From the desk of John Micklethwait, Editor - 30th December 2015

View in browser | E-mail a friend Tuesday, December 30, 2014 This week our cover looks at the rise of the on-demand economy. In San Francisco Uber can provide you with a chauffeur, Handy with a cleaner, SpoonRocket will deliver restaurant meals to your door and Instacart will keep your fridge stocked. And then there is the market for freelance consultants, lawyers and CEOs. Like mass production, this will change everything from the organisation of work to the nature of the social contract in a capitalist society  John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief Greece is the word, yet again Politics returns to haunt the euro crisis READ MORE » Robber barons and silicon sultans How tech billionaires are following in a previous generation's footsteps READ MORE » The magic of "Tristan and Isolde" How Wagner's musical trick still confounds audiences READ MORE » Politics this week North Korea accused America of briefly shutting down its internet and described Barack Obama as “reckless” and “a monkey” for encouraging Sony Pictures to distribute “The Interview”, a comic film about an attempt to assassinate the country’s dictator, Kim Jong Un. This came after a hacking attack that targeted Sony by wiping its hard drives and exposing studio executives’ sometimes embarrassing e-mails to public view. North Korea said it had nothing to do with the attack, though it praised the hackers SEE ARTICLE » MORE FROM: POLITICS THIS WEEK » Business this week Xiaomi, which has risen to the top of China’s smartphone market, was reckoned to be worth more than $45 billion after its latest round of fundraising. That makes it more valuable than any other technology startup, including Uber. The privately-held firm has tailored its own version of Android to suit its phones and more than 10 billion apps have been downloaded through its online store SEE ARTICLE » MORE FROM: BUSINESS THIS WEEK »