bryn stole

It’s Completely Insane, Worth No Points and Has the Olympics Flipping Out The most spectacular backflip at this Winter Olympics is happening on ice, not snow. And it’s the highlight of American figure skater Ilia Malinin’s program.

"It doesn’t earn him any technical points. It puts his whole body at catastrophic risk...But now this one act of pure showmanship has become the electrifying coda of Malinin’s programs as he stakes his claim as the greatest figure skater of all time." www.wsj.com/sports/olymp...

Emmanuel Macron declares a European state of emergency He urges the EU to move fast or be swept aside

Europe faces a “geopolitical and geo-economic state of emergency” Macron told us, and will be “swept aside” if it does not reform. After its “Greenland moment”, Europe can’t go on as before. The US is “openly hostile” to Europe and wants it “dismembered”

economist.com/europe/2026/...

i mean, if only the story gave some sense of what even a minor respiratory infection could do to a nordic skier.

yeah, and i think purdue could still put things back together if tkr gets right. if fears gets his head together, and scott keeps playing like he did the other night…

the swedes meanwhile wearing … uniqlo.

is it a scandal that the **norwegian** olympic team outfits are made by a **swedish** sportswear brand?

mirk is so bad at flopping that i think it's kinda funny. he almost never gets those calls, and in fact i think it probably costs him some calls as well when he genuinely does get fouled.

can’t hold a candle to fears

‘Das glut’: why Germans are handing out free potatoes Tracking the ambitious plan to distribute 4 million kg of surplus spuds

Sleuth @ruthbetold.bsky.social was hot on the potato trail around Berlin in search of free spuds amid the great glut. Really delightful dispatch in the FT magazine. www.ft.com/content/1554...

you're fantastic john, it was a spectacular section.

I'll say more before too long, but for now: Thanks to anyone who has ever read and supported the Post's books coverage.

i am so incredibly depressed by the news.

there isn’t a better Books desk in the country than the one at the Washington Post. I’m not really sure there’s anything else to say

i know that this is an unpopular take, but everyone starting their own newsletter as a revenue stream is not a sustainable model for writing and reporting or for people who love and want to pay for media.

Shutting down (the stellar) books coverage at WaPo is a real telling move when your owner is literally Jeff Bezos

From arms to orbit: Rheinmetall’s expansion unsettles rivals German group’s outspoken boss Armin Papperger wants to ‘catch’ €300bn in European deals by 2030

Rheinmetall is pushing into a dizzying array of technologies and geographies as boss Armin Papperger seeks to turn the German firm into a multi-domain group akin to big US defence contractors

www.ft.com/content/a326...

February Books: Maci, Reimann, Clark Essays from Enis Maci, a novella by the GDR's Brigitte Reimann, and Christopher Clark's nineteenth-century Prussia.

The Auflauf, a new newsletter for Berlin books, is here! Fresh out the oven: book reviews from me, @return2sanders.bsky.social and @brynstole.bsky.social; not to mention some hot literary gossip... Interviews and more to come!

concerning

Check out The Auflauf, a new substack of Berlin books. Our first course: @mathildegm.bsky.social on Reimann, @brynstole.bsky.social on Clark, & me on Maci. @ajbwells.bsky.social is in the kitchen too helping cook and dish up lit crit, goss & conversations: theauflauf.substack.com

Can Europe do nuclear deterrence without America? Britain and France are deepening their co-operation

On American vs. French nukes -- "Many in Germany 'buy the French argument…that the French offer is heavier on credibility', because of its proximity 'even if it’s lower on capability'." www.economist.com/europe/2026/...

‘Das glut’: why Germans are handing out free potatoes Tracking the ambitious plan to distribute 4 million kg of surplus spuds

Sleuth @ruthbetold.bsky.social was hot on the potato trail around Berlin in search of free spuds amid the great glut. Really delightful dispatch in the FT magazine. www.ft.com/content/1554...

‘Das glut’: why Germans are handing out free potatoes Tracking the ambitious plan to distribute 4 million kg of surplus spuds

Sleuth @_ruthbetold hot on the potato trail around Berlin in search of free spuds amid the glut. Really delightful dispatch in @FTMag www.ft.com/content/1554...

Konsum von Bier in Deutschland auf Rekordtief: Brauereien mit Absatzrückgang Deutschlands Brauereien kämpfen mit einer historischen Konsumflaute, der Absatz sinkt auf ein Rekordtief.

German breweries saw sales plummet in 2025, down 6%, and the worst year for German beer drinking on record (these stats on reunified Germany's beer consumption only go back to 1993). www.bild.de/geld/wirtsch...

‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company $500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before U.A.E. won access to tightly guarded American AI chips.

“Four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in their fledgling cryptocurrency venture for half a billion dollars” www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Tweet from Variety's Daniel D'Addario: legit everyone at the first screening of “Melania” of the day is a journalist. Two of them are interviewing each other right now

gotta hand it to the filmmakers for reaching their core audience

Greenland threats no laughing matter, says mayor after comic’s flag stunt Avaaraq Olsen tells content creators to think before making jokes after German tried to raise Stars and Stripes in Nuuk

that's german comedy for you www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/29/greenland-nuuk-comedian-flag-stunt-mayor

on the one hand: www.the-berliner.com/english-news...

and from two days earlier: musikderzeit.de/udk-berlin-a...

this seems like pretty flagrant plagiarism!: www.the-berliner.com/english-news...

and the BZ original: www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/fried...

the news hits on the berliner's website seem to never cite a source anymore, and sure read like they're just german news copy run through google translate and posted without credit or attribution.

e.g.: www.the-berliner.com/english-news...

vs.: www.zdfheute.de/wirtschaft/b...

Population ageing places pressure on public finances, squeezing out funding for long-term endeavours
• Spending on seniors' health and pensions is rising across developed economies
• In turn, low productivity growth and decaying infrastructure fuel popular dissatisfaction
www.ft.com/content/b4d2...