"In No10 meetings with the Met on riots, I saw for myself a) the weird psychological zone of how much order rests not on actual physical forces but perceptions among a few elites about such forces that can very quickly change, and b) how scared the senior police are at the

The market is impervious to trump musk etc because it cares only about the deep state which is still chugging along.

"To go from the phantoms of faith to the ghosts of reason is merely to change cells." Fernando Pessoa

At 20-28 degrees, with a clear sky, London is IMO hands down the best city in the world. When I come back in June I have to remind myself that there are other months and they're not quite the same.

The language of BBC. Countries they like have "assets" on the ground in other countries. Countries they dislike have "spies" in other countries. Countries they like "intercept" computer messages. Countries they do not like "hack" computers.

Chris Arnade 🐢🐱🚌 General process of how something goes from a cottage industry to scale. The Chicago pit traders all also hire from only MIT and Stanford and Tsinghua now. Modernity is bureaucracy.

Europe committing industrial suicide in one chart. But hey, who needs industry? Becoming an open-air museum for American tourists is also an option.

CPI inflation up to 3.6pc with services prices rising at 4.7pc and goods prices running above target as well (2.4pc). With inflation rising and likely to increase further in the autumn, there is no case for cutting interest rates further - which would be highly irresponsible.

Wow this is an incredible judgement which says that all Libor convictions were bogus (including jail time for Hayes). Issue well explained in Andy Verity 's book and some serious soul searching required by the authorities which convicted

Or as the heart sutra pithily puts it - form is emptiness and emptiness is form

The primary purpose of most regulations in the UK (including the Online Safety Act) is increased employment of "elites" in bullshit jobs, not just within the regulator but within regulated entities, within law firms etc. The below is a great example of this.

"I note with metaphysical astonishment how my most deliberate acts, my clearest ideas and my most logical intentions were after all no more than congenital drunkenness, inherent madness and huge ignorance. I didn’t even act anything out. I was the role that got acted out."

Sometimes I find myself idly thinking about the fact that there's a listed mobile marketing company called AppLovin, that it's worth $130bn, which would make it a top 10 firm in the UK or France or Germany. It's larger than the largest Italian company.

"Moral people are the most revengeful of mankind, they employ their morality as the best and most subtle weapon of vengeance. They are not satisfied with simply despising and condemning their neighbour themselves, they want the condemnation to be universal and supreme."

UK inflation up sharply again - to 3.8pc. Services inflation up to 5pc (from 4.7pc) & goods inflation 2.7pc (was 2.4pc). The perverse rate cut earlier this month looks even more ridiculous and irresponsible in the light of this news. 4pc plus inflation is coming in the autumn!

Sometimes I see or hear something so dismal about the UK that I actually go full circle and become slightly impressed. In a way, it's quite an achievement that the UK remains as prosperous as it does in the context of what effectively amounts to an electricity degrowth policy

This is the thing about Chinese industrial policy: it is Darwinian in a way that most western attempts at industrial policy are not.

The idea that we will automate work by building artificial versions of ourselves to do exactly the things we were previously doing, rather than redesigning our old workflows to make the most out of existing automation technology, has a distinct “mechanical horse” flavor

'An impressive commitment to the worst of both worlds' is a great descriptor of a lot of UK policymaking since the 2008-2012 disaster period where the Equality Act was combined with austerity. The establishment centrists here are genuinely self-sabotaging and low human capital.