1843 magazine

World in a dish
Oysters in France, KFC in Japan... do they know it’s Christmas?

When it comes to the festive menu, far more is at stake than stuffing

Finance
Sold short: confessions of a young banker

“Industry” gives a graphic but true picture of life on the trading floor, says The Economist’s Wall Street correspondent

Rewind
The original home-shopping frenzy

A century before Amazon, one mail-order catalogue transformed retail

Rewind
Why Christmas can never be cancelled

Boozing away the winter blues is a long-held right

Crime
Too big to jail: the Colombian drug lord who snitched his way to freedom

A senior member of the Medellín cartel told prosecutors in America and Switzerland he would help them catch cocaine traffickers. Did he buy his way out of prison with a bounced cheque?

Stranger things
A spark in the dark: the consolations of candlelight in winter

Ann Wroe meets her match

Christmas
The secret economics of Christmas adverts, unwrapped

A guide to seasonal selling, from goats to gizmos

Childish things
The anguish of grandparenting in a pandemic

So many grandchildren and grandparents have been apart for months. Our parenting columnist wonders whether he’s missing out too

Brave new word
From zumping to toxic productivity: workplace slang for the pandemic

Coronavirus has transformed the working world. Time to sharpen up your slang, as well as your CV

Coronavirus
Mindfulness is useless in a pandemic

Living in the present has never felt more overrated

Coronavirus
On the hunt with Yorkshire’s virus-detectives

As national test-and-trace systems buckle under the resurgence of coronavirus, 1843 travels to northern England to find out whether a local approach can keep covid-19 in check

Thailand
The crown and the crop top: the king of Thailand in six objects

Decoding the mysterious monarchy that has provoked massive protests