Conspire Slowly, Act Quickly
David Runciman reviews a volume of Margaret Thatcher’s biography and compares her political moment with the present, and Boris Johnson’s government.
The Decade Tech Lost Its Way
An account of how a positive vision for technology’s impact on society curdled over the course of a decade, narrated by people at the centre of the industry – from the Arab Spring, to the slow-down of Moore’s Law, to the launch of Instagram.
Death Of A Freelancer
The tragic story of a freelancer killed whilst reporting in South Sudan sheds light on the vulnerability of those reporting in conflict zones without the backing of a major media organisation.
Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi’s India
An arresting and disturbing story about the past, present, and future of Narendra Modi’s politics. The story’s climax is the proposal that, with his reelection 2019, Modi “uncovered a terrible secret at the heart of Indian society: by deploying vicious sectarian rhetoric, the country’s leader could persuade Hindus to give him nearly unchecked power.”
20,000 Feet Under the Sea
A story about deep-sea mining efforts that are starting to coalesce into action at scale from multinational mineral mining organisations. As one oceanographer puts it – “We’re about to make one of the biggest transformations that humans have ever made to the surface of the planet. We’re going to strip-mine a massive habitat, and once it’s gone, it isn’t coming back.”