John F. Kennedy: The Soviet plan to encircle West Berlin with a giant concrete wall guarded by men with guns, dogs and searchlights is unfunded, unworkable and falling apart.

Reminder: The existence of these in most Scottish supermarkets and corner shops is proof that anyone shilling for the notion that multiculturalism can't work on this island is a charlatan

If you're interested in Tether, I wrote this for the Economist about an NCA operation into a Russian cash-for-crypto money laundering scheme. www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...

1843 is now publishing regularly in the print Economist as well as digitally. Our debut is this blockbuster investigation into the coup Bolsonaro was plotting, the details of which are INSANE. Kind of like the Battle for Chile as scripted by Armando Iannucci www.economist.com/1843/2025/08...

This is a really painful read, but fantastic digging by Shane Bauer into the children of political dissidents in Syria, disappeared by the security services into orphanages and made to forget the existence of their parents www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/m...

"If the princess rings the police...you're dead. I mean literally". Superb long read on the whistleblower who exposed epic British-Saudi corruption. Someone should make into a film www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Fellow Syria obsessives, if you have not listened to the final part of my colleague Gareth's incredible investigation into the fate of Austen Tice I strongly recommend you do so. A chilling journey into the dark heart of the regime www.economist.com/podcasts/202...

Previous posts are from the Economist's summer double issue which is on stands today and which contains four fantastic pieces of reportage from 1843, including this absolutely wild tale of identity theft www.economist.com/interactive/...

Every few years about 30m Indians compete for 90K jobs on the railways. To be eg a ticket inspector you must do an insane exam on things like algebra, & the WTO. An entire town has sprung up where ppl do nothing but cram for it. Amazing story (includes sample test) www.economist.com/interactive/...

Last year the South African government blockaded an abandoned mine where hundreds of illegal miners, mainly immigrants, were scouting for gold. This is the story of what went on in the darkness during those months, and it is haunting. www.economist.com/interactive/...

really good rundown of Sweida and what the latest sectarian violence in Syria is about newlinesmag.com/argument/how...

This is a really excellent use of graphics and videos to explain what is going on with GHF's aid distribution model in Gaza www.ft.com/content/6c74...

album of the summer imo www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...

So many extraordinary details in this unforgettable in-depth account of being a hostage in Gaza - the first of our summer issue pieces. Omer became the chef of the Hamas cell that was holding him www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...

@financialtimes.com's @malaikatapper.bsky.social on how Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has created a whole new predatory black market for food aid: www.ft.com/content/2593...

The @financialtimes.com continues to cover the BCG-Gaza story, and BCG leadership continues to insist that they're friendly, clueless dopes who had no idea that designing a tool for how to seize control over a starving enclave's access to food could be controversial. www.ft.com/content/6ddd...

The GHF ignored weeks of warnings that its model would mean overwhelming crowds. And then the inevitable result: "Senior commanders had considered managing the crowds through the use of live fire. 'The intent was to direct the population using gunfire.'" www.haaretz.com/middle-east-...

Last straw. AFP’s Fida Hussain photographs farmers transporting wheat straw on a tractor in Jacobabad, Sindh province, Pakistan

"Hizbullah gaslit us!" Supporters are cursing it, opponents sense an opportunity. @lizsly.bsky.social profiles the most successful militia in the world as it hits an existential crossroad www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...

As Syria's ex al Qaeda president prepares to meet with Trump seems a good time to re-up Nicolas Pelham's superlative story of how he made that journey (and why being a great political chameleon doesn't necessarily make you great at running a post civil war country) www.economist.com/1843/2025/03...

The Enshittification Files

Deeply disturbing and demands accountability, not cover ups. “Giving their accounts publicly for the first time, the veterans described seeing members of the SAS murder unarmed people in their sleep and execute handcuffed detainees, including children.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If you were told you had been secretly surveilled by a dictatorship and some of your best friends had been reporting on you, would you want to read the file? Would you trust anyone again if you did? Riveting piece on Taiwan's reckoning with newly unearthed archives www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...

Frogs were used in pregnancy tests until the mid 1960s

Finally joined this in order to follow Syria developments in as granular detail as possible. Grateful for any suggestions on who to follow