The Question
Should your flu and Covid shots go in different arms?
Talking Points
- Britain prepared itself for the Queen's state funeral
- Roger Federer, the tennis player's tennis player, retired
- Cinéastes mourned the death of Jean-Luc Godard
- Sweden's right-wing swept the election
- The Putin-Xi meeting was a little colder than expected
- 176 killed in clashes around Nagorno-Karabakh
- Ethereum successfully moved to a proof-of-stake system
- South Korea issued arrest warrant for Do Kwon
- Prosecutors moved to vacate Adnan Syed's conviction
- R. Kelly convicted on child pornography charges
Deep Dive
Inflation lunged sideways, stocks dropped all over the shop, the European Union massaged its slapping hand, and Adobe suite went brrr.
An unenviable split-screen
On Tuesday, America heard from Joe Biden the salesman. He described the recently-passed Inflation Reduction Act as "the single most important legislation passed in the Congress to combat inflation and one of the most significant laws in our nation's history. There's an extraordinary story being written in America today by this administration. This bill cut costs for families, helped reduce inflation at the dinner table."
In truly ascendant timing, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest Consumer Price Index right as Biden was prematurely declaring victory. Headline inflation in August ran at 8.3% year-on-year. And many Americans are still struggling to fill their shopping basket, with food prices up 11.4%. Yes, this is an improvement on atrocious June/July numbers but still, far worse than expected . Biden's claims are not a fait accompli.
The markets were blindsided by the inflation data and responded with the customary blood-letting: Tuesday bore witness to the largest single-day losses since the early 2020 pandemic fire-sales. The S&P 500 dropped 4.3%, DJIA 3.9%, and the Nasdaq 5.2%. The volatility is justified: high levels of inflation appear to be embedded across a broad section of the consumer economy. There is chatter around the Federal Reserve of increasingly-aggressive rate hikes. This is not what the Democrats would like as they head into the midterms — hence the tenor of Biden's speech ("the soul of America is vibrant, the future of America is bright, and the promise of America is real"). Unfortunately, Costco doesn't accept souls, futures, or promises as legal tender.
This is fine
To err is human, to forgive divine. But if a company is naughty, give 'em a whopping great fine. It's been a delirious week for the happy-slappy types at corporate regulators.
In Europe, Google copped a shiner . The tech giant had appealed a record €4.3bn antitrust fine that it received for abusing its market position. The second-highest court in the bloc put the kibosh on that: Google will have to cough up a slightly-trimmed €4.1bn. It's a striking win for the EU's antitrust boss Margrethe Vestager before the punchy Digital Markets Act is implemented next year.
Elsewhere, South Korean authorities whacked both Google and Meta with fines totalling $71m for persistent privacy violations. The pair were in breach of the law for failing to communicate that user data was being collected and analysed, to infer interests and target ads. This, of course, is the core business of both companies. Nothing to write home about with regards to the final bill though.
Back home, California opened up a new antitrust front against Amazon for creating artificially high prices on its marketplace. We won't pass any comment on this while its before the courts but, you know, it's not exactly outside the realm of imagination. And the US Department of Justice is getting ready to hit Apple with a hefty antitrust lawsuit.
Business wrapped
Now for a rapid-fire round of business news. Adobe — the preferred brand of people who sit in cafes working on their Macbook Pros — bought the beloved collaborative design platform Figma for $20bn. Shell's CEO Ben van Beurden quit; he'll be replaced by Wael Sawan who has the fun job of trying to maximise profits from fossil fuels while pretending not to maximise profits from fossil fuels. Hedge funds laid bets that Elon Musk will be forced to follow through on his joke (?) offer to buy Twitter. And last but not least... Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard , his wife, and adult children gave away the $3bn apparel company this week. Kinda.
The label will continue to operate as a for-profit company, but said profits will be redirected by a trust and nonprofit organisation into charitable aims. Protecting undeveloped land, fighting climate change, etc. As to why he wanted to sell, Chouinard was succinct, "I don't respect the stock market at all. Once you're public, you've lost control over the company, and you have to maximise profits for the shareholder, and then you become one of those irresponsible companies." Based on the stories we covered at the start of this section, it's hard to argue with that.
Worldlywise
A counter-offensive in Ukraine
For months we waited for a Ukrainian push along the Black Sea coast towards the riverine port city of Kherson. Whether it began and was blunted by Russian artillery, or simply failed to materialise remains an open question. Instead, this week the Ukranians seized an advantage several hundred kilometres to the north, in Kharkiv Oblast. Probing attacks towards the blasted, Russian-held city of Izyum snowballed last week. It's now being reported that the invading forces had just 3-4,000 Rosgvardia infantry and Donetsk militia with which to hold a 250km frontline. The Ukrainians managed to rotate five brigades (at least 15,000 soldiers) into Kharkiv to smash the frontline. It was a complete rout. The Russians ceded land the size of Cyprus .
Izyum is now back in Ukrainian hands, and the dirty secrets of life under occupation are filtering out. A mass grave of 440 souls was found on the outskirts. Residents describe brutal behaviour from the occupiers. Not missing a beat, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was photographed on a quick tour to the liberated city. Western coverage has been pretty frothy, but we'd caution against embellishing it . The slow bleed of the occupation forces — clearly the preference among Washington hawks — will drag on long after the northern winter has come and gone. It will come at the cost of thousands more lives on either side.
McDonald's and drill
Two distinct Chicago stories have caught our attention this week. Taken together they make an interesting case-study on the limits of traditional journalism.
We'll start downtown at the Economic Club of Chicago where McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempczinski reiterated his support for the city by moving 100 more staff into the company's West Loop headquarters. The story got a lot of press, for a variety of reasons. Not least because the decision runs against the grain of recent corporate exits from America's third city (Boeing, Ken Griffin).
But it wasn't all praise. Kempczinski lamented both the city's "challenging" tax system and the perception of rampant crime . The tax claim is an open and shut case. McDonald's has made several billion dollars by avoiding taxes all over the world. The company is crying wolf. On the issue of crime, and Kempczinski's essentialist views (which were the subject of controversy last year), there is more to discuss. The McDonald's boss said, "There is a general sense that our city is in crisis... [crime] is seeping into every corner of our city and can come pervasive in the psyche." Chicago's crime rate is indeed high. And rising. But the most-important stat, murders, is down 15% this year.
The reason we've quoted the speech and shared the stat from this story is to make the point that this is what traditional journalism is good at. Unfortunately, speeches and stats don't often get to the heart of a story. In Chicago, they certainly have nothing to do with why crime rates are high. Such stories get reported and read, but do little to develop our understanding.
The other story this week was about drill music, a rap style that emerged on the Southside a decade ago. As the saying goes, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. So just watch and listen to this instead . Andrew Callaghan's approach to storytelling is the opposite of traditional journalism.
Only one of these approaches gets close to the heart of crime in Chicago.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If anyone has Kempczinski's email address please send him the video.
The Best Of Times
Vertical limitless
This week, 47-year-old Nepali Sanu Sherpa became the first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders ... twice. We'd consider climbing into what is known as "the death zone" 28 times a superhuman effort, but Sherpa thinks otherwise. "What I have done is not something that is impossible", he said. "I was just doing my job." Just doing your job... Buddy, hit the sheds. You're making the rest of us look bad.
Play the laugh track
A team at Kyoto University is teaching a robot to laugh in the right way at the right time. If they get this right the possibilities are boundless. Imagine a future in which New Yorkers aren't forced at gunpoint into the studio audiences of Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and James Corden's late night "comedy" shows.
The Worst Of Times
The die is caste
Last month Narendra Modi promised to make India a developed country within 25 years. A tall order. Regardless of economic growth, can India ever call itself a developed country while the caste system remains? This week in Uttar Pradesh two sisters, 15 and 17 , were dragged into a field and gang-raped. The girls challenged their attackers to marry them — instead they were hung by their shawls. They were Dalits. You can't have a firebrand like Yogi Adityanath running UP like a vedic school and not expect caste violence.
Cooking the books
This fantastic piece from Foreign Affairs scratches at the practices of international development aid donations. Definitions that are bent out of shape, creative accounting techniques, and a paper-thin commitment to pledges overshadow what is usually a holier-than-thou affair. Headline figures deserve all the more scrutiny because they are often constructed to get the headline.
Highlights
The Image
To view the Queen lying in state well-wishers must first endure an eight-hour wait in a line that stretches back miles. But don't worry. They've trained their whole lives for this one. In the immortal words of Arthur Dent, "I'll handle this — I'm British; I know how to queue". Photo supplied by The Independent .
The Quote
"Put on the full armour of God. Stand firm against the left's schemes. You will face flaming arrows, but if you have the shield of faith, you will overcome them, and in Florida we walk the line here."
– Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is leaning heavily on the good book as he readies himself to challenge Trump. Just not the love thy neighbour bit. This week Florida sent two planeloads of migrants to the sanctuary city of Martha's Vineyard.
The Numbers
46% of one nation under God
- Christianity is dwindling in the United States but it's not because flaming arrows are thinning out the ranks: it's sheer bloody godlessness. By 2070 christianity will remain in plurality but will, on current trends, drop to below 50% . The 'nones' will soar to 41%.
0.75 quarterly fertility rate
- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has described his country's plummeting fertility rate (already the world's lowest) as a "calamity" . The reason is simple: the economic structures that South Koreans are bound by make having children an unbearable financial burden . Might be worth stopping and pondering the nature of one's society if people can't afford to have children.
The Headlines
"'Wobbly' moon probable cause of mass tree deaths in Australia, scientists say" — The Guardian . Science has advanced so far that we've come full circle: everything is the moon's fault once more.
"Just Like That, We're Making Oxygen on Mars " — The Atlantic . Cool, can south London get some?
The Special Mention
A special mention this week goes to the eternal deflection, "Ask your mother" . Paetongtarn Shinawatra is purportedly ready to keep the dynasty going with another run at Thailand's top job. But her old man, Thaksin, gently chided her this week, "If Ing [Paetongtarn] wants to be the prime minister, people have to elect her first. But before the people's selection process comes, Ing must win the heart of her mother first." Mum knows best.
The Best Long Reads
- Foreign Affairs gets some revenge
- Businessweek spies on Nikola
- The Atlantic works for a climate villain
The Answer...
This is both medically sound and funny . Imagine trying to cook dinner that night. There's a new Funniest Home Videos series right there.
