A Natural History of Walter Rothschild
Beautifully written piece examining the life of a man who possessed a great fortune and an even greater interest in exotic animals. A man who “simply wanted to possess the world in all its endless variety.”
ELLE on Earth
A journalist secures an interview for ELLE with the legendary and secretive head designer at fashion house Comme des Garons. Things go very wrong.
The Concept of ‘Cat Face’
A longform look at machine learning and where Google have taken it since their acquisition of the British artificial intelligence company Deep Mind.
The Real Scandal Behind the Panama Papers
A Nobel prize winning economist describes his experience serving on a commission convened after the release of the Panama Papers.
The Religious Cult Secretly Running Japan
An article asserting that a religious organisation counting Japanese premier Shinzo Abe amongst its members is asserting its influence and may be looking to take Japan in a radically different direction.
Alan Rusbridger’s Guardian is on a suicide mission
There is more than a whiff of the hatchet job to the piece on The Guardian written by a self-described “friend of the paper” who has had a “falling out” with his erstwhile chum. There’s nothing like a bit of personal animosity to make for an interesting read. Beyond that though, it’s a case study of the dynamics of running one of the world’s largest media groups (and burning $45m a year in cash while doing so.).
David’s Ankles
A thoughtful piece on the transcendental beauty and structural fragility of one of the most celebrated works of art in the world, Michelangelo’s statue of David.
The Voyeur’s Motel
A man bought a motel 30 or so years ago, installed a home engineered viewing platform above the rooms and set about snooping on his customers with gusto for the next 30 years. He did so with a pseudo-scientific agenda that led him to document what he saw in minute detail. The resulting document is an extraordinary, ghoulish blend – a detailed study of this man’s madness, the intimate lives of the people he spied on, and the changing nature of America over the last quarter of the 20th century. Simply the most extraordinary story, it will stay with you for some time.
Surviving the Fall of ISIS
As the Islamic State is pushed back, the dangers continue to increase for those left in areas under their control.