Reposted by Reuben J. BrownThe New Yorker @newyorker.com · 10/11/2025A scientific report released last month announced the start of a “a grim new chapter for life on Earth.” Why aren’t our government officials and corporate leaders more alarmed?https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/C2S7qr 513036
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 10/11/2025old T May drops some real facts here. we should've voted for her Brexit deal, too. you don't know what you've got until it's gone I guess www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czun...youtube.comNet Zero: The inside story of the UK’s climate targetYouTube video by Grantham Institute, Imperial College London 000
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 01/11/2025Said as if smartphone videos are having more of a watchdog effect than traditional photojournalism did in the beforetimes of common trust in the press — the decline of which is causally related to social media 000
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 30/10/2025really really interesting y'all www.adweek.com/media/publis...adweek.comWhy So Many Publishers Are Launching Brand Campaigns Right NowPublishers are flooding billboards, subways, and screens with ads for themselves—many for the first time in history. 000
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 28/10/2025This would genuinely be win-win — if it can be enforced. China knows it's feeding the fentanyl crisis and it needs to be reigned in www.wsj.com/world/china/...wsj.comExclusive | Trump, Xi to Discuss Lowering China Tariffs for Fentanyl CrackdownThe U.S. would cut in half the 20% levies on Chinese goods imposed in retaliation for the export of chemicals that make deadly synthetic opioids. 000
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 19/10/2025The fear of seeing this guy's face in a news article 000
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 19/10/2025Great piece. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...newyorker.comWould Zohran Mamdani’s Rent Freeze Keep Rent-Stabilized Apartments Empty?Thousands of apartments in New York are run-down and vacant. Some landlords argue that a rent freeze, paired with preëxisting housing laws, would keep them that way. 000
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownJonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 16/10/2025All very amusing, but especially this: "The most popular was an “Australian-style points-based immigration system,” with a net 46 percent support. The least popular was “Britain’s current immigration policy,” with -39 percent support." www.politico.eu/article/labo...politico.euBrits are pining for the pre-Brexit migration systemThe idea was that leaving the bloc would give the U.K. back “control” of its borders and create a fairer system. But the widespread perception is it didn’t turn out that way. 29406115
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 16/10/2025"Because corporate tax (cut by Macron) is lower than income tax, they pay an effective tax rate of just 25 per cent, about half that of the average French person."ft.comTime to guillotine France’s super-rich tax breaksDoes the country need a wealth tax? 100
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 13/10/2025I think this is the non-grammatical third or fourth guardian headline I've seen this week 😒 110
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 13/10/2025First long-form interview with Mamdani I've seen. Remnick naturally asks deep, penetrating questions of great import, and keeps pressing Mamdani. Surprisingly — to me — he holds up, really quite well. Well worth a listen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbq7...youtube.comZohran Mamdani Says He's Ready for Donald Trump | The New Yorker InterviewYouTube video by The New Yorker 010
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownThe Architectural Review @social.architectural-review.com · 11/08/2025‘Thoravej 29’s ‘off-the-shelf’ raw structure was still replete with idiosyncrasies and challenges to overcome to enable its full reuse; the architects’ deft navigation forms the essential dexterity of the new architecture’ writes @reubenjbrown.com on NGO Bikubenfonden’s new HQ by Pihlmann Architects 121
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 29/05/2025The more things change, the more they stay the same? 98213
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 21/05/20251,553 days until the next UK general election. Perhaps Labour MPs should spend at least some of them (the next 1000, say?) arguing and thinking about things other than electoral strategy? 1038076
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownMohamed A. El-Erian @elerianm.bsky.social · 02/05/2025This is so incredibly kind and thoughtful of you, Lord Woolley. Thank you so very much. (Please see my previous post for information on how to register for the election of the next chancellor of Cambridge University.) #cambridge #cambridgechancellor @cambridgeup.bsky.social 1374
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Fascinated by the use of the word 'Eurosceptic' here. 2536343
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 29/04/2025Missed opportunity for Reform to not go with "Make England Great Again" hats and take the acronym MEGA ... MGBA hardly rolls of the tongue 010
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 23/04/2025If I didn’t want the UK to succeed, I would find all the ways the government is hobbling its growth strategy so funny. Pro the Oxford/Cambridge arc, provided we don’t make it easier for researchers to come here, and not so pro as not to pass a *one-line bill* for metro-mayors. 310319
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownBrianna @briannaje.bsky.social · 19/04/2025Watching a recorded church service from a local Progressive Christian church. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson is mentioned. I am laughing. I can’t escape this. 3341
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownGeorge Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 13/04/2025The main reason UK electricity prices are so high isn’t net zero but the fact that gas sets the price 98% of the time. 17249112
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownPaul McNamara @mpaulmcnamara.bsky.social · 12/04/2025Some belting quotes in here 3364
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 12/04/2025Tim Cook once again proving himself as the greatest political operator of our times. I reckon he could set up a supply chain in Hades www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...nytimes.comTrump Adds Tariff Exemptions for Smartphones, Computers and Other ElectronicsA long list of electronic products got a reprieve for now from at least some of the levies on China, which had been expected to take a toll on tech giants like Apple. 010
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 11/04/2025Huge and mental scoop from @willdunn.bsky.social. ‘Australian media advertises the fact that a UK state pension worth “thousands of dollars” can be bought cheaply by Australians who live in Australia: “It almost sounds like a scam – too good to be true,” it observes.’ 020
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownCaitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 07/04/2025you know things are going well when they break out the turnip photos 1239337536152
Reposted by Reuben J. Brownjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 07/04/2025my offer to america: we bring woke back 303620848599
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownRobin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 29/03/2025In other news, I just bought a bottle of scotch from myself for one quadrillion dollars. By the end of the night I’ll probably only be a billionaire though. on.ft.com/41OQ2rwon.ft.comElon Musk’s artificial intelligence group buys X for $45bn[FREE TO READ] Billionaire entrepreneur says social media platform and AI group will share data and computational power 5719
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 30/03/2025Intently trying to work through a theory of how Covid punctured the Climate Movement. I'm not sure *how* yet, I've just got a sense that it did; and it turns out the data backs me up. Big levellings-off for a range of climate terms on Google Ngram post-2019: (CC @climatewords.bsky.social) 121
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 27/03/2025the left wing in Britain basically thinks debt doesn't exist and isn't a problem. It's not like Clive Lewis is saying 'we should do a land tax rather than welfare cuts to curtail our huge debt payments'. he's saying 'just forget the huge debt payments don't exist'. but they do 100
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 19/03/2025A government so preoccupied with why it won that it hasn't thought at all about why Sunak lost:ft.comReeves will not raise taxes in Spring Statement, say officialsChancellor will rely on a spending squeeze to try to ensure she complies with her fiscal rules 739881
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownDuncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 20/03/2025Think this piece on hippy punching from last year still stands up www.economist.com/britain/2024...economist.comWhy Britain’s Labour government enjoys hippy-punchingAnd why that risks being more of a fetish than a strategy 2152
Reposted by Reuben J. Brownpixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 17/03/2025There has never been a better time for Rage Against The Machine to come back with a new album that seems tepid compared to their original work and gets a 5.6 from Pitchfork 672596173
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownThe Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 16/03/2025When UBS bought its rival Credit Suisse in 2023, it got roughly a half of a trillion dollars in assets as well as customers and offices around the world. It also took on a fleet of model ships and more than 13,500 artworks.wsj.comUBS Doesn’t Know What to Do With All the Art It Inherited From Credit SuisseUBS is integrating thousands of Credit Suisse paintings, sculptures, posters and model ships. ‘There’s still art that will be found somewhere, in a closet in Shanghai or something.’ 5306
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 16/03/2025I've asked ChatGPT to cite its sources and it's just given me blank bullet points and said it *has* cited specific sources but can't tell me what they are??? This some childish-ass withholding of information man 000
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownPhilip Stafford @staffordphilip.bsky.social · 14/03/2025This is great and the photos really make it. Hat tip to photographer Alberto Bernasconi. Follow a gold bar as it makes its way from London to NY via Switzerland. www.ft.com/content/2289...ft.comGold’s triangular trade booms under threat of Trump tariffsSwiss refineries are working 24 hours a day to resize gold bars headed from London to New York 031
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownRobin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 12/03/2025Another @louisashworth.bsky.social classic: www.ft.com/content/d6c3... 0125
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownKylie Cheung @kylietcheung.bsky.social · 12/03/2025Tired: everything is romantic Wired: everything is computer 0895
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 12/03/2025little land grab here little land grab there this is not normal www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m... / www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...theguardian.comIsrael to occupy Syrian southern territory for ‘unlimited time’, says ministerIsrael Katz reaffirms IDF will continue holding Mount Hermon area beyond contested northern Israeli borders 000
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 06/03/2025My saga continues – I've been put on hold by my case handler for 20 minutes because he's so desperately useless ... it's a little bit adorable 200
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownMicah @rincewind.run · 01/03/2025*sigh* time to break this one out again, huh 302417233
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 18/02/2025If you missed today's newsletter, in which I said 'look, come on, we really do need to be increasing spending back to 1966 to 1990 levels and it's mad to think you can get political consent for that without increasing spending elsewhere', don't worry: I will be saying it for most of the year I thinkft.comLabour will have to ditch tax pledges sooner or laterSpending cuts to fund increased defence spending will not impress UK voters and something will have to give 1624751
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownEmma Jacobs @emmavj.bsky.social · 18/02/2025Why is this person who is usually so swift to reply not replying to me, I ask as I uncover my email in draft folder 1251
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownBen Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 17/02/2025Maybe I wasn’t clear about this. I wanted more egg and no plane crash, not many plane crash and no egg. 571572447395
Reposted by Reuben J. Brownsarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 14/02/2025every day I think about the comms strategy of the korean opposition party in the wake of the coup and I get so burningly resentful that other countries have legislators who are awake 206230313541
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 13/02/2025the true crime of the HMRC helpline is that instead of bland but ignorable music they blast you with a series of spoken messages about how you need to pay more tax or take a survey or something 100
Reposted by Reuben J. BrownStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 12/02/2025Labour should be using the need to increase defence spending as a off-ramp for their promises on tax, not letting their defence policy (like everything else) be constrained by their promises on tax.ft.comStarmer summons UK defence chiefs in tussle over spendingTrump is pushing European governments to commit much higher funding to armed forces 1626058
Reuben J. Brown @reubenjbrown.com · 10/02/2025UK emissions from agriculture exceeded those from power generation last year. Quite insane ... need to stop eating meat www.businessgreen.com/news/4409707...businessgreen.comGovernment confirms UK emissions have fallen 53 per cent since 1990Emissions from agriculture exceed those from power generation for the first time, as data shows emissions are now at lowest level since the 1870s 000