Back in two weeks

Apologies for the continued absence of blog posts. The job that I spent most of August and September on has now been successfully completed, but it was pretty intense and I need a bit of a break before returning to matters like blogging. So expect things to recommence here in two weeks, on Tuesday 10 8 October.

Among the big stories we’ll be looking at then:

• The new French government, which was announced last weekend but lacks a parliamentary majority. President Macron’s strategy is comprehensible but risky.
• The US presidential election, now just five weeks away and still much too close for comfort.
• A remarkable presidential election in Sri Lanka, with the winner, leftist Anura Kumara Dissanayake, immediately dissolving parliament in the hope of consolidating his position.
• A parliamentary election in Austria this Sunday, with the far right holding a narrow lead in the polls.
• Plenty of electoral activity in Australia, with local elections in New South Wales, Canberra and Victoria and a state election in Queensland.
• And of course the escalating conflict in the Middle East, and the reinforcement it provides to the forces of irrationality everywhere.

Feel free to continue the conversation among yourselves, and I’ll be back in a fortnight!