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NBA Finals 2026: Knicks auction off 2 celebrity row seats for over $1 million ahead of Game 3
Best British crime series old and new to watch
Here are 15 British crime dramas, new and old, to watch. The genre is varied, the casts inevitably fine and justice almost always prevails.
Why Britain and America Can't Stop Firing Their Leaders
In both countries, political revolts keep toppling leaders without solving the deeper crisis.
Pink wows 2026 Tony Awards crowd with a 'Lady Marmalade'-themed opener and surprise guests
Host Pink brought the stunts, celebrity appearances, and vocal range to her 79th annual Tony Awards opening number.
Pink wows the crowd at the 2026 Tony Awards with a 'Lady Marmalade'-themed opener
Pink hosted the 79th annual Tony Awards and stunned in a fun-filled opening number that featured stunts, celebrities, and her incredible vocal range.
All the Show-Stopping Red-Carpet Looks From the 2026 Tony Awards
Theatre’s biggest night is here! The 79th annual Tony Awards are officially underway, and all the stars are arriving to the red carpet. See all the celebrity looks here.
What Happened on June 7: Hollywood Moments That Made Entertainment History
IMDb, la fonte più popolare e autorevole al mondo per contenuti su film, programmi TV e celebrità.
Fable: Meet the Incredible Cast - Including the Villain Played by Hayley Atwell
Fable’s XBOX Games Showcase trailer revealed that Hayley Atwell will play the game’s villain, Isabel – but there’s far more to this brilliantly British cast list. Find out more inside.
Confessions of political liveblogger: ‘I enjoy it professionally – but, as a citizen, you can think the country’s going to hell in a handcart’
Andrew Sparrow has been writing the Guardian’s daily political live blog for more 15 years. How does he cope with the relentless psychodrama of British politics?
D-FW datebook: CPI, home sales and a chat with a celebrity stylist
The week of June 8 features several key economic reports, including the release of the monthly Consumer Price Index.
How Howie Mandel turned a panic attack into a mental health movement and helped build a company now worth hundreds of millions
Howie Mandel did a campaign with NOCD, a telehealth app to help spread awareness of OCD. Out of that campaign, Billy Bob Thornton and "celebrity galore" reached out.
Spencer Pratt in Los Angeles spearheads wave of reality stars running for office
Celebrities like Spencer Pratt are making waves from California to New Jersey by running for office to chattering about it, raising questions about the power of fame in politics.
Test your pop culture: From Hollywood to the Heartland
Test your knowledge of entertainment with this quiz on celebrities, trends and headline-making moments. Featured this week: a red-hot new romance, runway-worthy bikini moments, candid Hollywood reflec...
The Kennedys and British royal family were once romantically linked, new book reveals exactly how
A member from each of the Kennedys and the royal family were once romantically linked, Caroline Hallemann's new book reveals. The two dynasties have been connected for decades, dating back to the 1930s.
Leaked WhatsApps, embarrassing emails: it’s bad for British politics that privacy is now dead
The principle underlying the release of the Mandelson papers is that officials are always ‘on the record’ – but our leaders must be able to speak their minds freely, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
Test your pop culture: From Hollywood to the Heartland
Test your knowledge of entertainment with this quiz on celebrities, trends and headline-making moments. Featured this week: a red-hot new romance, runway-worthy bikini moments, candid Hollywood reflections and a smashed piano that stole the show.
Anthony Head, ‘Ted Lasso’ and ‘Buffy’ actor, dies at 72
Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Ted Lasso,’ has died, his family said Friday. He was 72.
Melinda French Gates is done waiting for health care to take menopause seriously
Celebrities like Halle Berry and Naomi Watts have jumped on menopause startups. Now Melinda French Gates is throwing her weight behind the category—with philanthropic dollars.
US Terrorist Label for Brazil Gangs Risks Higher Business Costs
By Luciana Magalhaes and Ricardo Brito SAO PAULO/Brasilia, June 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. designation of Brazil's biggest criminal groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) starting Friday is likely to increase the risks and costs of doing business in a country where gangs have had years to ...
A Brit, a billionaire and Spencer Pratt: California’s primary upsets
Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Sam Levin about the big takeaways from the single busiest primary day of the year so far
Invisible Geniuses, Visible Challenges: Science Communication in the Age of Attention
While social media has put celebrities and influencers at the centre of public attention, the scientists shaping society’s future often remain on the sidelines. This visibility gap not only affects how science is perceived but also shapes how we understand and respond to the most pressing challenges of our time, including climate change.
Starmer calls for Elon Musk to stop interfering in UK politics
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday said Elon Musk should stop interfering in British politics, after the billionaire X owner posted on his platform about a murder that has triggered a public outcry and protests.
Starmer Calls for Elon Musk to Stop Interfering in UK Politics
By Alistair Smout LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday said Elon Musk should stop interfering in British politics, after the billionaire X owner posted on his platform about a murder that has triggered a public outcry and protests. Last year, 18-year-old Henry ...
British politics has passed peak Palestine
The war in Gaza has turned a cohort of voters leftwards
Rural health network aims to strengthen independent hospitals
The North Shore Health Board received a presentation from Cibolo Rural Health Network on the benefits of the Headwaters Network, a high-value network made up of Minnesota’s rural independent health care providers. “I would say a relevant correlator to the high-value network is that of a farmers’ co-op,” Brittany Sachdeva, chief operating officer for Cibolo,...
Michael Grant launches 2028 bid for Ben Albritton's Senate seat with 20-plus endorsements in hand
Michael Grant is making his move for 2028 — and he isn't being subtle about it. The former House Majority Leader and Punta Gorda Republican filed Tuesday
Zombie Blairites still have British politics in their grip – it’s time to break free
Tony Blair’s departure as PM should have prompted a fresh start for Labour. But Starmer’s sad, backward-looking government remains in his thrall, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
ENTERTAINMENT: ‘Music’ at Wildwood; ‘Aftermaths’ exhibit opens at AMFA Saturday
"Aftermaths: Mat Collishaw," featuring the latest film from British painter, photographer, sculptor and filmmaker Mat Collishaw, opens Saturday in the Fine Arts Club New Media Gallery at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.
The Business of the New York Knicks
Headed to their first championship final in more than 25 years, the New York Knicks have a deep celebrity following and lots of brand love to cash in on.
‘Euphoria’ Star Darrell Britt-Gibson Breaks Down Bishop’s Betrayal of Alamo
Darrell Britt-Gibson peels back the layers of his mysterious character.
‘She should get fined’: Angel Reese faces criticism for ‘flopping’
Tuesday night’s matchup between the Connecticut Sun and the Atlanta Dream featured a marquee battle in the paint between Brittney Griner and Angel Reese. In the fourth quarter, that battle turned a little too physical, though many fans seem to think Reese was embellishing things a bit. Although Atlanta cruised to a 91-75 victory over…
Palantir Contracts Have Become ‘An Unacceptable Point of Weakness,’ UK Politicians Warn
A government committee says that the country’s growing dependence on the data analytics company is a serious liability.
Phone calls from a pharmacist could help people achieve healthy cholesterol, say researchers
Regular follow-up calls from a pharmacist can help people lower their "bad" (LDL) cholesterol by reminding them to take their medication, based on research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society ...
'Seven Days in June': Protests nationwide this week rally against Trump $1 trillion cuts to health care and hospitals
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Noah Wyle are among the celebrities supporting the events, which oppose recent cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and more.
British politics is fractured and chaotic – but at last it’s brimming with ideas for the future
Finally, Labour is talking policy, thanks to the leadership contest and Tony Blair’s intervention – and the centre-right is making a much-needed fightback too, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
Celebrity art auction to raise money for Lake County mental health, recovery programs
The Friends of Lake ADAMHS Celebrity Art Auction will feature local artists and leaders supporting mental health and recovery programs
Variety’s Dea Lawrence on Launching Power of Women in London: ‘It’s a Great Time to Be British in the Entertainment Industry’
“It is a great time to be British in the entertainment industry,” Variety’s publisher and co-president Dea Lawrence told an enthusiastic crowd in London Monday as she explained why the publication was...
Political commentators Cenk, Piker say UK bars them over Israel remarks
The US citizens allege that they have been denied entry to Britain due to their outspoken criticism of Israel.
Herbal Dispatch Reports First Quarter 2026 Results and Provides Business Update
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 1, 2026) - Herbal Dispatch Inc. (CSE: HERB) (OTCQB: LUFFF) (FSE: HA9) ("Herbal Dispatch" or the "Company"), a cannabis e-commerce and distribution platform, today reported its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and provided an update on the Company's strategic initiatives and operational progress.Strategic Transition UnderwayDuring the first quarter of 2026, Herbal Dispatch continued positioning its business toward...
UK house prices fall for first time this year as Middle East crisis hits confidence
British house prices fell 0.6% in May, leaving them 1.7% higher than a year earlier, Nationwide reports
California Contests for Governor, LA Mayor Head Toward Primary Election With No Clear Leaders
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California spiraled toward a primary election Tuesday with its two marquee races defined by uncertainty and with a pair of outsider candidates looking to crack open the state’s durable Democratic hierarchy. In the governor's race, former Fox News TV host and British political ...
Steve Hilton smashed up UK politics — now he wants to upend California’s
The onetime British Conservative Party adviser has a shot at making the top-two runoff in next week’s gubernatorial primary.
Kurt Russell proved Hollywood wrong by ditching LA decades before the celebrity exodus began
Kurt Russell opened up about choosing Colorado ranch life over Hollywood, saying the mountains offer everything he and Goldie Hawn want in daily life.
Nicola’s only crime was to love too much. And to not notice the Jaguar on the drive
Rather than being one of the shrewdest operators in British politics for a decade, it turns out Sturgeon was just too trusting
Stayed in Celebrity Cruises Infinite Veranda cabin; pros outweigh cons
Celebrity Cruises' Infinite Veranda cabins have unique features, and many say its cons outweigh the pros. But I think the stateroom is a good value.
Azim signals world-title intent with stoppage win
British light-welterweight Adam Azim continues his march towards a world-title shot with a third-round stoppage win over Steve Claggett in London.
Britt Jewelry in Cleveland
Providing unique, custom-made pieces with top-notch service Some of us may have a tendency to think a jewelry store is primarily a place to walk in, see something we like, and buy it. While that is often true in today’s times, a full service jewelry store with an expert jeweler offers many more amenities. […]
A British Icon Returns With 720 Horsepower
The new Cobra GT Coupe returns as a carbon-fiber body, V8-powered monster that should be a brutal good time to drive.
Jameela Jamil called out the rise of 'scarily thin' celebs. Let’s talk about it
As we see more celebrities shrinking on red carpets, conversations are surging online. But can we talk about it appropriately? Experts share advice.
Asda taps Ocado for automation in UK stores starting 2027
Online grocery technology firm Ocado Group said on Friday it has won a partnership with British supermarket group Asda to roll out its automation platform across Asda's stores and dark stores starting in 2027.
UK business sentiment edges up in May, Lloyds says
British business sentiment edged up in May and is now close to its level before the Iran war, according to a monthly survey by Lloyds on Friday which contrasted with most other measures of business and consumer sentiment.
The Rockstar Game Workers Union breaks cover
Developers at Rockstar Games have announced the Rockstar Game Workers Union, a subsidiary of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain.
IOI is 'keeping the British end up' in 007 First Light by switching out Americanisms to "reinforce the immersion"
Following earlier gameplay teaser trailers, developer IO Interactive has made some changes to the dialogue in 007 First Light.
Scottish independence: try, try again?
‘Symbolic’ push for referendum shows ‘Scotland’s constitutional future has returned to the core of British politics’
Scientists unlock evolution of gigantism in Scottish island wrens
A new study of British wrens has provided new insights into the inner workings of "island syndromes," according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The paper, published in the Evolutionary ...
Susan Boyle reveals jaw-dropping transformation before 'new era' for reclusive star
Singer Susan Boyle has revealed a shocking transformation ahead of a 'new era' for the recently reclusive singer and 'Britain's Got Talent' breakout star.
The Romans and Vikings left few genetic traces of their occupations of Britain, research suggests
Despite their occupations of Britain, the Romans and Vikings didn't leave much of a genetic mark on Britons. The Anglo-Saxons, though, were a different story.
Can Nigel Farage’s Right-Wing Party Win It All in Britain?
Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant, populist agenda has helped his Reform U.K. Party emerge from the fringe of British politics. But it faces an uphill climb to win power.
Rachel Ward Had A Blunt Response To Critics Of Her Appearance — And It’s A Masterclass In Confidence
The British actor, best known for her role in 1983′s “The Thorn Birds,” recently returned to the public eye with a surprising career pivot.
From The Sports Desk: New Yorkers rejoice as the Knicks return to the NBA Finals
The Knicks swept the Cavs and are back in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years.
Marilyn Monroe and the dead-celebrity business
A company is keeping her culturally relevant—and cashing in
AMAs 2026 red carpet: Best and worst looks celebrities wore
Hilary Duff, Karol G, and Teyana Taylor were among the stars who attended the 2026 American Music Awards and walked the red carpet in bold fashion.
Los Angeles Philharmonic names Daniel Harding its next music director
Daniel Harding, the versatile British conductor and Air France pilot who made his L.A. Phil debut in 1997 at 21, will become the orchestra's 12th music director.
Britain Politics
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer looks on during a visit to Acorn Nursery, in Brighton, England, Tuesday May 26, 2026. (Gareth Fuller/Pool Photo via AP)
📸 Here’s the new Premier League ball for 2026/27
The Premier League and Puma have unveiled today the ball that will be used next season, 2026/27, in the top tier of British football.The Puma Stellar Nitro Ultimate combines pink, teal, blue, and dark...
Knicks fans, celebrities take over Cleveland's arena, NYC streets in celebration of trip to NBA Finals; Zohran Mamdani weighs in
Knicks fans, celebrities take over Cleveland's arena, NYC streets in celebration of trip to NBA Finals; Mayor Mamdani weighs in
Knicks fans are, indeed, partying like it’s 1999.
Shakespeare, trans politics and tigers: Lunch with Eddie Izzard is a dizzying business
The British comedian/actor/runner/political aspirant has some left-of-field stories to tell.
Parts of Europe swelter in record May heat as deaths at amateur sports events spur warnings
Europe is baking under unseasonal heat that is shattering temperature records, including in the United Kingdom on Monday, and prompting government warnings after deaths were reported at amateur sports events in France.
Semiconductor decoupling. Powell's politics. Industrializing Ogaden. Free trade and the Magna Carta.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 8th Army’s Front, Italy 1944 Semiconductor decoupling Source: FT One thing that Jerome Powell deeply understood is that chairing the Fed under current conditions is a deeply political job. “Powell has successes and mistakes to his name. But he stands out as having thought more carefully about the Fed’s democratic legitimacy than any chair since Paul Volcker,” said Paul Tucker, a former deputy governor at the Bank of England, referring to the Fed chair who successfully fought the great inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. … While Powell was at the Treasury in the early 1990s, he watched Alan Greenspan build relationships within the government. That convinced Powell he needed to follow the former Fed chair’s lead and spend more time in Congress than his predecessors Yellen and Bernanke. “The accountability for the Fed runs through Congress,” said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed official who is now chief economist at New Century Advisors. “That’s not just about having people on speed dial — it’s answering questions, explaining policy and getting feedback.” Source: FT Ethiopia’s PM Abiy and Nigerian business tycoon, with Chinese engineering, are driving industrialization in Ogaden/Somali region of Ethiopia. - Michael Masri’s reporting for Africa Report if fascinating. Ethiopia has launched a cluster of large industrial schemes in the Somali region, laying foundation stones for a urea plant and an oil refinery in Gode while opening the first two phases of the Ogaden LNG project. Abiy Ahmed framed the push as part of a broader strategy to link energy, agriculture and industry. “These projects embody more than industrial growth,” he said. “They represent our shared responsibility to harness opportunities, strengthen co-operation and promote peace.” The Gode urea plant, backed by Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), is designed for 3m tonnes a year. Dangote owns 60%, while EIH holds 40%. Officials say Dangote’s equity totals about $2.5bn, while the state provides land and implementation oversight. Gas from the Calub fields will be piped 108km to the site. Construction is slated for 40 months, with operations targeted for 2028. Ethiopia imports most of its fertiliser, spending more than $1.2bn a year for 1.5m–2m tonnes. Usage was roughly 1.7m tonnes in 2023, almost half of it urea, and demand for 2024–25 is put above 2.4m tonnes. If delivered on time, the Gode plant could cover domestic needs and allow exports to neighbours. Brook Taye, chief executive of EIH, called the venture “a significant milestone in the journey toward industrial self-sufficiency”. Dangote told the groundbreaking crowd that the complex would be integrated with gas supply and a polypropylene unit to support local inputs. He pointed to Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), with a capacity of more than 5,000MW, and noted his group’s cement operations and expansion plans. The Gode refinery is being developed by Golden Concord Group of China. It is designed to process 3.5m tonnes a year of crude and condensate from the Hilala field, with associated storage. Backers say it will ease foreign-exchange pressure from fuel imports and anchor further industrial activity, including a proposed steel smelting site in Dire Dawa. GCL’s chair, Zhu Gongshan, cast the project as “a key step in Ethiopia’s path to energy sovereignty”, underscoring the Beijing–Addis ties. Financing details are still being finalised, but the refinery is central to the government’s energy-security narrative. Source: The Africa Report Dangote’s Ethiopian vision: Dangote began with cement. His crown jewel, Dangote Cement, dominates Nigeria’s market and has 10 operations in other nations in Africa. The formula has been consistent: identify sectors with chronic shortages – cement, fertiliser, sugar – commit massive local investments, and scale up to serve regional demand. Ethiopia was a natural extension of that model. In 2015, Dangote launched the Mugher Cement Plant outside Addis Ababa at a cost of $600m, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The investment gave him a firm foothold in one of Africa’s fastest-growing construction markets. But success came with risks. In May 2018, violent unrest led to the killing of Dangote’s country manager and temporary shutdowns at Mugher. While other investors might have retreated, Dangote doubled down. Today, he is preparing to spend $400m to expand Mugher’s capacity to 5 million tonnes, alongside a new grinding unit near Addis Ababa. Cement is just one market Dangote is targeting. Ethiopia’s enormous state-controlled sugar industry, long plagued by inefficiency and debt, has struggled for years to reform. Its Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project, touted as one of the continent’s largest initiatives, continues to face delays and mismanagement. … The most ambitious venture of all is the planned fertiliser production complex in Gode, Somali region. Publicised on 28 August 2025, the Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) deal plans one of the world’s largest single-site urea manufacturing plants. The project costs an estimated $2.5bn and has an estimated capacity of 3 million metric tonnes annually, a rate that would not only render Ethiopia independent, but even a net exporter of fertiliser. EIH, the state wealth fund of Ethiopia, will hold 40%, while 60% is held by Dangote Group. … For Dangote, Ethiopia is a trifecta: Cement demand is projected to grow by 10% annually, its sugar consumption is growing with rapid urbanisation, and fertiliser demand is all but insatiable, given that farming supports the livelihood of 70% of Ethiopians. Source: The Africa Report The stakes for Abiy are high: For Addis Ababa, the $4bn fertiliser project in Ethiopia’s Somali region is no longer simply a manufacturing investment. It is increasingly being framed as a strategic state project tied to food sovereignty, import substitution and the government’s broader attempt to build economic resilience under mounting fiscal pressure. “Becoming self-sufficient in food is our main agenda,” Abiy says during the visit. “Land is needed; we have it. Water is needed; we have it. Human resources are needed; we have it.” The scale is enormous even by African industrial standards. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce three million metric tonnes of urea annually, potentially making it one of the continent’s largest fertiliser complexes. Ethiopian officials say the project now includes a 110km gas pipeline, a 120MW power plant, a polypropylene packaging facility and a two-million-tonne NPK blending plant. For a government grappling with chronic foreign exchange shortages, ballooning import bills and pressure on agricultural productivity, the numbers matter politically as much as they do economically. The decision to anchor the project in Gode is deliberate. Long viewed as peripheral to Ethiopia’s industrial economy, the Somali region is now being repositioned by the federal government as a future irrigation and agro-industrial corridor. Officials argue that the area’s vast land reserves and access to water could eventually support large-scale commercial farming capable of reshaping Ethiopia’s food economy. The government is simultaneously building housing infrastructure for about 5,000 residents near the plant, while officials project broader industrial expansion along the corridor. Abiy goes further, comparing the long-term revenue potential of the Gode development zone with Ethiopia’s flagship state enterprise. “The investments we are making in this Gode area, combined, will generate high revenue for Ethiopia, at par with Ethiopian Airlines,” he says. Source: The Africa Report Feliks Topolski 1907-1982 Topolski’s Chronicle, ‘Nazi Revival’, Vol. 8, Is. 1-2, 1960 HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Grim vision of drone warfare by Sylvie Kaufmann For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe The state of the art in Colbert-studies. Jean-Baptiste Colbert was Louis XIV chief minister from 1661 to 1683 and traditionally seen as an architect of absolutism and mercantilism. Alexander Hamilton later cited him as an inspiration in 1782. Now his legacy is disputed. Daniel Dessert, the chief critic, sees Colbert as the orchestrator not so much of an absolutist state as of an elite cabal. Would be great to have a good English-language review of this important debate. Source: lhistoire Didn’t know that the Magna Carta included free trade provisions Fighting for the right to the beach in Oregon in 1967: Source: Research Gate RAF Station – British and Polish Flags, c. 1940-45, The Ingram Collection Feliks Topolski, 1907-1989 ink and wash If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
To understand Britain’s new politics, look no further than this Shakespearean saga in Worcestershire
What should be a story of Reform incompetence instead speaks to the broader refusal of Westminster to adapt to multiparty democracy, says assistant Guardian Opinion editor Jason Okundaye
‘Grantchester’ final season to Williamsburg Regional Library
WILLIAMSBURG — Fans of British television and PBS Masterpiece will have a chance to see the premiere episode of the final season of Grantchester ahead of its broadcast during a free community screening next month. WHRO Public Media is hosting a screening premiere event Tuesday, June 2, at the Williamsburg Regional Library with two viewing […]
Rush for new Ebola vaccine as outbreak grows in Africa
US health authorities have warned that 10 African countries are at risk in the Ebola epidemic. There may be hope on the horizon: British scientists say a vaccine for this Ebola variant could soon be ready for testing.
British Politics Is Melting Down. The New Ambassador Is Tuning It Out.
U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Christian Turner has launched a charm offensive in Washington, even as it’s chaos back home.
Britain Preparing for Mission That Could Clear Strait of Hormuz
At Gibraltar, at the tip of Spain, British forces are ready to deploy autonomous mine-hunting equipment if a peace agreement is achieved.
Starmer asks TNT Sports to make Champion League final free to view
Match between PM’s favourite Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain marks first time British fans will be unable to watch final free of charge
New breed of political prisoner arises in Britain as anti-protest sentences rise
More people are being jailed in England and Wales as a result of acting to prevent climate breakdown and the war in Gaza, research reveals
The Meanest Tradition in Entertainment
Celebrity roasts have become crueler in their style of comedy, and almost unwatchable.
Bond breakout? Big effects of bad data. Immigration and thermostatic politics & dad-chat is coming for dad-books.
Thank you for opening your Chartbook email. Anna Airy, A Shell Forge at a National Projectile Factory, Hackney Marshes, London, 1918 Bond breakout - John Authers Across the developed markets, bond markets are staging a slow-motion car wreck. Looking at the drastic moves in the US, Japan, the UK and France, Barclays’ Ajay Rajadhyaksha commented: “Last week, long bonds broke. Not in one country. In all of them. Simultaneously. Four countries. Four different political systems. Four different central banks. But the same trade — “get me out of duration!”” Each country has its own contributing political problems, but the uniformity of the shift out of long-term bonds with high duration makes clear that something broader is afoot. For Rajadhyaksha, it is “simple and uncomfortable.” The developed world “has too much debt, too little fiscal discipline, and no political appetite for fixing either.” If there’s a trigger, it has been the Iran war and the resulting shock to oil supply. Source: Bloomberg G7 countries are now borrowing at rates that were enjoyed by EM in the early 2020s For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe Trade between China and Russia has grown in recent years For contributing subscribers only. Subscribe Big effects of bad data A decade ago nearly nine in ten Americans, when approached, agreed to fill out the Current Population Survey, which is administered to about 60,000 households each month and asks about, among other things, employment. Fewer than seven in ten do so now (see chart 1). For the Consumer Expenditure Survey, which tries to capture 3,700 households monthly, the response rate is down from 68% to 40%. … When the information becomes less reliable, investment decisions get more difficult to make. Some may be delayed, creating a potential drag on the economy. A new working paper by Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University, Erica Groshen, former head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) now at Cornell University, and Duncan Hobbs and Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, hazards an estimate. Preserving trust in “the integrity and quality of official statistics”, the authors claim, generates economic benefits of about $25 for every $1 spent on the BLS, the agency with an annual budget of $700m that is responsible for many of these data. To arrive at their conclusion the quartet analysed an ignoble episode in the BLS’s recent history. On August 1st 2025 Donald Trump sacked Erika McEntarfer, appointed as the agency’s commissioner by his predecessor, Joe Biden. The president alleged, without evidence, that the BLS’s steep downward revision to recent jobs numbers had been “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”. In fact, it was the wanton dismissal that looked bad in the eyes of many observers. In the following seven days there was a 50% leap, relative to the week before, in the average value of the index of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU), which tracks the number of articles mentioning such uncertainty that are published daily in American newspapers. This was a discernible jump even when compared to the chaos caused by Mr Trump’s trade war in April 2025 and his real one in Iran in the past two months (see chart 2). Based on Mr Bloom’s earlier study with other colleagues of the EPU’s impact on business investment, industrial production and employment, the authors estimate that the jump reduced American GDP by over $100bn (0.3%) and non-farm payrolls by 168,000 (0.1%). Source: The Economist Immigration and thermostatic politics (Sarah O’Connor in the FT) A strange thing happened a year and a half ago. No sooner had Americans elected Donald Trump as president on an explicitly anti-immigration platform than US public opinion began to swing much more favourably towards immigration. … to political scientists who study “thermostatic” politics, this development is no surprise at all. Public opinion often moves against the prevailing party, especially if they are perceived to have gone “too far” in one direction. The phenomenon was first explored in the 1990s with reference to fiscal policy, but in recent years it has been particularly evident in the realm of immigration policy. While these swings in opinion polls can make it seem as if people don’t know their own minds, they can be a useful democratic check on governments by sending bright flashing warning lights when policies stray too far from the public’s comfort zone. The problem comes when politicians misinterpret those signals. When people tell pollsters they want less immigration, or think it is bad for the country overall (or the converse), they are often expressing an opinion about how things appear to be going in that moment relative to their preferences, rather than a deep shift in their underlying views. According to Alexander Kustov, a political scientist, most Americans’ views are quite stable and moderate: they support immigration that is controlled and in the national interest, and oppose flows that are disorderly or under-enforced. In the US, he argues the Trump administration over-interpreted dissatisfaction with high immigration under Joe Biden, and implemented policies that went too far for many voters. “People don’t necessarily change their idea about their ideal immigration policy, but they can react to what the government is currently doing,” he told me. “A lot of people are not happy with what the Trump administration are doing — right now we’re not talking about border enforcement, we’re talking about people not just getting harassed, but killed.” But similarly, he added, pro-immigration advocates would be making a mistake to interpret the recent, more favourable swing towards immigration as a deep-seated ideological shift in attitudes. The recent history of UK immigration policy offers another cautionary tale. After the 2016 Brexit referendum, public concern about immigration fell. This was partly because net migration statistics declined, but also because people felt a sense of catharsis and control, says Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, a think-tank. By 2019, the public ranked immigration as only the ninth biggest issue of concern, according to Ipsos polling. But when the Conservative government liberalised visa routes for students and care workers between 2019 and 2022, that helped net migration to surge. And so, too, did public concern. Today’s Labour government has implemented another sharply restrictive turn in immigration policy. As Kustov and researcher Caitlyn Yates argue, thermostatic public opinion should be a useful check on politicians. Instead it seems to have helped to magnify the pendulum swing in the UK. The government over-interprets and overreacts to a change in public opinion, which reacts in turn, prompting a sudden swing the other way. Source: Financial Times HEY READERS, THANK YOU for opening the Chartbook email. I hope it brightens your day. I enjoy putting out the newsletter, but tbh, what keeps this flow going is the generosity of those readers who clicked the subscription button. If you are persuaded to click, please consider the annual subscription of $50. It is both better value for you and a much better deal for me, as it involves only one credit card charge. Why feed the payments companies if we don’t have to. Subscribe Anna Airy, Shop for Machining 15-Inch Shells: Singer Manufacturing Company, Clydebank, Glasgow, 1918 Racing for a vaccine … we have been here before! The deadly Ebola outbreak in two African countries driven by a virus species with no vaccine has triggered an urgent search for a potential jab, in a test of troubled global efforts to avert threats posed by emerging diseases. A World Health Organization advisory group is due to would meet on Tuesday to recommend candidate jabs to prioritise for clinical trials, the global health body said. It will assess data including an analysis by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which was set up after failures in the international response to a previous Ebola crisis. The latest Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has infected hundreds of people and killed more than 80, health authorities say. Cepi’s reaction will be a crucial indicator of its progress towards its wider goal of producing vaccines for pandemic threats in just 100 days, despite steep cuts to international health funding. “If there was ever a time that we could show the world why Cepi is needed and show the world why the 100-day mission is needed, it’s now,” Nicole Lurie, the organisation’s executive director for preparedness and response, told the FT. “We’re happy to accept that responsibility, but obviously we need help from partners — particularly financial help in the long run.” DR Congo and Uganda would make the final decision on whether to press ahead with any vaccine candidates endorsed for clinical trials by the WHO experts, the global health body said. “Other ethical and community acceptability issues will be considered,” said the WHO, which declared the latest outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday. “This will be important to make sure that the trial, if it happens, will be adequately communicated to the population.” Lurie said Cepi had provided information from a survey of research teams and companies working on drugs that might be effective against the Bundibugyo virus behind the outbreak. The organisation hoped soon to announce partners in the quest for a jab, she added, although she declined to give a timescale for when one might be developed. Cepi’s Nicole Laurie said global health bodies were ‘getting some live-fire drills’ with hantavirus and the latest Ebola outbreak. The hunt for a vaccine should be helped by scientific advances including the use of artificial intelligence to find drugs active against viruses, Lurie said. Existing jabs against the Zaire Ebola virus responsible for many previous outbreaks might provide a basis for tackling the Bundibugyo species, she added. “We’ll see how far and how fast we can get,” Lurie said, adding that Cepi had done preliminary work recently on a possible jab for the rat-borne hantavirus responsible for a recent fatal outbreak on a cruise ship. “Both with hantavirus and now with Ebola, [we] are getting some live-fire drills.” Source: Michael Peel in the Financial Times Dad-chat is coming for dad-books. (By Pamela Paul and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg in the WSJ) They were the go-to gifts for Father’s Day: a book about some little-known chapter of World War II, the sweeping narrative of a shipwreck, perhaps the latest presidential biography. These days, dad books are a dying breed. Nonfiction book sales have been in decline for the past four years, and are now the most challenged segment of the print book market. Publishers say certain types of books still fare well—including celebrity memoirs and religious titles. But in recent years, print sales in such categories as biography, current affairs and business and economics—what publishers refer to as “serious nonfiction” and which tend to resonate especially with men—have fallen considerably. Sales of nonfiction print titles were down nearly 8% through May 9 this year, and sales of books about politics and current affairs were down 19%, according to book tracker Circana BookScan. Publishing has long been subject to cyclical changes, with trends in format and genre taking over bookshelves in grand sweeps. (Remember the adult coloring-book craze? Or the stratospheric rise of romantasy?) But many in publishing believe the decline in serious nonfiction is more existential. “The trend couldn’t be clearer,” said Jonathan Karp, the former chief executive of Simon & Schuster and publisher of the new Simon Six imprint. “This is a sea change and people should wake up and realize we’re living in a new world.” One culprit for the shift: a new media diet for fans of more serious nonfiction. … Sixty-two percent of men and 54% of women consumed a podcast in the prior month, according to a recent survey by Edison Research at SSRS, up from 46% and 39%, respectively, in 2023. “When we have internal meetings to talk about this problem, it always comes around to podcasts,” said Jonathan Burnham, president and publisher of the Harper Group at HarperCollins Publishers. “The man who wants to read American history is now tuning into one of the many good podcasts about history that lends the quiet attention to a serious subject he’s looking for. It makes the idea of sitting down with a 700-page Ron Chernow book less appealing. You’ve scratched that itch.” Source: Wall Street Journal Remarkable report by Novara from the nationalist rally in London in mid May. Anna Airy, Leopard Moth and Plums, 1915 If you’ve scrolled this far, you know you want to click: Subscribe
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