The Guardian finally ran out of metaphors today. 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 If you have any spare metaphors, please consider donating.

I've decided to compile a definitive thread of photos of the best sheep I've photographed during my walks in the countryside, together with supporting biographical information. I will put the vital story associated with each sheep in the alt text, since some of it is a little long to fit in a post.

My nine year old asked for a Rosetta Stone cake for his birthday

100% this! Was just having this conversation with a colleague yesterday - studying the process of 'doing history' gives you invaluable skills to be able to question the provenance of sources and understand perspectives. More, please :)

GREG DAVIES: seems like a kind of a shit task. Everyone just seems like they're going home normally. ALEX HORNE: well before you say that let's have a look at how Odysseus did. cut to panel of AJAX, MENELAUS, AGAMEMNON, and DIOMEDES who are all staring at ODYSSEUS with his head in his hands

Has been a while since I wrote about agentic engineering, so this time around some learnings of maintaining Pi as a junior maintainer to @mariozechner.at lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/5/24/pi...

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

We're hiring! It's only a fixed-term contract for maternity cover but the job—and the team—is interesting and fun infographics.economist.com/jobs/2026/in...

“The majority of the technical infrastructure of the Internet was created in this way. For free, often by people in academia, or as part of their regular work, with no promise of some big payday or getting a ton of credit.” anildash.com/2026/01/09/h...

Oh my. This is spectacular. sinceyouarrived.world/taken

73 years ago today, Squadron Commander Christopher Draper DSC flew under 15 of London’s 18 bridges, prompting ‘Mad Major’ headlines – a nickname he’d earned by trying the same stunt 23 years earlier. He was 61, basically got away with it, and didn’t lose his pilot’s licence for another 11 years 🧵

working on a cursor mmo

The intelligence of LLMs is “a function of the social complexity of the civilization whose language it digested”, and their widespread use will lead to a thinning of that complexity, “undermining the conditions for its own advancement”. (And ours.) [theideasletter.org]

This is absolutely heartbreaking www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/o...

This is such amazing news. It’s still reliant on early detection (this study treated people with operable cancers and it’s rare for pancreatic cancer to be detected early) but any progress at all is incredible.

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

Build-a-voter is back! @fransham.bsky.social's creation is now updated for 2026 with data from More in Common. www.economist.com/interactive/... My profile is predictably Labour-leaning...

I’m looking for an automated way to read others’s scientific data without giving credit or acknowledgement, and also claim full credit for insights from it. And I want it to have a fitting name OAI: say no more

Happy Hungarian election day! Our final poll tracker update gives Tisza, the centre-right opposition, a 6pt lead over Orban's Fidesz: www.economist.com/interactive/...

Would you like to be part of the team behind this account? We’re looking for an Audience Editor who can work across social media, newsletters, notifications and emerging platforms. Find out more and apply by April 23rd

This is so, so well-articulated.

As a research project, I built a needed tool with Claude Code. I though it would be a disaster, but It wasn't. I have some complicated feelings about it.

My latest:

This is a phenomenal piece of journalism by my colleagues at @economist.com - deep reported detail on how Iran is now being run that I haven't seen anywhere else: www.economist.com/middle-east-...

Love this so much, especially the juxtaposition of English folklore paths with an Amazon spokesperson going out of their way to deny a person driving their branded vehicle is an employee.

“Inventing the Renaissance” is having another $3.99 ebook sale. I think this one is Uk/Canada/AU/NZ too! If bit, that sale is coming in a couple days.

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

This is terrific from @om.co and I agree with every word. om.co/2026/02/01/w...

mandated doomscroll pit stop www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dunedin-f...

It’s been one year since Altadena, Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu were obliterated. But the toll extended beyond the initial flames, and the recovery has only just begun

all this is both foolish and unnecessary

post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t nirvana, pearljam, soundgarden or alice in chains

The 2025 Headline of the Year Nominees 🧵

Why is it taking so long to map the oceans? Our interactive project explains the challenges

Sigh. kottke.org/25/12/the-li...

Whizzy inside note featuring work of @rospearce.bsky.social @mariesegger.bsky.social @futuraprime.net @owenwntr.bsky.social and more www.economist.com/interactive/...

A book from the 19th century that depicts the Rhine Valley by creating an impression of three-dimensionality and spatial distance. @MasayukiTsuda2 #globalmuseum #books #travel #19thcentury

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat

XKCD's role is not to make me cry, but it did. xkcd.com/3172/

“It’s insane to have them rip our family apart.” Federal agents are arresting the foreign spouses of Americans during interviews at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices. The couples and their lawyers said they had followed the required steps to secure permanent residency.

“It broke my heart, that was my savings towards a new car,” one woman who paid Milne tens of thousands of pounds told us. “He has just wiped me out.” Who is Andrew Milne - the solicitor sending "very aggressive" letters to Sheffield homeowners? www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-law...

Come work for us. The Economist is hiring a Britain political correspondent. Make the sample piece original and Economisty economist.com/britain/2025...

Ok this (arstechnica.com/space/2025/1...) is an amazing example of the kind of BS hype tech writing we see so much, because even I, a lowly historian, can see the Obvious Problems with 'space data centers' that the article by a journalist at a technical publication failed to ask.

Banger of an intro paragraph When I see people write like this about finance, it spurs me to be braver in my own writing. Very very well done @dsquareddigest.bsky.social on.ft.com/47ZzGzI The grimdark future of credit risk models

Help me hire! Know a brilliant Tech Lead looking for work? I need someone great to work with @dhanendran.co.uk and others, to super-charge our efforts to completely transform our content & product data publishing stack. All to help fight for UK consumers at Which? www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

We are hiring at The Economist. This is not just any internship. You will be a paid staff member and writer for 6 months. www.economist.com/finance-and-...