Rowan Emslie

feels like I have received this email with this headline roughly once a month for 8 years

Did we just hit peak FT?

Uh oh, are retail investors starting to get cold feet?

🫢

The downsides of those things being so big and heavy

Trump’s ambassador to the EU is accidentally—and unwittingly—saying the US economy is losing ground to the EU, even if he doesn’t seem to realise it.

By comparing the wrong GDP metrics, Andrew Puzder is arguing the EU is currently trouncing the US. And it’s all because of Trump!

Let me explain🧵

In her defence, he is very tall

What progressives won't learn from winning url:https://encompass-europe.com/comment/what-progressives-wont-learn-from-winning @rowanemslie.bsky.social @cfg-thinktank.bsky.social

Lmao, in the Eurostar passport queue just now, my toddler pointed at the people behind us and shouted "Watch out! It's a dinosaur! Rawwwwwww".

I turned around and said "don't take it personally, she says that to everyone". It was @richardosman1.bsky.social 😅 (who played along gamely)

In other news, water is wet

The Last Days Of Social Media | NOEMA Social media promised connection, but it has delivered exhaustion.

Feels like the "dead internet theory" is becoming the mainstream POV.

Great essay from @jamesosullivan.bsky.social

www.noemamag.com/the-last-day...

Really hoping this snippet from @barrymalone.bsky.social doesn't become a totem of 'what if' in the months to come. I remember the last major ebola outbreak all too well.

There will be no economic takeoff in Africa without lots of large (private sector) firms On why African states’ jobs agenda must focus on catalyzing firm growth (and not disorganized investments in micro-entrepreneurship)

It is always worth reading @kopalo.bsky.social

"Over 10m young Africans enter the labor force each year, but the region only creates 3m formal sector jobs."

open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...

Lying increases trust in science - Theory and Society This study begins by outlining the transparency paradox: that trust in science requires transparency, but being transparent about science, medicine and government reduces trust in science. A solution ...

"Trust in institutions is damaged by failures of transparency, but is also damaged by increased transparency."

This paper is fascinating. Must read for anyone in knowledge producing organisations, not just scientists.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Can the World’s Largest Zipper Manufacturer Survive Trump’s Tariffs? The world’s largest zipper manufacturer has spent decades mastering the global supply chain. Now it has to weather the Trump-tariff era.

Let's think about zips.

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

A fascinating look into the reality of the new tariff regime hitting the globe.

This government only seeks approval from a small and probably mythical subset of swing voters.

This from noted socialist outlet the Financial Times

Ep.118: Putting Guardrails on Playing God Cynthia Scharf on Europe and geoengineering.

Nobody should be playing God with the climate right? Yet exploration of solar geoengineering by private investors looks to be zooming ahead. Unregulated. New episode with Cynthia Scharf on Europe and the implications of technologies of desperation. In partnership with @cfg-thinktank.bsky.social

Can Europe move from reacting to shaping the future of tech?

Think & Do 2025: Control / Alt / Lead brings together leading voices on innovation, governance & agency.

🎤 Speakers include: Anu Bradford, Maria Farrell & Javier Espinoza
📩 Register interest: cfg.eu/event/think-...

It's been about 15 years now, yeah

Actually I'll amend that.

1.5 years of volunteering (and partying) in Kampala --> personal connections to 2 politicians

10+ years of working in and studying policy --> personal connections to 2 elected politicians

I now have at least friends of friends status with two elected politicians.

Both connections come from having fun and spending too much time in bars when I lived in Uganda; not from my 10+ years of working in policy.

Goes to show it's really easy to over index on career planning 😄

Same energy

Wow this comes across as desperate.

How about "the bare minimum"

The circle cannot be squared (and that's ok) Political contradictions are the water we policy people swim in, yet we rarely acknowledge how they shape the boundaries of what's possible. If we don't claim the frustrating realities of doing politi...

"We have to take that messy, conflicted, irrational, frustrating and human centre at the heart of the democratic process and embrace it.

We have to show that it is a feature, not a bug."

www.linkedin.com/pulse/circle...

There Will Never Be Another 'WTF With Marc Maron' | Defector I heard Marc Maron announce he was ending his podcast the way that I imagine he’d’ve wanted me to—while walking through my neighborhood in Los Angeles, through wired headphones, just a little too hopp...

This eulogy for WTF - the first podcast I got into and one I have never quit - by @dianamoskovitz.bsky.social is a masterpiece.

defector.com/there-will-n...

Jonathan Rée · No Foreigners: Derrida’s Hospitality Apart from​ flashes of utopianism, Derrida’s conception of politics was quite old-fashioned, perhaps pre-Kantian:...

As ever I am many months out of sync with the publishing schedule of @lrb.co.uk, but this piece examining Derrida's exploration of hospitality "in a world that makes a fetish of sovereignty" is incredibly apposite.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Brussels municipality considers installing underground waste bins "Rubbish bags on the streets are out of date. We should look at the many examples of European metropolises where they put waste underground."

Oh but I'm really going to miss when the crows tear apart bin bags and spread trash all over the street.

www.brusselstimes.com/brussels/159...

Another day, another warning about the dangers of relying on tech imports www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

"Content algorithms are already a problem - now imagine that turbocharged with personalised brain data"

My @cfg-thinktank.bsky.social colleague outlining the extremely overlooked risks of the fast emerging neurotech sector.

#copenhagendemocracysummit