This Week in Smoke
See how power, pressure, and unfairness are hidden, softened, justified, or made to sound normal.
People in England are living longer on average, but healthy life expectancy has declined and the deprivation gap is about twenty years.
Provisional estimates for 2025 put life expectancy in England at 80 years for males and 83.8 years for females. It was the first time estimated male life expectancy had reached 80 years. That is genuine progress, but it is not the whole picture.
British ministers use foreign precedents to justify tougher rules while giving far less attention to the rights, institutions and practical protections surrounding them.
John Dines used a fabricated relationship to maintain his police cover and obtain intelligence. When Helen Steel searched for the truth, the state protected the officer and the operation.
Government sounds urgent about outside threats, but slower and softer when domestic companies damage ordinary life.
The government wants more NHS care near people's homes, but children face long community waiting lists and professional surveys report recruitment freezes.
Ofgem has a legal duty to protect consumers while considering energy companies' ability to finance regulated work. Who carries the financial risk?
Young people are asked to prove they want to work. Government polling also finds that employers and the state have responsibilities. Do we ask the same questions of everyone?
A government-commissioned survey found that most of the 417 young people questioned wanted work, education or training. Their answers show why a lecture about motivation is not a substitute for rebuilding the route in.
The KKK and modern black-bloc tactics have separate histories. What they can share is a harder problem: anonymity can protect political participation, but it can also protect people from accountability.
Donald Trump's psychology cannot be audited. His use of presidential power can: from public buildings and family interests to ICE, USAID, Venezuela and Iran.
Mia Mottley’s UN speech asked what a rules-based international system is worth to countries that lack the power to enforce those rules themselves.
TWIS tested Israel-linked lobbying, electoral spending, state diplomacy and defence relationships against US and UK policy cases — and against Saudi, UAE, Qatari and Taiwanese comparators.