Jolly king returns but we are subject to charmless shades of fashion queen

A man dies on the sidewalk at the hands of a masked gunman, and much of the commentary around it is unsympathetic.

- Emma Brockes

Monday

While details of the shooting of Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street this week are still emerging, the assumption is his murder relates to his profession, one of almost unrivalled loathing in the United States: head of one of the largest and, by some accounts, meanest health insurers in the country.

Thompson's take-home pay last year was reportedly in the region of $10m (£8m). Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare, which is being investigated by the Department of Justice for anti-trust (monopolistic) violations and was subject to fierce protests over the summer from policyholders accusing it of refusing their care or turning down claims, generates revenues of $450bn a year.

One of the accusations made against UnitedHealthcare is that it used AI algorithms to override doctors' recommendations and deny nursing care to elderly policyholders. A class-action lawsuit was filed against it in 2023, accompanying the class-action suit filed against one of its rival insurers, Cigna, for allegedly using algorithms rather than doctors to review and automatically deny 300,000 claims.

Americans spend a huge proportion of their pay on health insurance that often leaves them in medical debt when insurers wriggle out of their claims.

After Thompson, who was 50 years old and the father of two children, was gunned down at 6.45am outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, the debate online was swift, brutal and characterised by armchair weapons experts confidently sharing opinions on models of silencer and bandying around terms like "asset." A dispiriting spectacle all round.

Tuesday