FROM THIS EPISODE

Never mind the November election or the US Supreme Court. The biggest challenge to President Obama's Affordable Care Act is a shortage of doctors. Will we have to rely on practitioners who require less training and the hope that medical-school graduates will choose specialties that aren't in their own economic interests? Also, US generals meet on Afghan attacks, and Romney, Ryan and the furor over a Republican Senatorial candidate's remarks about abortion in cases of what he called "legitimate" rape.

Banner image: Medical students use the medical simulation center at Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, to hone their skills. Photo by Stephanie Bryant/flickr

Missouri Congressman Todd Akin is the Republican candidate for the US Senate seat of Democrat Claire McCaskill. In an interview on local TV he wasof their currency, and also of the dollar and the pound, and see bitcoin as an alternative store of wealth. That could be a mistake. But who knows.

About Me

... has contributed journalism to The Financial Times, The Paris Review, The Spectator, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Monocle, Esquire, Harpers, Standpoint magazine, the Sunday Telegraph, the BBC, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, and The Indian Quarterly... as well as photography to Elle. He has reported from the US, UK, Chile, Sweden, Mexico, Morocco, France, Croatia, Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon.