Simon Kuper

What the closure of USAID is really costing the world [FREE TO READ] The abrupt withdrawal of American funding has stranded millions of patients and will be felt by countries for years to come

The worst thing that Trump has done is under-publicised: USAID cuts will kill 14 million people by 2030, predicts
@TheLancet
. It thinks USAID saved an unimaginable 92 mn lives in 20 years through 2021. Very worth your time reading this by
@davidpilling
@financialtimes.com
on.ft.com/4mv30SP

Derk Sauer, western media magnate in Russia, dies aged 72 [FREE TO READ] Dutch editor founded The Moscow Times and Russian editions of magazines including Cosmopolitan and Playboy

My obituary of
@Derksauer
, the Dutchman who fell for Russia and became a Moscow media magnate, one of the handful of most impressive people I've met in my life on.ft.com/3IRbJ3c

Here is a more personal note that I wrote for Derk this week. I hope the Sauer family won't mind me posting it - it's a homage to a great man

Derk Sauer, Moscow Times Founder and Dutch Media Entrepreneur, Dies at 72 - The Moscow Times Derk Sauer, the Dutch media entrepreneur who founded The Moscow Times, died on Thursday at age 72, his family said in a statement.

RIP Derk Sauer, Dutch media magnate in Moscow who then helped bring a big chunk of the free Russian press out into exile. He was one of the handful of most extraordinary people I have known in my life www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/07/31/d...

The heroes who made me [FREE TO READ] Watching videos of Hannah Arendt and Nelson Mandela is a reminder of how one’s early heroes can continue to inspire

How do we choose our heroes, from about age seven till our early 20s? And how do they shape us? Me @financialtimes.com on why I chose Hannah Arendt, Mandela and Orwell (and a bunch of others) to show/discuss on Dutch TV programme Zomergasten @vpro.nl this Sunday. on.ft.com/3Ua0iWC

FT Editorial: "Unless the Israeli government agrees to an immediate end to the war and a surge of aid into Gaza, western countries should be sanctioning Netanyahu and his government." www.ft.com/content/69d5...

How Wirecard’s Jan Marsalek went from fraudster to spy The third season of our investigative podcast asks: who is the real Jan Marsalek? And what does his secret life reveal about the powerful forces he serves?

Season finale of @financialtimes.com podcast series Hot Money drops today, on the corporate fraudster and Russian spy Jan Marsalek. It's so good www.ft.com/content/d5f8...

Zomergasten (2): Simon Kuper - VARAgids - BNNVARA Schrijver en journalist Simon Kuper is de tweede Zomergast. Henk Spaan en hij delen een passie voor voetbal..

Dank voor dit verhaal, Henk Spaan. Mijn advocaten nemen contact met je op www.bnnvara.nl/varagids/art...

World Cup Fever by Simon Kuper | Waterstones Buy World Cup Fever by Simon Kuper from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

My new book World Cup Fever (about my nine World Cups and much more) is out in October. Pre-order it from Waterstones now to get 25% off RRP. Enter ‘SUMMER25’ at checkout to redeem the offer. Offer runs between now and 23:59 on July 31. #WPreorder www.waterstones.com/book/world-c...

The rest of the comments are an open expression of ethnic cleansing. They are confirmation of a war crime.

Book Review: Simon Kuper's I’ve never been a fan of Paris. To read about Paris is to read about its beauty, charm and sophistication, but when I first visited in 1998, it struck me as rundown, dirty, and way too touristy.

I think this might be the first libertarian review of my memoir of Paris, Impossible City. Nice, though www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/202...

you're all on Bluesky, so you know only to comment/shout at me after you've read it

War crimes in real time [FREE TO READ] With many states fighting like terrorist groups, can the law of war reassert itself?

Most warring states - notably Israel and Russia - fight like terrorist groups, tearing up the rules of war. But we can enforce those rules, and punish suspected war criminals like Putin, Netanyahu and Hamas leaders. Duterte's now in a cell in The Hague. Me @financialtimes.com
on.ft.com/44MOgbV

“this £85 billion represents a direct transfer of value from the public to private owners — a sum extracted while storm overflows proliferated, leakage targets were missed, and river health declined”

What China wants from Europe As the US abandons the world order it built, China builds its own — how should Europe respond?

on.ft.com/4nSibXx What China wants from Europe

Great piece by the FT's Simon Kuper quoting a number of our @asiasociety.org France @salzburgglobal.bsky.social China Summer Summit speakers

Will be in the magazine section this weekend if you want to get off your (made in China) devices :)

What China wants from Europe [FREE TO READ] As the US abandons the world order it built, China builds its own — how should Europe respond?

Europe for the first time ever is surrounded by 3 hostile big powers: Russia, Trump's US, and China. The one it understands least is China. What do the Chinese want from us? How should we handle China? I consult Europe's tiny caste of Chinese-speaking experts @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/3U5SEN7

AI is reinforcing the dominance of English in the workplace [FREE TO READ] Technology will make the world’s most spoken language more valuable, but speaking a more obscure one has advantages

In the age of English-language dominance and machine translation, demand for other languages in the workplace is collapsing. Very few job ads request French, hardly anyone learns Mandarin, etc. Me on how languages work at work, and when minor ones matter on.ft.com/44zDTIj

"The failure of the international community to tackle the genocide in Gaza will resonate through history. Israel’s own experiences add complexity to this issue, but it does not obviate the moral and legal requirement for countries, corporations and individuals not to contribute to terrible crimes."

Your most depressing read today.

The evolution of stupid [FREE TO READ] AI is the latest in a sequence of inventions that have made humanity dumber

The world was getting stupider, driven by tech, even before AI began rotting the brains of students in particular. What are our chances of stopping the rot? Or will intelligence just wither like sword-fighting and blacksmithing did before? Me @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/3IjJFVO - free to read

E-coli? I hate fresh water and am disgusted by most things natural, but the FT asked me to jump into the Seine on the day it reopened to swimmers after 102 years, so I did

The GoFundMe site will suggest you give the site itself a hefty 18% tip. Note that this is optional! You don't have to tip them. What matters is to help fund Ukrainian hospitals. Thanks to everyone who does

Donate to Humanitarian relief for wounded Ukrainian veterans, organized by David Halbout UPDATE: I am in Ukraine now helping Wounded veterans in Hospitals. M… David Halbout needs your support for Humanitarian relief for wounded Ukrainian veterans

Further to my thread yesterday about Nathalie Halbout, who is caring for wounded soldiers in Ukraine: here's how you can donate to help her buy trauma supplies for hospitals gofundme.com/f/humanitari...
Please do it - they need it so badly

Nathalie Halbout, formerly of New Jersey, is now a volunteer nurse in her native Kyiv, taking care of soldiers, many of them wounded by drones. She writes fascinatingly about her experiences, and fundraises for medical supplies. Please follow her for more, and donate! ff//

Football heading for ‘collective bargaining’, says head of players’ union Alex Phillips, the secretary-general of Fifpro says footballers are scapegoated, overworked and excluded from decisions — while true power remains with clubs and owners

Alex Phillips leads the international footballers' trade union, FIFPRO. I interviewed him for @financialtimes.com about whether the transfer system will survive, why he isn't opposed to a salary cap, the life of the typical pro footballer, overwork, underwork, mental health + more on.ft.com/4kzpwsd

For a quick taste of what life is like for Ukrainians right now, in a war that none of them sought and did nothing to deserve, here's Nathalie's latest post, from about 15 minutes ago

This is her Facebook page: facebook.com/nathalie.cam... And Instagram: instagram.com/frenchfixllc...

Nathalie Halbout, formerly of New Jersey, is now a volunteer nurse in her native Kyiv, taking care of soldiers, many of them wounded by drones. She writes fascinatingly about her experiences, and fundraises for medical supplies. Please follow her for more, and donate! ff//

Myth of the big, bad megacity [FREE TO READ] What the right feels about metropoles isn’t physical fear. It’s discomfort

Why are multicultural cities (from NYC and London to Singapore and Sydney) so remarkably safe? And why are populists from Trump down to David Goodhart and Matthew Goodwin so determined to think otherwise? Me @FT on.ft.com/3GbCcHL with murder stats on.ft.com/3GbCcHL

Myth of the big, bad megacity What the right feels about metropoles isn’t physical fear. It’s discomfort

NEW: The “Myth of the big, bad megacity.”

“What the far right feels about cities isn’t physical fear. It’s discomfort. Canadian urban planner @brenttoderian.bsky.social decodes this feeling as: “I’m not the majority any more, it isn’t my city anymore.” @simonkuper.bsky.social in @financialtimes.com