Don’t move to Dubai — this is still the place to be [FREE TO READ] Better to buy the dip and celebrate the UK as an enduring cultural behemoth

You definitely shouldn't move to Dubai, writes V&A director Tristram Hunt on.ft.com/46MfW1t

BOUQUET RESIDENCE

Antisemitic Conspiracies About George Soros Hurtle Towards Prosecution - Conspiracy Watch Billionaire financier and philanthropist Soros faces possible criminal charges in a retribution campaign redolent of antisemitism and led by Donald Trump

The framing of billionaire philanthropist George Soros as a sinister 'Deep State' mastermind echoes ancient libels of global Jewish domination. Now he faces threats of criminal charges in a campaign reeking of antisemitism.
My ✏️ Conspiracy Watch Global ⤵️
⤵️ www.conspiracywatch.info/en/antisemit...

NEW: China's president Xi Jinping unexpectedly joins the UN climate summit, by video, to offer his nation's 2035 climate pledge

* Cut GHGs to 7-10% below peak by 2035, "striving to do better"
* Raise non-fossil share of energy to at least 30%
* Boost wind/solar to 3,600GW

Solar panels now cost peanuts (under 10 cents per W) in most of the world.

Carbon dioxide emissions in high-income countries are now falling, and there's reason to believe other countries will be able to develop much more sustainably than those did.

ourworldindata.org/grapher/annu...

NEW: The first evidence of a solar take-off in Africa☀️✈️

x33 rise in Algeria solar panel imports in the 12 mths to June 2025, compared to previous 12 mths.
x8 in Zambia
x7 in Botswana
x6 in Sudan
x3 in each of Liberia, DRC, Benin, Angola, Ethiopia

🧵

Paperback, with new preface, available TODAY
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725302...

Analysis: Record solar growth keeps China’s CO2 falling in first half of 2025 - Carbon Brief Clean-energy growth helped China’s CO2 emissions fall by 1% in first half of 2025, extending a declining trend that started in March 2024.

Get the details from this CarbonBrief... 🧪🔌💡☀️💨🌊🔋 www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-rec...

Scottish pupil named on Time magazine’s first Girls of the Year list Rebecca Young, 13, was recognised for her design of a solar-powered backpack with an electric blanket inside, which she created to help homeless people

Rebecca Young, 13, was recognised for her design of a solar-powered backpack with an electric blanket inside, which she created to help homeless people

Here comes the sun (power) [FREE TO READ] Goldman Sachs ❤️ ☀️

It was the sun watt won it.

on.ft.com/3H9fLmR

‘There is nothing to buy’: Gaza’s descent into mass starvation Israel’s offensive and aid curbs tip enclave of 2.1mn Palestinians into famine

Important reporting from Gaza:

4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.

anti-doomer sentence of the day: "Globally, roughly a third more power is being generated from the sun this spring than last"

www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

English is an agglomeration of different linguistic roots. It has developed over more than a thousand years, enthusiastically incorporating words and structures that new arrivals brought, creating something new and so vibrant that it is still conquering the world.

Fukuyama also spotted a related, but even more profound, potential flaw in his own argument. He was confident that no country could thrive for long without capitalism, but less so that it needed democracy - so perhaps there was a plausible alternative to liberalism. There were, he noted, countries in East Asia, particularly Singapore and China, that were running apparently successful capitalist economies but without the messiness of democracy: "The most significant challenge being posed to the liberal universalism of the American and French revolutions today is not coming from the communist world, whose economic failures are evident for everyone to see, but from those societies in Asia which combine liberal economies with a kind of paternalistic authoritarianism."

Fukuyama is smarter than you thought samf.substack.com/p/history-re... @samfr.bsky.social

It is remarkable that the west is committing to spending 5% of GDP on defence, and almost no one has made the case that the most pressing threat to our security this century is climate change and we should be spending more on tackling that.

Politicians making a meal of it. This week: Gordon Brown’s sushi “What’s this?”

Here's @roberthutton.co.uk on the time Gordon Brown met some sushi. Fairly confident this is the funniest thing you'll read all week

Instead of mea culpas during explosive questioning by infuriated Democrats, emboldened RFK Jr went full anti-vax, peddling conspiracies about Covid-19 jab and denying he reneged on vaccine expert panel. My 🗞️ Conspiracy Watch Global @conspiracywen.bsky.social
⤵️
conspiracywatch.info/en/rfk-jr-re...

Looking forward 59% of Brits say they are worried that unbearably hot weather will become more frequent in coming years - while 79% think that the heatwave last week was at least partially caused by climate change.

Stark: 'There have been some dark moments for those of us who work on climate, so we should celebrate this progress that we are making.'

Chris Stark: 'We should be looking at the electrostates... The UK should want to be one of those electrostates. The global clean energy transition is not stalling, it is accelerating.'

Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event

‘Remainer’ paper New European rebrands to push beyond Brexit roots Title formed after 2016 UK vote is relaunching as The New World to reflect coverage of global politics and culture

“The title made about £2.6mn in revenue last year on the back of about 35,000 subscribers. The revenues are almost entirely made up of subscriptions and news stand sales of about 4,500 per issue, with no advertising or additional grants.”

Six-year-old Barbara Strachey, interviewed during the 1918 election at which her mother was a candidate.

"I think I'm on mother's side", she said; before adding, thoughtfully, "But of course, I've never met the other man".

Hard to over-estimate the potential significance of this - if the trend continues

On the 80th VE Day, and as WW2 fades out of living memory, we must continue to share our own families’ stories of hardship and endurance

Here is mine:

An incredible story of political drama, underground journalism, and a brave woman - my great-grandmother - fighting back against the Nazis

Whatever your politics, Nora's story serves as a reminder of the tireless bravery of everyone who stands up to repressive regimes (past, present and future)

This legacy lives on in those resisting in many, many other countries around the world

Budgies in polling stations.

When is a natural disaster human-made? [FREE TO READ] The mud has been cleared in Valencia. But questions remain about last year’s deadly floods

We can't process the scale of climate shocks.

I was speaking to someone from LA about the wildfires. Their view: fires have always happened, so the problem must have been government incompetence.

Sure, officials make mistakes *but* they are dealing with crazy weather on.ft.com/3RXWsyV

Steve Witkoff, the world's worst diplomat He is a life-long property developer. So how the hell did he end up as America’s top international negotiator, on everything from Ukraine to the Iran nuclear deal?

He is a life-long property developer.

So how the hell did he end up as America’s top international negotiator, on everything from Ukraine to the Iran nuclear deal? Asks @eksymons.bsky.social