We have two covers this week. In Britain we report on the ruling Conservative Party’s ideas about remaking the British state. The Tories believe that the executive is the expression of the will of the people, so to limit its power is to muzzle democracy. Frustration over the difficulty of getting Brexit done has fused with an enthusiasm for Silicon Valley’s mantra—move fast and break things—into a determination to speed government up. Accordingly, they are pursuing a programme of radical reform. Brexit is the boldest step, but it is only the first. The Tory plan is to unchain the executive by limiting judicial power, pushing back against devolution and reforming the civil service. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s recently defenestrated chief adviser, was one of the architects of this transformation, but it will continue without him. The Tories are right to say that Britain needs to change. Even so, both the reformers’ arguments and direction of travel are wrong.

In our other editions we look at the rivalry between America and China. The achievement of the Trump administration was to recognise the authoritarian threat from China. The task for the Biden administration will be to work out what to do about it. America’s rivalry with the Soviet Union was focused on ideology and nuclear weapons. The battlefield today is information technology: semiconductors, data, 5G mobile networks, internet standards, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. All those things will help determine whether America or China has not just the military edge, but also the more dynamic economy. They could even give one of the rivals an advantage in scientific research. Donald Trump’s instinct has been for America to fight this battle single-handed. Old allies were henchmen, not partners. Joe Biden should choose a different path. If America is to stay ahead, it needs to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts.