iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I'd planned to write this week about Terra Madre, food, people, & hope. Instead, 2 FAO videos landed on my lap & my Lighthouse colleagues published investigation into Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank. news.thin-ink.net/p/choke-points

How physical and digital surveillance & silencing dissent strangle our humanity

Choke Points

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I understand this speech was delivered during last week's conference on One Health, on Monday evening (Sep 21), and that this video is genuine. Benjamin has spoken & written publicly about the dire levels of hunger in Gaza & the blockade of humanitarian aid. I've asked the FAO for comment.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

These are the findings of Food, Land & Money, a report by Friends of the Earth U.S., launched on Tuesday, Sep 22, during the NY Climate Week. I dived into the findings with Jeff Conant for this week's newsletter. But I also came away energised and wrote about people and projects that galvanised me.

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

- Three asset managers alone own 22% of the shares in these companies, while if you widen that to 20 asset managers and a sovereign wealth fund, the ownership rises to 41%? - Just 20 grain, fertiliser, meat, and dairy companies paid shareholders $53.5 billion in 2021-2022?

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This post is coming a little late because I was moderating a plenary session at Slow Food Terra Madre 2026 when this went out yesterday. Did you know that… - 100 world’s largest companies by global food & agri revenue had $4.5 trillion in revenue in 2022? news.thin-ink.net/p/the-opacit...

“The Opacity Is The Point”

Agribusiness Financial Complex and other food notes from NY Climate Week

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

New research: a bigger shock ≠ worse hunger. What matters is government effectiveness, food supply diversity & social capital. Study 2 explains why "government effectiveness" critical: dominant traders enjoying 40-80% margins on maize & soybeans in E. & S. Africa. news.thin-ink.net/p/the-shock-...

The Shock Is Only Half The Story

Two new studies on resilience, market power, and government effectiveness

Kite Tales Myanmar @kitetalesmm.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Myanmar's opposition span every walk of life. Here is a story of a young Chin man who became a policeman due to a lack of job opportunities at home, and ended up joining the resistance and becoming a journalist. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar kite-tales.org/en/article/p...

From a Policeman to Pen-Wielding Journalist

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This was last week's issue, also on brazil. This is a perk of working at Lighthouse: getting to collaborate with brilliant journalists from all over the world, many of whom we'd probably not cross paths with, simply because their work isn't published in English. news.thin-ink.net/p/brazil-is-...

Brazil Is Off the Hunger Map. Food Is Still on the Ballot.

What’s at stake in the upcoming elections

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

For this week's Thin Ink, we’re still in Brazil, speaking to Ed Wanderley, Brasília-based editor for @apublica.org Agência Pública, whose story starts at a concert, ends up in an ICU stay, and turned into an investigation of the food and pharmaceutical industries. news.thin-ink.net/p/how-paul-m...

How Paul McCartney Almost Killed Me

Ed Wanderley built a career writing about human rights, science, and health. Then his own heart attack made him the story.

Kite Tales Myanmar @kitetalesmm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

"The night was a long & restless one: for the prison staff, for (those) in the dormitories, and certainly for me too. I distinctly remember a quiet, dark, & heavy atmosphere." A former political prisoner recalls the day the junta executed Ko Jimmy & Phyo Zeya Thaw. kite-tales.org/en/article/d...

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A Dark Day

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In this compelling piece, Thalita argues that while Brazil’s exit last year from the Hunger Map is worth celebrating, it masks harder questions about power, policies, and democratic values. And the gains could easily be undone by a change in government.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Meaning “The Chaff and The Wheat”, O Joio e O Trigo is an independent news outlet focusing on food systems. It does great work & was one of our two Brazilian media partners for Big Food vs. The People investigation. www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/big-food-vs-the-people/

lighthousereports.com

Big Food vs. The People

We expose Big Food’s 239 lawsuits against life-saving policies

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Last week, I wrote about how political shifts can threaten public health policies. This week's guest post, by Thalita Pires, editor of @ojoioeotrigo.bsky.social, vividly illustrates how Brazil’s elections next month could affect both hunger & nutritional outcomes. news.thin-ink.net/p/brazil-is-...

Brazil Is Off the Hunger Map. Food Is Still on the Ballot.

What’s at stake in the upcoming elections

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

4. The “nanny state” charge is similarly disingenuous. 5. We live in a terrible investment system that rewards increases in shareholder values instead of a healthier, fairer, or more sustainable society, so what do we do when the incentive structure is broken?

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

1. Getting a law passed isn’t the end of the battle. It's the start of a new one. 2. Political shifts can threaten public health policies. Even if the industry loses the lawsuits, they can still win when political winds change. 3. The fight over NOVA is a red herring and a distraction.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

For my first issue after summer, I'm focusing on what I learnt from working on Big Food vs. The People investigation, after months and months of tracking down legal documents, reading up on public health policy & speaking to folks around the world. news.thin-ink.net/p/what-18-mo...

What 18 Months Of Chasing Big Food Lawsuits Taught Me

Including why getting a law passed is just the beginning and the fight over NOVA is a red herring

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Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Owen Jones @owenjones.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Jason Arday has been found dead. The obsessive media focus on this one man - as if it was one of the biggest scandals in history - was disproportionate beyond belief. Push notifications, top headlines, constant investigations. And now he is dead.

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Kite Tales Myanmar @kitetalesmm.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

A diary from the Myanmar-Thai border, where a plate of pork offal skewers on sticks becomes a rare taste of home. A new fellow in Kayin State waxes lyrical about the joys of eating the typical & beloved street snack. kite-tales.org/en/article/p... #whatshappeninginmyanmar #journalism #myanmar

The Pork Offal Skewer Stall

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

We are boxed in by rising costs of nutritious foods on the one hand & powerful companies making it hard for us to determine if what we can afford is healthy. Full issue: news.thin-ink.net/p/whats-in-a... Also, I'm taking a break & will be back the week of August 24. Stay cool and safe.

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

And I tie it to the UN's brand-new SOFI 2026 report: - Average global cost of a healthy diet has ⬆️, out of reach of 2.69 billion people (1/3rd of humanity), - Anaemia in women is worsening in nearly all regions, & - Adult obesity now affects 16.2% of global population (it was 12.1% in 2012).

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

There are a dozen different systems around the world (warning labels, grades, star ratings, endorsement logos), as this image from the Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill shows. www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org/resource/fro... I did a video about it: www.instagram.com/reel/DbS3H1j...

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Do you need a maths degree to read a food label? Kind of! This week's Thin Ink digs into the global fight over front-of-pack labelling, the single policy that has drawn more industry lawsuits than any other in our Big Food vs. The People investigation. news.thin-ink.net/p/whats-in-a...

The battle over food labels and healthy diets

What’s In A Label?

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Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Kite Tales Myanmar @kitetalesmm.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

A diary from outside Insein Prison's gates, where every Myanmar New Year, the military junta pardon prisoners at a whim. Our fellow stood among them, months after her own release, searching a crowd of strangers for names she recognised from inside. kite-tales.org/en/article/p...

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Prison gates

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Across 6 countries, our investigation uncovered 239 lawsuits designed to delay, dilute, or block front-of-pack labels, soda taxes, and advertising restrictions. I’ll be speaking about the finding at this webinar next Tuesday. Do join us if you can: accesstonutrition.org/event/webina...

accesstonutrition.org

Webinar | Strategic Litigation for Food Policy - From Industry and Advocacy Perspectives

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

595 years. That is the combined length of litigation governments have had to fight just to defend basic public health policies against UPF giants. Yes, this week's Thin Ink is all about the investigation @lighthousereports.com published two days ago. news.thin-ink.net/p/big-food-v...

239 lawsuits. 595 years of litigation. One playbook.

Big Food vs. The People

Emmanuel Freudenthal @emmanfre.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Latest investigation with @thinink.bsky.social, give it a read. Our food increasingly makes us sick, and we found that when governments try to protect us, they get sued by big food companies like Coke & Pepsi. The lawsuits add up to nearly six centuries! www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

lighthousereports.com

Big Food vs. The People

We expose Big Food’s 239 lawsuits against life-saving policies

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Well, @margotgibbs.bsky.social, Charles Boutaud, and Le Monde's Raphaëlle Aubert reveals how an increasingly concentrated market have left French cattle farmers with less choice, less bargaining power, & less money. Have a read! www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

lighthousereports.com

Cut to the Bone: Farmers at the mercy of the meat monopolists - Lighthouse Reports

How state authorities put France’s farmers at the mercy of an industrial giant

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Many of you may recall the European farmers' protests of early 2024, over EU-Mercosur, low incomes, red rape, & unjust distribution of subsidies. Yet the lasting tangible outcome has been the dismantling of green policies. I've often wondered: Are environmental standards really the cause ?

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

This week's issue is a little late because I was waiting for a groundbreaking investigation by colleagues at @lighthousereports.com to be published. I return to a recurring theme: corporate concentration & power that benefits the few at the expense of the many. news.thin-ink.net/p/who-slaugh...

Who Slaughters the Competition?

2.5 years after violent protests, a look at what’s actually threatening French cattle farmers

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Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) @oslofreedomforum.com · 09/07/2026

At the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum, journalist and co-founder of The Kite Tales @thinink.bsky.social reflected on returning home during Burma's democratic opening, voting for the first time, and the fragile hope that emerged in the interval between decades of military rule and the 2021 coup.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

- EU's 1st-ever livestock policy, fresh off Brussels' corridors of power, which has some good news (phasing out caged farming), some bad news (environmental front), & some disingenuous framing (where selling luxury European foods to wealthy consumers become "contributing to global food security").

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I'm in the throes of a monster deadline, so this week's Thin Ink is shorter than usual. But I still couldn't let the week pass without writing about: - trade law, one of the things that I think is chronically underrepresented in food systems conversations, news.thin-ink.net/p/trade-law-...

An extension of last week’s theme + does the EU want to feed the world, or sell expensive prosciutto?

Trade, Law, & Livestock

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Did you know that experts say 70% of your health status is determined by these factors. Only 10% by individual behaviour? Yet the "personal responsibility" framing is still winning the political argument. Because industry spends billions making sure it does.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Commercial Determinants of Health sounds like academic jargon. It isn't. It means: your health isn't just shaped by your choices. It's shaped by what's available, affordable, & relentlessly marketed to you by companies with deeper pockets than most governments. news.thin-ink.net/p/the-invisi...

The Invisible Hand Making You Sick

Commercial Determinants of Health sounds like academic jargon. It isn’t.

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Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Kite Tales Myanmar @kitetalesmm.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A diary from a border town that has become increasingly lawless, leaving people afraid to even help each other and living in mutual suspicion instead. Our fellow experienced this first-hand when she had a motorcycle accident. kite-tales.org/en/article/l...

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Living in Fear

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What if one of the biggest problems with modern food systems is that we value food almost entirely by price? I spoke with @joseluisvivero.bsky.social about food as a commons, what the “tragedy of the commons” gets wrong, & how food might be governed differently. news.thin-ink.net/p/food-as-co...

Food As Commons for Beginners

A Conversation with Jose Luis Vivero Pol

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

What does this all mean? Many of the systems underpinning modern agriculture are extraordinarily wasteful, increasingly vulnerable, and remarkably good at reinventing themselves without changing very much at all. The good news? Alternatives already exist — and are already working.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

DYK that... - Products in U.S. with regenerative food labels may not necessarily mean they're free of synthetic pesticides & fertilisers, or care about soil health? - Big Food is reshaping the meaning of regenerative agriculture in ways that could allow business as usual to continue?

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

DYK that... - European farms spent €16.4 billion on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser that never reached crops? - GHG emissions from rice paddies have doubled over past 70 years, making it one of agriculture’s biggest & least discussed climate problems? My latest: news.thin-ink.net/p/farmings-t...

Wasted fertiliser billions, rice paddies' rising emissions, & regen captured by Big Food

Farming’s Triple Loss

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Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Kelly Macnamara @kellymacnamara.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

It was fantastic to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum earlier this month, to support @thinink.bsky.social promoting @kitetalesmm.bsky.social Her urgent message: Myanmar's destruction of independent media and return to dictatorship is not an exception - it's a warning www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUoL...

youtube.com

Thin Lei Win | From Dictatorship to Democracy and Back Again

YouTube video by Oslo Freedom Forum

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Reposted by Thin from Thin Ink

Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 15/06/2026

This is the gutter racism and transphobia Anheuser-Busch was always buying. That it can't offer even pat disavowals of these ugly behaviors after the fact demonstrates the extent to which it is in thrall to/terrified of Trump and the MAGA base.

vinepair.com

Anheuser-Busch Is Getting the Bigotry It Paid for With Bud Light's UFC Deal

June is Pride Month, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the social media feeds or press releases of the country’s biggest beverage-alcohol companies. Less than two years into the second Trump admi...

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Last week, my food systems & my Myanmar work collided. I went to a municipal farm in Oslo, cuddling sheep & talking to the manager, before going on stage telling 1,000+ people not to forget Myanmar. I also listened to many inspiring speakers who galvanised me. news.thin-ink.net/p/from-food-...

From Food Systems to Dictatorships and Back Again

Notes from Oslo, including how not to be Will Smith

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Myanmar friends & contacts, pls share! "The Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) is seeking applicants for the position of Myanmar Researcher to investigate, analyze, and advocate against human rights abuses in Myanmar and related regional issues." job-boards.greenhouse.io/humanrightsw...

job-boards.greenhouse.io

Researcher, Myanmar

Multiple Locations Considered

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

While we debate food transitions in Europe, or analyse competing agendas of MAHA vs. MAGA in the U.S., China is executing hyper-scale transformations before our eyes. In this week's Thin Ink, I unpack the staggering scale of China's food system evolution with insights from Matthew & the podcast.

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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

When reporting on China, it’s easy to veer towards either extreme, especially because it's deeply undemocratic and Beijing’s thinking on security & control seems to shape not just its politics, but also in the way it feeds its population. However, we cannot afford to ignore what is happening there.

Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

“Why China? It’s the elephant in the room in the global food system... There’s still so much inaction in the whole food system. And here, there’s just massive action," Matthew Kessler, host of @tabledebates.bsky.social's latest podcast, Feeding 1 in 6, told me. news.thin-ink.net/p/how-china-...