“Yes, my darling, I was thinking about you too… and how good you’d look leaning against my *Ford F-150*, sipping a *Miller Lite* under the *Visit Austin, Texas* city lights.” ChatGPT ads are coming – and they won’t look like Google Ads searchengineland.com/chatgpt-ads-...

If my math is right, this article is claiming that French people ate on average more than 3.5 baguettes a day. The good old days, indeed! The baguette faces an uncertain future. How France is rethinking its iconic loaves edition.cnn.com/2025/11/08/t...

Great fame can be obtained By routing an army With oxen carrying Burning straw on their horns. But after all, it is No more important than The tracks of sandpipers On a wave washed beach. Days go by and become A year and I am too Lazy to notice. —from "Autumn Thoughts" by Lu Yu

Never travel without a fully stocked first aid kit

France’s social, economic, cultural, religious and political divisions offer fertile ground for the Kremlin’s interference, several policymakers, academics and military officers told POLITICO. Story with @msolletty.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/red-...

When Clare Daly launched her re-election bid last year, Catherine Connolly sat at her right hand. “I wish I could canvass every day for her on the streets,” Connolly said. Will Connolly use the presidential platform in a similar way to how Daly used hers? My piece: www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Amazing that the use case being promoted by the largest AI companies is exactly the one for which the technology is least suited. AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

A neat tool I just came across: Viabundus, a digital road map of northern Europe 1350-1650, that lets you calculate contemporary travel routes/times. In 1500, going Amiens → Köln by horse took almost 7 days and 13 toll payments. #medievalsky www.landesgeschichte.uni-goettingen.de/handelsstras...

Less than a week from now the #Netherlands will elect a new government. Ahead in the polls is the far-right PVV — widely known for its anti-Islam rhetoric, less known for this: the party has only one formal member who makes all the decisions. Guess who. My story: www.politico.eu/article/geer...

Spotted in Sardinia 😢

It's a what-if-we're-the-baddies tattoo

This is delightful. “The comedians on that stage are performing in a gilded cage,” the exiled Saudi satirist Ghanem al-Masarir wrote before the festival, adding, “In MBS’s Saudi Arabia, the punchline is always prison.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Geert Wilders’ one-man rule — and what that means for the Dutch How Europe’s smallest party became the Netherlands’ largest political force. By @evahartog.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/geer...

Just going to sit down, watch a movie, take my mind off of current events. Oh. youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw...

In this economy? 50centadjustedforinflation.com

Drank a room temperature coke today. Ice was available. I've gone fully European.

Under Russian drones, Ukrainians wonder if Europe still cares www.politico.eu/article/russ... by @thisisbartosz.bsky.social

Juncker still undefeated

I've been a bit sceptical of the "exodus of US-based academics to Europe" thing, but this is a notable move.

Negotiating to have my salary paid in Labubus.

The Pope says: "Subscribe".

“We have a continent that has experienced war, lockdown, a kind of light dictatorship in Budapest, we are used to continuing to function with a lot of shocks” said a European Commission official But “Le Pen is different.” www.politico.eu/article/brus...

Latest Brussels scandal just dropped Commission to probe reports that Orbán’s spies targeted EU officials in Brussels www.politico.eu/article/orba...

Tired: Trump gets the Peace Prize. Wired: Trump gets the Nobel for literature for his Truth Social posts.

there is a whole wave of 2010-20 era leaders who seemed impressive while in office but in retrospect glossed over structural problems and helped dig the world into its current hole. Merkel, Rutte, Obama, Cameron, Trudeau…

Fake news. The green is clearly basil

Merkel might have limited the considerable damage to her legacy by admitting mistakes in her handling of Russia and China. Instead she has compounded the damage by doubling down on her misguided policies and blaming others for the consequences. www.politico.eu/article/ange...

"The former German chancellor remains unrepentant." Angela Merkel’s non-apology tour www.politico.eu/article/ange...

Winter is coming (fall has fallen)

Editor in chief, city editor, features editor

Lecornu made a big song and dance about cutting benefits paid to politicians after they leave office. But according to Le Monde, that only applies from 2026. So the ministers who were in office 14 hours are entitled to €28,000 after they leave office. Not bad for a day's work.

Marine Le Pen smells blood as Macron runs out of options www.politico.eu/article/mari...

Europe has the highest rate of tobacco use in the world, overtaking Southeast Asia. Just under a quarter of people aged 15 and over in Europe use tobacco, according to data from 2024. European women also have the highest global prevalence at 17.4 percent. www.politico.eu/article/euro...

Always hard to convert between French metric measures and UK Imperial. For example a Lecornu is only 0.55 Truss

Some stories are evergreen Rome gloats as France becomes Italy and Italy becomes France www.politico.eu/article/rome...

i feel like the journalism industry needs to invent a category for this post and give a prize to it in perpetuity

in this week's newsletter! I explain the tenets of the diet I invented, called "an eye for an eye", and which involves.....well I think it may be easier if you just read it: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/do-you-thi... [free to read]

OpenAI Releases List of Work Tasks ChatGPT Can Already Replace share.google/9lDSoGrwpnEy...

I have never felt so seen

Not the point of this piece exactly but a great example of how chatbot validation could increase polarization www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/w...

For 35 years I somehow managed to avoid seeing Total Recall. Until last night. I, mean, sure. But how did *that* become a cult classic? And did all sci-fi movies from the 1990s have such crap production? Might as well have been Planet of the Apes...

“Many in China now characterize the EU as a middle power." How Europe sabotaged it's place at the head of the climate pack. With @ziaweise.bsky.social and @saraschonhardt.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/euro...

Are these from NATO bases?

Offering to do peer review on the pasta study... Tipsy bats and perfect pasta: Ig Nobels celebrate ‘improbable’ research www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Feel like we should bring back the old twitter follow friday to boost good people on here who maybe didn't get an initial boost from the starter packs. So follow @psurridge.bsky.social and @profjanegreen.bsky.social - two excellent and thoughtful political scientists.

NEW: How Emmanuel Macron ended up manoeuvring France into the camp of the EU's climate blockers — putting at risk the EU's compliance with the Paris Agreement on the eve of the accord's 10th anniversary. Our story: www.politico.eu/article/emma...

NEW: Vote on 2040 climate target canceled after big EU governments — including France + Germany — blocked the decision to ensure leaders get a say. On Tuesday, countries will decide the fate of the 2035 Paris Agreement plan/NDC. Full story w/ @l-guillot.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/vote...

Revealed: Apple is teaching its AI to adapt to the Trump era www.politico.eu/article/appl... By @heroceane.bsky.social

How Donald Trump became president of Europe www.politico.eu/article/dona...

For my 50th birthday my wife bought me an Instant Pot