Do civilisations collapse?
A piece reassessing common tropes we use to explain how civilisations decline, from Easter Island to the Maya.
The Mysterious Madame Giselle
A story about friendship and trust, told through a case of high society fraud allegedly perpetrated by a woman who claimed to be the Egyptian President’s secret wife, an ex-wife of Hugo Chavez, and a mentor to Ivanka Trump.
Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox
A searching piece about Amazon and monopoly, published in a newspaper owned by Amazon’s CEO. If you have the time, it’s also worth dipping into the elegantly wrought 28,000 word ‘note’ in The Yale Law Journal that inspired the piece.
In Defectors From the North, Doctors in South Korea Find Hope and Data
A piece examining a project driven by hope – an in-depth study of the health of North Korean defectors that seeks to understand the long-term impact of living through the regime’s many hardships, with the goal of rendering a future reunification more straightforward.
The Thieves Who Steal Sunken Warships, Right Down to the Bolts
A piece looking at the thieves illegally salvaging sunken battleships.
4chan: The Skeleton Key to the Rise of Trump
A message board allowing users to post anonymously has played a significant role in the recent history of internet culture (think – the birthplace of the meme), the development of new extreme right movements sometimes called the ‘alt-right’, and the series of events that put Trump in the White House.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Keith Davies
Keith Davies disappeared at sea in 2015. He had the little known job of fisheries observer, inspectors who travel with commercial fishing vessels to ensure fishing regulations are being observed. The role is often very isolated, sometimes coming into conflict with the ship’s crew – out at sea, it can even be dangerous.
Back to the Drawing Board
A piece looking at the story of the film The Thief and the Cobbler, the unfinished magnum opus of Richard Williams, considered by many to be the world’s greatest living animator.
He Had His Reasons
A piece looking at how murder and domestic violence is reported in the press, recounting a terrible recent case in County Cavan, Ireland.