Robert Wright

Listen pal if you’re going to be a 30 year old baby you’re going to need to have a Bluesky account

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Why a $200bn US rail megamerger could still hit the buffers Deal between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern would create first transcontinental operator in 200-year history of US rail

I wrote a week ago about the many hurdles the deal will have to clear: www.ft.com/content/2df4...

intermodal, coal and box car trains, North Platte I took this photo while researching Financial Times stories found at www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d94be5ba-9148-11dc-9590-0000779fd2ac.html , www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eb26414a-9148-11dc-9590-0000779fd2ac.html and oth...

I'm afraid I've spent so much time writing about this stuff I was instead thinking about when I went to visit their largest classification yard, in North Platte, Nebraska: www.flickr.com/photos/wrigh...

Rail customers urge regulators to block Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal Freight groups warn the $250bn megamerger could raise prices and cut services

Reckoned the merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern- creating the US’s first trans-continental railroad company- would get nodded through? Some customers want you to think again: on.ft.com/4l3iFr7

I’m in no position to contradict you. But you know that.

I think he’s also missing the point that @roberthutton.co.uk is mainly making a joke about the nutty rightwing people and, as sketch writers go, has a distinct undertone of moral seriousness at times.

The art of charisma What is it, who’s got it — and how is politics being reshaped by the power of the X factor?

A thought-provoking essay on charisma from an always charismatic writer: @henrymance.ft.com: on.ft.com/3J1HVAN

As virtually everyone else has now said, the jobs data going forward will be more or less meaningless

Anway, do have a (typographically challenging) read here: archive.org/stream/Finan...

I think they were very angry about it.

A colleague ran into some of them and they said I was racist.

The piece seems to be (sort-of) online here: archive.org/stream/Finan...

I pointed out that a nationalist movement that scored 1 per cent across its nation in an election wasn't thriving.
I asked their leader if they'd set out an exact policy on devolution.
He replied: “It seems a hell of a lot of work to do to
bring out a paper no-one is going to read.”

In 1997, the FT ran a summer series called "lost causes". I wrote a piece for it about Mebyon Kernow, the Cornish nationalist party.

I met a bunch of them in a pub in Truro.

I told them it was for a series called lost causes but they didn't like the result.

Of all the early rock'n'rollers, he's the one whose music still best conveys the shock that the music must have produced.

It has such urgency.

Rip It Up is a particular personal favourite.

These are items for people who have friends that they invite round for "drinks and nibbles".

They are nothing to do with my life.

Huge boost for modern architecture and wind farms here as Simon Jenkins opposes them.

I attended Hutchesons' Grammar School, a Glasgow approximation of these Edinburgh schools.

He was with his parents, who'll be desperately hoping he doesn't fail and end up in the media.

That's the fate of the misfits from that cohort, sadly.

A traineeship at really any of the big four accounting firms.

He has a choice between being a solicitor or advocate, civil or criminal practice.
He could be a surgeon or a consultant (probably not a GP, though - a bit downmarket).

The other week, on holiday in Italy with @susanrwright.bsky.social, I saw a man of about 18 with a George Watson's College water bottle.
It made me think of all the possibilities ahead for a young man leaving a Scots private school.
He could do almost anything in law, medicine or even acccountancy.

Deadwood surely has to be a potential contender for a GOAT list. But, if it's not, it's solidly in there, isn't it?

Anyway, she seems unlikely to go to prison.

Their categorisation also embraces my daughter, born in Budapest while I was FT correspondent there to two British citizens. She has no right to any other citizenship and left Hungary at 18 months.

Veg box provider: "Here's a delightful, unpredictably hot pepper to grill then munch on while having a relaxing beer".
Me: "I never relax. Bring me food, not obligatory leisure activities."

Padron peppers

Ah - Padron pepper season: an annual reminder I’m not as cool and sophisticated a person as my vegetable box wants me to be.

I'm not sure.

In the Church of England, the "banns" are read in church several times before the wedding, to give people an opportunity to object.

There's also a chance to object in the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland service. I know because I recall an incident where someone raised an objection.

It’s obligatory in the U.K.

This is an obligatory aspect of any wedding in the U.K.