This Apple ad reminds me of those people who wanted to buy paintings, 'turn them into NFTs' then destroy the originals. Thinking you no longer need musical instruments, toys or paint because tech is... quite something.

Orbanites think Xi is visiting Hungary because of some elaborate ' #Connectivity #Strategy ' (whatever that might be). The more prosaic truth is that China benefits from exposing Europe's divisions, and Viktor Orban is happy to provide evidence of Western dysfunction.

Orbanites think Xi is visiting Hungary because of some elaborate ' #Connectivity #Strategy ' (whatever that might be). The more prosaic truth is that China benefits from exposing Europe's divisions, and Viktor Orban is happy to provide evidence of Western dysfunction.

The lobbying to defend 3%+ transactions fees on credit cards has got insultingly stupid

Someone told me that one Baltic country (or was it all?) would be invited to the White House for their national day throughout the Cold War, as a signal of support. I know the US did not recognise Baltic absorption by the USSR, but can't find a reference to the meetings. Anyone?

Superb thread comparing Met Gala outfits to French national statistics charts
- Zendaya stunning as breakdown of student provenance by city
- Demi Moore elegantly displaying home chores hourly breakdown
- Kylie shines as Centre-Val-de-Loire demographics

twitter.com/claradealberto…

Macron is hosting Xi for a state dinner tonight.
I think 'state dinners' should be used only when the leader being honoured is democratically-elected. For someone like Xi the occasion should be called 'regime dinners'.

You don't get to represent your 'state' without elections.

Someone needs to tell Macron's social-media team that Twitter isn't going to be read by many people in China.

MI6 officer in Moscow tells of “arguing with his wife about where they’d agreed to…picnic that weekend. Pettily, he decided to address the ceiling & say, “Well, where did we agree?” To his amazement, a note shortly appeared under the door confirming they’d agreed on Kuskovo”

Some of the best economic minds in Europe have turned their heads to the question of what the post-globalisation era means for a free-trading continent. Will be reading with interest.

The rebellion against the 'chart crime' vigilantes begins today!
Completely agree it's fine to have some charts where the Y-Axis does not start at zero. It's just common sense.

The French government this week wanted to organise a big conference on working 4 days a week, but then realised Wednesday and Thursday are bank holidays and everyone is taking Friday off.

France in May: you can't even get enough people for a meeting to discuss working less

Jean-Yves Le Drian, once French foreign minister, is now 'personal representative' of Emmanuel Macron to Lebanon.

Given the clientelist and often opaque relationship between Lebanese elites and France, circumventing formal state roles (like 'ambassador') sends a terrible signal.

Last time Macron turned a France-China summit into an EU-China one, last year when he went to Beijing, von der Leyen completely out-shone him (if only because he made stupid comments on Taiwan on the way home).

Impressive to see he's *again* invited VDL to Paris for the Xi visit

Saying EVs will rival the dotcom bubble as if 'dotcom' was a failure. Seems odd given 'dotcoms' includes basically all the world's most successful businesses, and the principles behind 'dotcom' are now embedded in every industry from retail to restaurants. thetimes.co.uk/article/cbf06d…

Charlemagne
Whether the EU can be anything more than a souped-up intergovernmental body—a regional UN on steroids—depends on whether Europeans viscerally feel they belong to the same polity.

Does this 'demos' exist? Can it ever?

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economist.com/europe/2024/05…

Ah my once-a-decade crack at trying to understand quantum physics just a bit.

Not going... great if I'm honest

(Helgoland, Carlo Rovelli)

In all seriousness, I'm sure someone like Macron who sits through 500+ formal lunches and dinner every year doesn't mind eating the occasional sandwich.

But the optics of serving the French president street food were... not great.