Vincent Baby

Wes Streeting saying on Today that Mandelson is ‘not the man we thought he was’ but the trouble is, he is exactly the man we thought, just on a much worse scale than almost anyone thought. And there is an alternative world where none of this is this govt’s problem, because they never gave him a job

My first judgment is usually very poor, but I took an instant dislike to Peter Mandelson at the 1989 Labour Party conference, when he was still a backroom operator tipped as a PR prodigy, and that has stood the test of time. The nefarious zeal and lack of scruples were already on display.

Peter Mandelson leaked sensitive UK government tax plans to Jeffrey Epstein Keir Starmer orders inquiry into former business secretary’s conduct during his time as minister

"The Labour minister leaked plans for a €500bn bailout of the euro to the American paedophile financier"
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Mandelson told Epstein in 2009 that JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” Britain over a tax on banker bonuses giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

A very common scene in Hong Kong: the woman cleans while the man gives instructions and takes pictures (to claim credit?)

Procrastinating isn't a sign of laziness or 'lack of willpower,' neuroscientist says: How to 'get unstuck' Procrastination doesn't have to be a source of shame, according to Anne-Laure Le Cunff, PhD. Instead, "get curious" about the problem.

From her perspective, procrastination shouldn’t be a source of shame — it’s “really just a signal from your brain that something is not working quite right at the moment,” she says.

What if the moment has lasted over 40 years? share.google/ogZm0mLkB6YL...

European ally realises Trump is off his rocker

Microsoft Pledged to Save Water. In the A.I. Era, It Expects Water Use to Soar.

Last thing Jakarta or Pune need
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/t...

Can Rutger Bregman make it cool to do good? Dutch writer’s School for Moral Ambition aims to get more young talent working on global problems

The futility of hoping for corporations to do good voluntarily was proved, in Bregman’s view, by big business’s large-scale retreat from the ESG agenda it endorsed five years ago.

“Even in 2021, it was fairly clear that it was all a sham”
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TikTok Strikes Deal for New U.S. Entity, Ending Long Legal Saga

Lead buried in 20th para (!) New TikTok USA shareholders Oracle and MGX are uncomfortably close to Trump.

“My worry all along is that we may have traded fears of foreign propaganda for the reality of domestic propaganda.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...

Well, the USSR disappeared quite quickly. Meanwhile, Blair and Clinton stole neoliberalism from the right, and egged it on to focus on what they thought were self-defeating nativist ideas. When the whole edifice crashed, the working class had lost all faith in the Davos left and populists pounced.

Er, you have to account for the fact that the right then was not the same as the right now.

It's a bit as if you accused the Labour of the 70s of deception because of how its successors govern today.

Republicans begin to push back against Donald Trump’s pursuit of Greenland Party may vote to block any military action as it seeks to defuse growing rift with allies over the Arctic territory

Have we reached the 'This time he's gone too far' stage?
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All you ever wanted to know about Svalbard but were too afraid to ask. Fascinating piece.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/w...

Code is a liability, not an asset. Some amusing examples

AI can write code, but it can't do software engineering. That's a big problem.
pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1...

The reality is that there won't be a military response from Europe, but there would have to be severing of diplomatic relations, closing embassies, imposing sanctions, etc, which isn't much better

Le Rassemblement national et ses idées continuent de progresser dans l’opinion, particulièrement à droite Le baromètre annuel du cabinet d’études et de conseil Verian pour « Le Monde » dessine une France coupée en deux parts égales, entre les inquiets de la montée en puissance de l’extrême droite et de so...

Quelque 42 % des Français affirment être en accord avec « les idées défendues par le RN », établissant un nouveau record historique (44 % en désaccord). Ils n’étaient que 29 % avant l’élection présidentielle de 2022. www.lemonde.fr/politique/ar...

Dubbing tame pensioners as ‘terrorists’ makes a farce out of the Terrorism Act—and freedom of speech It’s a funny old world when Margaret Thatcher had a greater sense of individual liberty than Keir Starmer

"It’s a funny old world when Margaret Thatcher had a greater sense of individual liberty than Keir Starmer" open.substack.com/pub/alanrusb...

This 👌🔥 open.substack.com/pub/ftav/p/t...

AI and the Next Economy The narrative from the AI labs is dazzling: build AGI, unlock astonishing productivity, and watch GDP surge. It’s a compelling story, especially if you’re the

"The point is that economies grow because desires and capabilities change as the result of innovations, infrastructure, and institutions that allow the benefits to spread. New forms of production require new systems of distribution, experience, and exchange." www.oreilly.com/radar/ai-and...

Aldrich Ames, C.I.A. Turncoat Who Helped the Soviets, Dies at 84

A sick character, unexplainably promoted to a sensitive position. Some "failing upward"
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/o...

Life-changing cultural pilgrimages by Peter Frankopan, Antony Gormley and more From Naoshima to New Mexico, our writers discovered minimalist museums, a revelatory monastery — and an exploding octopus

Overwrought travelogues: "I arrived on Patmos for the first time by boat, as pilgrims have done for centuries — the sea glinting in the sun, the whitewashed buildings of Chora clinging to the hills above."

Narrator: there's no other way to arrive in Patmos giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’

Kudos to 60 Minutes reporter Sharyn Alfonsi for calling a spade a spade. Everyone at CBS News who believes in independent journalism should stand with her.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...

"My call to action for everyone is to get involved. There’s a huge role for people to play in shaping outcomes; nothing is certain or inevitable, and everyone alive has a stake in what happens next." english.elpais.com/technology/2...

Could America win the AI race but lose the war? The US has gone all-in on artificial intelligence. But the idea of an end-of-times battle with China over tomorrow’s key technology is part delusion, part lobbying tool for Silicon Valley

"In 2024, China invested an estimated $940bn in clean-energy capex, broadly defined as renewables, electricity grids and energy storage (batteries), dwarfing its AI investments. In these sectors, AI is meant to be a complement — the glue rather than the structure." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

"Kenneth T. Zemsky, a tax lawyer whose clients have included Martha Stewart, said that in his decades of practice, for every 10 people who have inquired about leaving New York, about one has ended up actually doing so."

Rich New Yorkers Threaten to Leave. Then They Find Out How Hard That Is.

Excellent story debunking the myth that the rich can leave on a whim ("vote with their feet") when taxes rise.

(Love the bit about the guy who moved to Florida but was caught by tax auditors because he claimed to be a resident to save $25 on his NY fishing licence)
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/n...

Opinion | They Were Supposed to Save Europe. Instead, They’re Condemning It to Horrors.

Be bold! "[Frederiksen and Sánchez] changed national agendas, politicizing issues of economic and tax justice and showing blue-collar voters that mainstream parties are on their side. Other European leaders should learn the lesson — and still can." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/o...

The EU single market’s elephant in the room Small, often invisible barriers to trade affect products from businesses across Europe, including a fluffy Ikea pachyderm

Own goal. "Ironically, the first thing many parents do, according to an Ikea executive, is cut off the labels whose contents are designed in part to cut waste — creating more waste." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

The economic miracle of China’s midday naps The wuxiu habit is regarded as traditional but its popularity has grown with rising incomes and longer working hours

Another way in which China is leading the world. "iiMedia estimates that about 70 per cent of Chinese adults take a midday nap, up from 60 per cent in 2019." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT