Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.

In London, I'm Jason Palmer.

And in New York, I'm John Fassman.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

COVID has made the world understandably edgy about communicable diseases.

So widespread reports of one called monkeypox have heightened nerves the world over.

We ask what it is and how much concern it should cause.

And it used to be that video games didn't have or need much of a narrative thread, gathering

the gold coins or getting the better of the baddies was enough.

Times have changed and teams of writers and authors of all sorts are now getting in on

the game.

First up though.

At least 19 children and two adults were shot dead at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas

yesterday.

The suspected murderer was an 18-year-old who was killed by police.

The tragedy comes just 10 days after a racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York,

in nearly 10 years after another elementary school massacre at Sandy Hook in Connecticut.

Yesterday, Chris Murphy, a senator from Connecticut, gave an impassioned speech about the Texas

shooting.

This isn't inevitable.

These kids weren't unlucky.

This only happens in this country.

...