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Rupert Cocke

@rupertcocke.bsky.social
308 followers 328 following 1.3K posts

Barcelona-based journalist for Mergermarket. Views my own. You can see my free weekly blog on thinking critically about the news at sharpenyouraxe.substack.com If you want to start a debate with me, please ask first!

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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Why is the new movement to break up the UK so different from the Catalan independence movement? Please check out the free-to-read essay on my personal blog, which takes a deep dive into the constitutional context for both ideas
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
On the Possible Breakup of the UK
What are the similarities and differences with the Catalan independence movement?
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
After an apparent lab accident in Siberia, Moscow is reverting to its old Soviet ways www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1... [Gift link]
theatlantic.com
Russia Needs to Tell the Truth About a Plague Death
After an apparent lab accident in Siberia, Moscow is reverting to its old Soviet ways.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Newsom calls for 25th Amendment after Trump’s remarks on California
thehill.com
Newsom calls for 25th Amendment after Trump’s remarks on California
President Trump is stoking outrage among California Democrats and at least one House GOP candidate after he suggested at a midterm rally that he would allow Iran to “take out” Los Angeles and San D…
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Alternative Health Influencer Boasts That He’s Been Drinking From a Radioactive Jug for 250 Days Straight
futurism.com
Alternative Health Influencer Boasts That He's Been Drinking From a Radioactive Jug for 250 Days Straight
Holistic influencer Matt Roeske recently bragged that he's been drinking from an irradiated jug for the better part of a year.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Spain’s Sánchez calls snap elections for Nov. 29
politico.eu
Spain’s Sánchez calls snap elections for Nov. 29
With housing topping voters’ concerns, the prime minister is hoping the affordability crisis can help him defy the polls and extend his time in power.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The solution to Spain's housing crisis is obvious: many more homes should be built. In this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog, I propose a new kind of property to help first-time buyers get a foot on the ladder.
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
On the Need for Hybrid Homes with a Co-Living Element
Spain’s housing market has spun out of control for first-time buyers
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Spain's PM Pedro Sánchez has called for a weekend of reflection after his housing law failed to pass parliament. There is a chance of a general election in November
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
What we know about stabbing on Flydubai flight to Israel
bbc.com
What we know about stabbing on Flydubai flight to Israel
A pilot has been arrested and is being questioned after another pilot was stabbed, officials say.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"Last week, Trump announced that the U.S. is negotiating a 'massive' potash deal with Belarus. Coale, a former lawyer to Trump, told me that Russia is also a part of those negotiations" [Gift link]
theatlantic.com
Trump’s Latest Appeal to Russia Could Outrage Even His Allies
Trump’s envoy wants to trade Russian political prisoners for U.S. sanctions relief, creating a path to business deals before the war in Ukraine ends.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith tells Senate he won't be silenced by prosecution threats
reuters.com
Former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith tells Senate he won't be silenced by prosecution threats
Former US special counsel Jack Smith told senators on Tuesday that he will not be silenced by threats of prosecution, as ​he faced Republican accusations of abuse of power in his investigations of Pre...
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Thank you!
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog, I explain how I am able to maintain a rhythm of one essay per week in my spare time. Having lots of ideas simultaneously and then trying to imagine what a fully formed essay might look like are big parts of my method.
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
How I Write These Weekly Essays
I normally set aside an hour or so on a Sunday to get down the first draft of a series of interconnected ideas that I have been thinking about for a seriously long time
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The computer hacker who tried to take down Man City
bbc.com
Rui Pinto: The hacker who tried to take down Manchester City
BBC Sport travelled to Portugal to find out more about Rui Pinto - the computer hacker who sparked the Manchester City investigation.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The lady in question wasn't always old and wasn't always disabled! She has my sympathy. But, if she had a time machine, she should have used the Franco-era flat to save money, she should have freaked out when the Socialists changed the law in 1994, and she should have bought it when she could.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Back here in the real world, this is just completely wrong. The PP is probably closer to the Liberal Democrats than to the Conservatives, let alone Reform. It is a million miles from anything quite as stupid as Brexit.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The irony is that rent restriction was an economically illiterate policy from Franco. The law saying these contracts can only be inherited once was brought in by Socialists in 1994. The lesson should be clear: if you are lucky enough to live in one of these flats, save, save, save! 3/3
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The offer to buy it was for €247k. If she had saved €120k (as mentioned above), the mortgage would have been €130k or so - easily affordable even on a pension. The flat is now worth €835k. She missed the deal of the century! The story is very sad, but lack of financial education is part of it. 2/3
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Maricarmen worked for 49 years while living in family flat. If she had saved €50 a month, it would be €30k without interest. She then lived alone in a three-bedroom place from 2005 to 2020, when she was offered it. If she had rented one room for €500, she could have saved €90k without interest. 1/3
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The public discourse on this has been emotional rather than analytical. The lady in question had a three-bedroom flat in central Madrid for €500 per month. The new owners offered to sell it to her dirt-cheap a few years back but she turned them down. Very sad all around.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I would question the description of "far right" for a member of a mainstream centre-right party. She was trying to make a sensible point (many women in Ceuta feel unsafe nowadays) but chose to do so with a rather stupid stunt, which backfired badly.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Eviction of 87-year-old disabled woman who has lived in the same rented flat for 70 years in Madrid attracts widespread outrage in Spain
elconstitucional.es
Maricarmen, 87 years old, on the verge of eviction after 71 years in a house whose rent skyrockets from 500 to 2,650 euros
The Police have evicted the encampment set up in front of her home in Madrid, where the Tenants' Union demands that the eviction be halted while a writer offers to cover the d...
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Social media posts call for another mass crossing into Ceuta on 23 September, the date of Morocco’s legislative elections
moroccoworldnews.com
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog looks at the risks of a backlash to a ban on older cars in central Barcelona. Please check it out after the jump!
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
The Wrong Sticker
A party that won 28% of the vote in Catalonia now wants to ban 40% of the region’s cars from Barcelona’s city centre from Monday to Friday
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
EU chief backs plan for Canada to become 'associate member'
bbc.com
EU chief backs plan for Canada to become 'associate member'
Canada is seeking closer ties with EU after a breakdown in relations with the US and its president Donald Trump.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"A reasonable liberal position on immigration — one that respects the law, honors the democratic will of the people, and treats immigration as a privilege rather than a human right — has a good chance of winning over a majority" [Article is about Texas but conclusions apply everywhere]
noahpinion.blog
The anti-American Right
Bo French’s rightist movement is a dead end for our nation. Fortunately, it’s beatable.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The Houthi advance is bad news for the U.S., and even worse news for Saudi Arabia www.theatlantic.com/internationa... [Gift link]
theatlantic.com
Trump Loses the Other Strait
The Houthi advance is bad news for the U.S., and even worse news for Saudi Arabia.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Spain's Ceuta crisis has shown that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has lost his touch. Please check out this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog for more.
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
Sánchez Goes Ex-Magic
The Spanish government has struggled to contain a massive incursion in Ceuta; and its narratives about what happened are being met with open disbelief
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Yemen's Houthis reportedly seize strategic Red Sea port of Mokha
bbc.com
Yemen's Houthis reportedly seize strategic Red Sea port of Mokha
Mokha's capture would bring the Iran-backed group closer to controlling the Bab al-Mandab Strait waterway, a key shipping route.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Trump pledges $5,000 ‘dividend’ to all US adults if the GOP wins the midterm
politico.com
Trump pledges $5,000 ‘dividend’ to all US adults if the GOP wins the midterms
It was not immediately clear how the plan would be financed.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The Last 24 Hours Are the Opening Scene in a Horror Movie
honest-broker.com
The Last 24 Hours Are the Opening Scene in a Horror Movie
Eight different insiders have issued warnings—and you need to hear them out
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The art of politics is based on campaigning as a hedgehog but governing as a fox. What do I mean by that? Please check out this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog!
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
Campaign as a Hedgehog, Govern as a Fox
A proposed solution to the mismatch between the two games of politics (winning elections and governing competently)
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Spanish police point to Morocco’s role in Ceuta crisis (Explosive news in Spain)
euractiv.com
Spanish police point to Morocco’s role in Ceuta crisis | Euractiv
The police report debunks the Spanish government's narrative that Rabat bears no responsibility for the deadly migrant surge
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Barcelona's early industrialisation was unusual in Southern Europe. To this day, residents and visitors can still enjoy repurposed factories. Please check out this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog on interesting buildings to see; and a short history of Catalan cotton manufacturing.
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
Glimpses of Barcelona's Once-Thriving Textile Industry
A library, an industrial town on the banks of a river, and an art gallery offer glimpses of Catalonia's industrial past
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
These Neanderthal Tools Looked So Ordinary Archaeologists Almost Missed Them
zmescience.com
These Neanderthal Tools Looked So Ordinary Archaeologists Almost Missed Them
Thousands of overlooked bone scraps are rewriting Neanderthal research
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Hard agree!
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Juan Carlos was seriously dodgy...
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I think this is a very generous 5%!
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Will Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez try to end the country's constitutional monarchy? Please check out this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog to see my answer!
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
Will Sánchez Combine a General Election with a Constitutional Referendum?
Spain's Transport Minister has lent credibility to speculation about this scenario, but let's not get too over-excited yet
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Amazon is buying rare books and destroying them to train its AI models
qz.com
Amazon destroying rare books to scan them for AI training data
A 404 Media investigation tracked a rare book to an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas where workers cut spines off books to scan them
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered evidence that our galaxy experienced a significant collision and merger with a dwarf galaxy 11.8 billion years ago
space.com
How an ancient collision with another galaxy transformed the Milky Way
The merger took place nearly 12 billion years ago with a modest dwarf galaxy that had its own globular clusters.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public"
theatlantic.com
The Wrong Kind of American
The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The PP got 8.16m votes (33.1%) in 2023, which gave it 137 seats. The Socialists got 7.82m votes (31.7%), which gave the party 121 seats. Also, the Socialists won the 2024 election in CAT (without a majority) and formed a government afterwards. It had also won (ie, received most votes) in 2021.
en.wikipedia.org
2023 Spanish general election - Wikipedia
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Of course Sánchez is free to change his mind! However, it would be much more honest to say: "We had to do this to keep the winners of the election out of power." Your line about a reconciliation being "required" is a post-hoc justification for self-serving and unprincipled opportunism.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The real polls (not the biased public ones) show that the PP and Vox will be close to 200 seats after the next election, assuming nothing changes in the meantime. This is the only reason that Sánchez is rolling over the budget and hanging on without a majority.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I disagree for a simple reason related to my argument about political capital. The PSOE didn't mention an amnesty in its manifesto in 2023. Sánchez had always said that one would be impossible. The narrative suddenly changed overnight when it became clear that this was his only path to power.
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The suggesion in my essay is that the law in Spain should be changed so that future governments can only roll over a budget once. If you have to do it twice, your term has finished! You can't govern effectively without a budget! Call an election! 2/2
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I think there is a subtle but important difference between legitimacy and political capital. Sánchez's decisions have been legitimate, in that they are within the rules, but he lacks political capital for his most unpopular decisions, like the amnesty of the Catalan separatist leaders. 1/2
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
If you come second in an election, sneak into power thanks to an amnesty for politicians who have been found guilty of major crimes, and then lose the support of those allies, why not call a snap election? "I can't do it because the opposition might win" is not a good argument!
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Spain's terrible wildfires show the government should think hard about incentives to bring young people back to the countryside and set aside more money for fire prevention. Also, rolling over budgets should trigger snap elections. Please see this week's free-to-read essay on my personal blog.
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
Three Lessons from Spain's Wildfires
Spain needs incentives to bring young people back to the countryside, a much more robust budget for preventing wildfires, and snap elections if governments cannot pass a budget
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Rupert Cocke @rupertcocke.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Spain was becoming much better at sidelining favouritism as a way of running organisations. Recent scandals suggest that the battle is far from won, though. Please check out this week's free essay on the theme on my personal blog.
sharpenyouraxe.substack.com
Enchufe and Enchufismo
Spain's attitude to favouritism is slowly changing, but the latest scandals suggest we are not at the finishing line yet
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