Opinion today: Nature's defender under attack

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This weekend the BBC launchesDynasty, the latest documentary series from Sir David Attenborough. Meanwhile, Netflix, the streaming service, sought to spike the Corporation's guns with the announcement that Sir David will be providing the voiceover for its own forthcoming series about the “beauty and fragility” of nature.

Although Sir David, who this week was voted the most popular figure in the UK, remains a national treasure, he has recently been criticised by environmental campaigners. Yet, asLeslie Hook notes in a profile, an earlier programme of his, Blue Planet II, played a decisive role in mobilising public support for banning plastic straws. As one of his collaborators says: “He has kept [a] childlike love of the natural world all through his life. He infects people with that.”

Christopher Caldwell argues that although the Democrats now control the US House of Representatives after the midterm elections, they should be wary of testing voters' patience by launching impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

A messy desk, writesTim Harford, is often as much a sign of creativity as of neglect.

Britain's social care system is in deep crisis. Camilla Cavendish suggests the UK has a lot to learn from insurance schemes established in Germany and Japan, two countries grappling with the challenges of ageing populations.

Anxieties may be growing about the number of restaurants closing in Britain, but, saysTim Hayward, this has always been a peculiarly rackety and precarious business.

In the wake of the departure of Jeff Fairburn as boss of the UK housebuilder Persimmon, Jonathan Guthrie imagines what a refuge for disgraced executives would look like.

Gideon Long writes the obituary of Venezuelan political leaderTeodoro Petkoff.

Best of the week

Brexit is teaching Britain its true place in the world -Robert Shrimsley

Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and the ghosts of 1918 -Gideon Rachman

Goldman Sachs has serious questions to answer — Brooke Masters

Amazon’s beauty parade was an elaborate charade -John Gapper

As Moore’s law fades, computing seeks a new dimension -John Thornhill

Africa’s warp-speed health revolution has an old threat -David Pilling

A political power struggle for the soul of the Orthodox church -Roula Khalaf

Investors start to fret about ballooning US public debt -Gillian Tett

We already know what the economic effects of a Brexit deal will be -Chris Giles

Europe needs a better plan than to wait out Donald Trump -Philip Stephens

What you've been saying

M&A deals show investors are voting for the UK
letter from Philip Whitchelo, Vice President, Strategic Business & Corporate Development, Intralinks, London EC4, UK

If US private equity group Carlyle isscaling back investment in the UK, then it is swimming against a strong tide. The UK has been one of the best-performing merger and acquisition markets of the five largest European economies since the Brexit vote in June 2016. The number of announced deals for UK targets in the third quarter of 2018 was 32 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2016, a higher rate of growth than Spain, Italy, France and Germany. Investors are voting for the UK.

In response to"Investors start to fret about ballooning US public debt”, Tempus fugit says:

Ask yourself: given all the facts at our disposal would you invest in a business that was run by Trump? How many times has he bankrupted ruined balance sheets, and anyone silly enough to offer him credit? Who stands between him, and his doing this again to the USA?

JPMorgan loan to Allies was at commercial rates letter from Guy Wroble, Denver, CO, US

Jamie Dimon tells us that JPMorgansupported the Alliesduring the Great War. He neglects to mention that this was done at commercial rates for the profit of his company. The next time he is in London he would benefit from a visit to the Imperial War Museum. He would learn that the loans that his company (and other American financiers) made to England and France during the first world war were instrumental in dragging the US into that conflict. It would also be instructive if Mr Dimon would tell us just how much money JPMorgan made out of first world war.

Today's opinion

Over-reach is a risk for the Democrats after the midterms
Americans resent inquisitions aimed at depriving them of their elected president

On Wall Street: Companies need to reduce the noise for investors
The trend towards more frequent and detailed corporate reporting may have gone too far

The refuge for disgraced chiefs takes in former Persimmon boss A warm welcome for Jeff Fairburn from fellow reputationally impaired tycoons

Should we really feel guilty about ‘guilty pleasures’?
‘Good trash liberates you from all the careful scaffoldings that hold up the idea of “great literature” ’

How Britain can heal its ailing social care system
Insurance schemes in Germany and Japan show the best response to looking after the elderly

We never think it’s all over. Until it is
Football has all the characteristics of invincibility — but will it really last forever?

Inside London: Memo to car UK car industry: Brexit isn’t your biggest problem
The risk for the industry is that car ownership is losing its appeal for young urban residents

Free Lunch: The economic consequences of the Great War
Lessons to learn at the centenary of the 1918 armistice

City Insider: Mystery moves by ex-boss of Goldman Sachs International
Last month Michael Sherwood popped up as an investor in a niche credit analysis start-up

Undercover Economist: Messy desks and benign neglect allow new ideas to grow
People thrive in imperfect environments that can be moulded

How to close the gender pensions gap
Retired women receive 40 per cent less income than men, according to trade union

Life begins at 60 — with consequences for all of us
The ‘new old’ are not acting their age, but we’re not adjusting to rising longevity

FTfm: ‘Bottom-feeding’ hedge funds are big winners on Puerto Rico bonds

Markets Insight: Cobalt’s supply shock a painful warning to carmakers
It is unwise to rely on a supply chain dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo

Lex: Yelp: under review
Flexible contracts add to cost of doing business

Markets Insight: Japan’s M&A wave risks rolling over minority shareholders
All eyes on expert panel tasked with making domestic mergers ‘fair and healthy’

Lombard: Sainsbury’s tries to hit right notes to win over Asda deal critics
Mike Coupe needs to stress how competitive and unprofitable supermarkets can be

FT View

The FT View: Drawing lessons from the inferno of 1914-1918
Trump’s policies and tensions in east Europe may spell trouble ahead

The FT View: The economic risks of a more aggressive Donald Trump
The midterms are over but the 2020 presidential election has already begun

The Big Read

The Big Read: Donald Trump suffers a suburban backlash
Cities and large towns are now almost uniformly Democrat after this week’s midterms, but that will not guarantee victory in 2020