Jörg Haider's museum: Chameleon at rest
Commemorating a populist with shades of truth and memory“OF COURSE I knew Mr Haider personally!” says Mr Berger, taking a break from his singing. He had been accompanying a melancholy Alpine choir at the opening of a museum commemorating Jorg Haider, an Austrian far-right politician who died in a drunken car crash on October 11th 2008.Mr Berger pulls a collection of photos from his jacket pocket to prove his point. They show him in lively conversation with Haider at some kind of party. Mr Berger is not especially famous or politically active, he explains, but in Carinthia, Haider made it his business to know everybody. He had an irrepressible bonhomie, a shrewd

Fenger Academy: First day jitters
A troubled school before the cameras arrivedA FEW weeks after I visited Fenger Academy, on Chicago’s far south side, television cameras swarmed the school. The incident at Fenger was so alarming that the White House dispatched two cabinet secretaries to quell anxiety. I came for happier reasons. The Fenger was still in the heady first days of school, exciting not only because every new year brings new opportunities, but because this year seemed particularly ripe with them.Fenger is closer to Indiana’s belching mills than to downtown Chicago. It has struggled for decades. From 2006 to 2008 less than 3% of students met Illinois’s pathetic standards of achiev

Kyrgyzstan: Tripolar disorder
The new Great Game, from the ground upKYRGYZSTAN is the only country that hosts both American and Russian military bases. Economically, it depends on remittances sent home by workers in Russia, and on its burgeoning trade with China. The country’s rulers are skilled at balancing these three superpowers against each other, but ordinary Kyrgyzstanis feel the push and pull keenly.American influence was visible from the moment I arrived at Manas airport, in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek. Kyrgyz returning from abroad lugged huge plastic bags full of goods impossible to obtain at home. Chinese businessmen struggled to fill in their landing forms. Western backpackers w

The Playwright Tavern: Bear bar
Lehman one year on, from the bottom of a glassTHE Playwright Tavern is across the street from the Barclays Capital building, on 49th St and 7th Avenue in Manhattan. Barclays’ building used to belong to Lehman Brothers; when Lehman filed for bankruptcy and Barclays purchased the company last September, the animated LED screens that wrap the building adopted their new owner’s name and colours.The Playwright, 75 metres from the bank’s front door, was a time-honoured gathering place for Lehman’s employees. Its restaurant was often completely full at lunch, and after five o’clock the bar would crowd to capacity. ...

The Valdai club: In the club, off the record
Our Europe editor joins an annual talk shop in RussiaTHE Valdai club, which brings around 50 journalists, academics and other experts to Russia, is now in its sixth year. Each year it takes the group to a remote part of the country. It would be hard to find anywhere less accessible than Yakutia, in eastern Siberia, where this year’s Valdai starts.Yakutia is Russia’s biggest region, with an area almost as big as India. Most of it consists of permafrost, but temperatures range from 40 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees below zero: the widest range on earth. The population is less than 1m. ...