1. The Economist reports that British Columbia is decriminalizing possession of small amounts of all hard drugs:
On January 31st British Columbia became the first province in Canada to decriminalise certain illegal drugs. Anyone aged 18 and older can now legally possess a combined 2.5 grams of illicit substances, including cocaine, opioids such as heroin, methamphetamine and ecstasy (or mdma). Owners will no longer be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. Police will hand out leaflets with treatment suggestions instead.
2. Also from Canada:
It helps that few Canadians are opposed to migrants. Some 85% of those surveyed believe immigration is good for the economy and 69% support current or increased immigration levels. Fully 76% would like to see the country accept more refugees. By contrast, 30 years ago, when half as many immigrants came each year, 70% felt there was too much immigration.
Some of this generosity is pragmatic. Around 1m posts are unfilled across the country, about 6% of the total. With an ageing population, things are likely only to get worse. Fifty years ago there were seven workers for every pensioner; by 2035 the ratio is forecast to be 2:1. Already more than 40% of Canadians are 55 or older.
Pro-migration sentiment also stems from the fact that a quarter of Canadians today are themselves immigrants.
3. And still more good news from Canada. A year ago, Canada had a land border with only one country (the US). Today, Canada has a land border with two countries, the US and Denmark:
The resolution also had the side effect of giving Canada and Denmark a land border with each other, which means that both countries no longer border only one other country (the United States and Germany, respectively).
4. Attitudes in the UK are also turning more pro-immigration:
If it is a race, one of the unexpected winners so far is the UK. Plenty of Brits who voted against Brexit — myself included — thought that outside the EU, the country would become more insular. But net migration reached a record high of about half a million people last year. The UK shot into the top 10 of the OECD’s rankings of countries that are most attractive to highly skilled workers. Most strikingly, the public seems fine with it. In 2022, for the first time in polling history, more people favoured maintaining, or even increasing, levels of migration than favoured cuts.
5. China’s going electric:
Chinese sales of petrol and diesel cars fell 20pc in absolute volume terms in February from a year earlier. Sales of plug-in electric vehicles kept rising explosively and reached a record 32pc of the market for standard passenger cars.
At the current pace, EV sales in China will hit eight million this year, helped by the proliferation of battery-swapping stations. Rather than charging your own car, you do an instant swap. No need to wait. No need for charge-points everywhere.
And bad news for Saudi Arabia—this is happening faster than expected:
The consensus forecast until recently was that EV penetration would reach 40pc of Chinese sales by 2030. That threshold could be crossed as soon as this year if manufacturers can produce fast enough to meet the demand. “We think EVs will reach 80pc of sales in China by 2030,” said Kingsmill Bond from energy strategists RMI.
6. Faux News network has to pay $787 million in a libel suit. (Unfortunately, the out of court settlement means that people like Tucker Carlson won’t be put under oath, having to explain the way they deceive their viewers.) And more lawsuits are coming.
7. And this:
Fox News and Tucker Carlson have parted ways. The rest of the network seems thrilled.
“Pure joy,” one Fox reporter told Rolling Stone of their reaction to the split. “No one is untouchable. It’s a great day for America, and for the real journalists who work hard every day to deliver the news at Fox.”
“Good riddance,” said a network correspondent. “For a while there it seemed like he was running the network. This clearly is a message that he’s not. In the interim, it’s a morale boost, that’s for sure.”
8. This may not be a big deal. But with so much bad news out of Xi Jinping’s China, this counts as at least a sliver of hope:
