue to grow. The government reckons that about 200m of China’s 1.4bn people are religious. Although most practice traditional Chinese religions such as Taoism, and longer-standing foreign imports such as Buddhism, Protestant Christianity is probably the fastest-growing faith, with at least 38m adherents today (about 3% of the population), up from 22m...