today on The Broadside: how a rock from western NC is key to making basically every semiconductor in the world…and why it’s important to know where all the raw materials we need for our stuff actually comes from. featuring @edconway.bsky.social www.wunc.org/podcast/the-...

If its not built of it its probably built by it but can #steel ever be green? Rare Earth @bbcsounds.bsky.social with @helenczerski.bsky.social @edconway.bsky.social @steelwatch.bsky.social @willarnoldengineer.bsky.social Also BBC R4 today midday

Last week, trying to find arguments to convince my colleagues to stop binning paper clips, I went on a deep dive about what it takes to make one. There was a lot of crossover with this thread. Also - paperclips are reusable almost to infinity.

Anyone fancy ten-plus minutes of non-emotive charts on what's really going on with immigration in the UK? Well, either way, here you go👇 youtu.be/zTs3PDEkB2w?...

Great news 🤓

📖A few years ago I wrote a book about the materials that make the world go round. It was pretty relevant then. I think it's still pretty relevant (maybe even more relevant) today. Anyway it's on offer TODAY ONLY👇 Have a read & let me know what you think shorturl.at/ONyBZ

If you have not already bought @edconway.bsky.social Material world then do so today - one day kindle offer, £1.99 - a steal www.amazon.co.uk/Material-Wor...

We already knew about the scale of waste from these kinds of retailers, this is eye opening about the environmental impact of the shipping. All that stuff from Chinese e-commerce is getting *flown*.

📽️What ACTUALLY happens when you buy an item - some cheap clothes or a trinket - from an e-commerce site like Shein or Temu? Our deep dive into the fascinating way e-commerce is changing trade. Raising ENORMOUS questions along the way. Feat @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtqw...

How on earth did one of the world's most cost-competitive chemicals plants become unsustainable in only a couple of decades? Here's what happened to the ethylene cracker at Wilton - and one or two wider lessons... edconway.substack.com/p/a-dying-in...

Campbell's Soup, tin cans and tariffs. Here's the story of the unexpected economic chain reaction that links the closure of a blast furnace in Wales with one of the most iconic American products in history... open.substack.com/pub/edconway...

🧵Some thoughts re inflation. Not the data today, but two deep issues we should prob spend more time thinking about. 1. While economists and policymakers may have convinced themselves that the cost of living squeeze is over, for millions of households, it doesn't feel that way.

📽️Here's a film @aoifey.bsky.social and I have been working on for a while. About a slightly off piste topic (for me) - but one that matters. It's about what happened to Leicester in the wake of all those "fast fashion" scandals a few years ago. In short: not good www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArF1...

Still waiting for someone to guess right...

👀Sneak preview from a short film @aoifey.bsky.social and I have been working on for a while... Just putting the finishing touches to it. Coming to a screen near you tomorrow. Bonus points for anyone who can guess what they make/do at this plant👇

🇨🇭The first rule of a Swiss-style deal with the EU is that you never talk about a Swiss style deal. But make no mistake: yesterday's "EU reset" puts Britain on the road to a Swiss style deal news.sky.com/story/uk-eu-...

📽️It's a deal! But how big a deal is the one just unveiled between the UK and the EU? In numerical terms, at least, possibly not quite as big as Keir Starmer might want you to believe. Here's my primer on what just got announced today 👇 youtu.be/HsJiN6wyj6M?...

📽️Is this new trade agreement with the US a good deal for Britain? In short: it depends. Compared with right now, yes. Compared with what we had last year: no. Here's my v brief instant primer on some of the numbers👇 More to come when we actually get the small print... youtu.be/m2hwcodwaXM?...

📽️What on earth is "de minimis"? Here's my 3m primer on the latest issue at the heart of Donald Trump's trade war, an obscure customs loophole that changed the world of e-commerce & contributed to the rise of Chinese mega firms like Temu & Shein... It's about to disappear!👇 youtu.be/OaJmVQqakUY?...

Here's a 👀 datapoint. In January a whopping 67% of ALL UK exports to America were gold bars. Ponder that for a moment. 67% of EVERY PHYSICAL THING the UK exported to the US (by value) Totally unprecedented. Further evidence of the scale of gold outflows from Britain to America

Very much enjoyed @edconway.bsky.social book Material World. A fascinating look at the raw materials essential to our lifestyle. Prescient about the importance of our interconnected world. An insightful discussion on net zero. Will now lend to a friend.

The main product by weight of a blast furnace is carbon dioxide… 🤯 open.substack.com/pub/edconway...

V wise move 🙏

With the fate of British Steel in the news, good idea (as always) to read what @edconway.bsky.social has to say. (Also, buy his book. It is amazingly good.) edconway.substack.com/p/the-strang...

Hope all MPs will also find chance to read @edconway.bsky.social’s invaluable earlier piece (from last year) too: edconway.substack.com/p/does-it-re...

This is an excellent read.

Can't recommend this strongly enough. A great read. And one of great personal interest for me because my grandfather was a manager at these steel mills in Scunthorpe back in the 1940s/50s.

✍️I visited British Steel last week - just as workers were discovering that the plant's Chinese owners were effectively planning to starve the blast furnaces to death. It was a strange, unsettling experience. With deep ramifications. Some thoughts: edconway.substack.com/p/the-strang...

If you're anywhere near Cambridge on Sat 26 April, and fancy hearing more about the importance of the Material World, and its lessons in an era of Trump and tariffs... I'll be talking at the literary festival at 6pm. Come along & say hello! Tickets: www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com/events/ed-co...

📱iPhones, Caterpillar tracks and tariffs. 💥Why the "end of globalisation" is a far, far bigger deal than the politicians using that phrase probably realise. ✍️Some thoughts about the bigger story behind today's market mayhem: news.sky.com/story/why-th...

🚨EXCLUSIVE Inside British Steel, the UK's last remaining primary steelmaker. First footage of the blast furnaces in half a decade. With the plant's Chinese owners preparing for its closure this might be the last glimpse of virgin steelmaking in the country that invented it👇 youtu.be/lXTQRPcSUgo?...

🚨EXCLUSIVE Inside British Steel, the UK's last remaining primary steelmaker. First footage of the blast furnaces in half a decade. With the plant's Chinese owners preparing for its closure this might be the last glimpse of virgin steelmaking in the country that invented it👇 youtu.be/lXTQRPcSUgo?...

Interesting piece coming your way tomorrow on @news.sky.com Sneak preview👇 Stay tuned.

All good bookstores!

In case you missed it last night, here's my first take on the new tariffs imposed by the US. Recorded a few minutes after the Rose Garden press conference. A massive moment in geopolitics & economics. And one we'll be reckoning with for a long time to come youtu.be/RjtVQANSQf8?...

🚨LIBERATION DAY🚨 That's what Donald Trump is calling this week's tariff-fest. But what can we actually expect? In short: no-one really knows. 👀But here's a 3 min primer with a few things to look out for, plus an extraordinary chart on flows of gold out of London👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7X2...

Having just finished part 1 of @edconway.bsky.social Material World I, even as a supply chain professional, was left astounded at “The Longest Journey”. It should be required reading for anyone who thinks re-shoring as a protectionist ideology would work. It simply cannot happen!

This week’s edition of MFN is about why a 25% tariff is not always in fact a 25% tariff. Also very heavy on the #dataviz mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/car-tariffs

🚨CAR TARIFFS🚨 My 6m primer on the latest chapter in the Trump saga: - Why some countries face paying not 25% but over 170%(!) - Why this isn't just about where a car is made but what goes inside. - And which car company does best out of it? You can prob guess. 📽️Have a watch youtu.be/Tbi6Mdp9rQo?...

🚨 The Chinese owners of British Steel say they are now considering shutting their blast furnaces and end steelmaking at Scunthorpe in early June - only a few months away. It would mean an end of virgin steelmaking in the country that invented it during the industrial revolution

A reminder, as Donald Trump announces new tariffs on car imports, that US tariffs on steel/aluminium are ALREADY affecting UK businesses. This is not theoretical. It's real. Here's a very tangible example re steel👇

This is a great piece about tariffs and about parts of UK #manufacturing #ukmfg not many people are aware of. There's a full video report at the end of Ed's thread. Well worth a watch. Nice one @edconway.bsky.social

A beautifully produced piece about the impacts of tariffs on the U.K. metals industry. Highly recommended watch!

I read/watch everything Ed Conway does since I read his excellent Material Work book. You should too if you want to understand how the world and economy work on a global scale. Always fascinating!

Super interesting and helpful thread on tariffs and the UK steel industry ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Proper journalism illustrating the depressing facts on Trump's tariffs...

🚨TARIFFS🚨 Here's a story that tells you lots about the reality of tariffs: both for those paying them & those hoping to benefit from them. A story of ships, storms, bad luck and bad policy. It begins a week and a bit ago, with a man frantically refreshing his web browser...

💣The Trump tariffs are an economic time bomb. With real consequences. But... who in the UK has actually PAID these tariffs? What do they spell for the UK's last aluminium smelter?? And are there ANY opportunities here? Answers in this film by me & @aoifey.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqEA...

Been a bit quiet in recent weeks because we've been cooking up something special for you. Full thing out tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a clue:

📉We like to think this is the golden age of data visualisation. But check out this chart from the US military during WWII👇 German production of synthetic oil, plant by plant, and how it collapsed when Allies bombed the plants. Much more on this in Ch 14 of Material World...