Henri

Ha, good stuff! You’re believable

It’s more likely than you think!

Sigh. Thanks Google

3/
He has bankrolled Alibaba, he has invested really early into the iPhone and his money have powered almost every all successful businesses in the Silicon Valley. All of this from humble roots as a Korean immigrant on the edges of Japanese society in the 1960s.

2/
Masayoshi Son is one of the world’s biggest investors who heads Japan’s biggest bank, SoftBank through which he reportedly controls a $1 trillion of assets around the world.

1/
Next read for me is “Gambling Man”. It’s rather timely actually. Yesterday US announced the “AI Manhattan Project” as it’s billed - Project Stargate which promises to invest up to $500 billion into AI power core in the US. The man who was made the CEO of the project is the subject of this book.

2/
Penrose was a physicist, mathematician, Nobel Prize Winner and above all a human being just like ourselves. The book distills the achievements of genius really well, but also paints a picture of inner turmoil and suffering that accompanies and shadows that genius throughout Penrose’s life.

1/
My second read this year (one I am thoroughly enjoying so far) is “Impossible Man” by Patchen Barss.

It’s a biography of Roger Penrose, one of UK’s (and the World’s of course) greatest scientists of the last century.

There’s something very “good old history” about this book. I can’t quite tell. Perhaps it’s just that I haven’t read fresh diplomatic history for a while. Wonderful vibes.

I’m a third of the way through and whilst London, Moscow and Washington feature heavily it’s great to see Paris, Beijing, Warsaw and Athens also get attention. It’s also great to see new diplomatic history back on the agenda.

The chapter on Mers El Kebir was thrilling. 👀 🇬🇧 🇫🇷

Forgot to crosspost to here too.

#1
New Year, New Books. Starting as we mean to go on.

“Allies at War” by Tim Bouverie focuses on the interpersonal and intergovernmental relationships between the leaders of the nations that were playing the key roles in World War II.

Okay people. I am making a list. What are the books you are looking forward to the most in 2025?

Thanks

The one on the left is yesterday, the big roast is today.

We’re lucky to celebrate the European and British traditions on two separate days.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas gang. Eat well, be merry and treat every being with respect and love. 🌲🧀🍷

Feliz Navidad ya filthy animals.

Have the bestest of time, share food and love with your favourite people. 🌲

Dare I correct myself of course it was an audiobook so a “listen” not a read. I normally have two books going at the same time - audio for commutes and physical copy for home.

Read #52 for me this year was “Supremacy” by @parmy.bsky.social about the battle for AI supremacy between Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis and a few other key characters. I read a lot on AI this year and I must say - this was one of the best and the FT BOTY award was deserved.

Opened this app for the first time in weeks to find 200 new followers… thank you, whoever put me on a starter pack I assume ❤️

Welcome, I post mostly about books, history, occasionally Manchester United (rip), Ukraine, Eastern European politics and London.

Read #51 for me this year is “An Ordinary Youth” by W. Kempowski. It’s an account of growing up in Rostock during the 1930s, watching the rise of Nazism all around. It’s imbued with carefree simplicity of youth and a discomfiting exploration of life, politics and war puncturing carefree youth.

Not a word of a lie, I am getting roasted for the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree by my Eastern European fam and friends.

We take that shit way more seriously.

Mind you, this can usher in something worse or just as bad, there is much history of that. I’m just saying. Autocrats who look unbeatable sometimes just get on a plane ✈️.

“Everything was forever until it was no more”

Syria is just a reminder to the west that dictatorships fall

Well lads. The time is nigh. The bots are now here.

Someone sitting at a desk "thought the rocket belonged in the room with the children"
Oksana Maksymchuk

Rounding up building site workers in the understanding that most of them are in the country illegally and they can otherwise threaten them with expulsion but can also offer the carrot of healthcare/insurance/nationality etc.

it didn’t seem to work. Wonder if camera off they were indeed rounded up

I think they did a few months ago, it’s so frustrating. Amount of times you search for people’s names or handles and the search doesn’t give you a result is maddening.

That formula is good but point is, average person doesn’t know it.

I still use x but it feels like it gets worse every time.

The search function on twitter has been rendered absolutely bloody unusable. It used to be one of the best parts of that social media site - a good directory is a huge part that contributes to discovery and intermingling.

They’re now removing timestamps too.

A masterclass in making product worse.

Somehow, the books make it all very cosy. Nice reading chair!

He tries to find out how Putin’s authoritarianism has embedded itself so deeply into the national psyche, why the exploitation of memory is so important for the regime and simply opens up a forgotten and unvarnished corner of Russia to the world.

Out in Mar 24 @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social

Next up for me is “Russia Starts Here” by Howard Amos which attempts to answer some questions about Russia, it’s character and it’s people by speaking and investigating simple, common lives in the poor Pskov region that borders Estonia and Latvia.