The Global Bellwether
As the Chinese Communist Party hurtles headlong into the AI dilemma, its successes and failures will leave behind some kind of rudimentary map for the rest of us.
Aaron Sarin
· 7 min read
Omar Mohammed on Mosul, ISIS and the Jews Iraq Forgot
The anonymous chronicler of the Islamic State’s occupation talks to Pamela Paresky about growing up under Saddam, the 1941 Farhud, and why he believes antisemitism unites every jihadist movement.
Pamela Paresky
· 36 min read
Addicted to Transition
Over the past decade, former mommy blogger Rowan (née Amanda) Jetté Knox has come out as bisexual, pansexual, polyam, a ‘giant lesbo,’ a ‘non-binary queer person,’ a polyamorous ‘trans guy,’ and, as of last month, ‘two-spirited’ (and Indigenous).
Amy Eileen Hamm
· 20 min read
Canada’s Unmarked-Graves Social Panic (2021-26) Explained
Podcast host Jonathan Kay discusses the underlying societal factors that caused his country's journalists, politicians, and academics to uncritically accept false claims that the bodies of 215 Indigenous children had been found on the grounds of a former school.
Quillette
· 28 min read
What the Navigators Knew
David Lewis’s classic study of Pacific wayfinding shows how Indigenous knowledge can be taken seriously—neither romanticised nor dismissed.
Patrick Whittle
· 12 min read
Gemma Tognini on Australia’s Political Revolt
Gemma Tognini and Claire Lehmann discuss One Nation’s rise, Albanese’s leadership, government waste and the antisemitism that Bondi exposed in Australia.
Claire Lehmann
· 34 min read
Rubio in Athens
During his speech in the Greek capital, the US secretary of state dispensed with the hypocrisy that has cloaked America’s globe-spanning ambition in recent decades.
Brian Stewart
· 26 min read
How France Lost Control of Its Streets
From the riots of 2005 to the scenes of urban guerrilla warfare on 17 and 18 October, violence in French cities has grown increasingly intense. And the authorities are struggling to respond.
Rachel Binhas, Sandra Buisson
· 13 min read
How to Suppress Men’s Writing
More than 70 percent of Big Five publishing staff are women, most of them from elite universities.
Adam Szetela
· 17 min read
Back to the Dark Ages
In the age of the smartphone, people ‘read’ more than ever before. But the reading of books, newspapers, and other long-form content has fallen dramatically—with detrimental effects for society.
Josh Allan
· 5 min read
Prison or Peer Review
Nathan Cofnas: what was done and what was owed.
Rosalind Arden
· 10 min read
France’s Imaginary Austerity
France’s protesters are rioting against austerity that doesn’t exist. Macron might as well give them the real thing.
Kristian Niemietz
· 8 min read
Treachery in the Heart of Rome: The Rise and Fall of Sejanus
In a new book chronicling the lives of ancient figures, historian Guy de la Bédoyère describes the audacious power grab that almost unseated Rome’s second emperor.
Guy de la Bédoyère
· 9 min read
The Limits of Perfectionism
A look back at the cinema of Stanley Kubrick on the eve of a massive new Criterion retrospective.
Graham Daseler
· 27 min read