25 Sep 23 Monday Briefing
can we just have a recession already?
Another Murdoch ascends, a US Senator who took bribes is in hot soup, Shakira isn’t done dragging her ex (mostly by living her best life), high-speed rail but only to Birmingham (and a disaster for the north of England per Burnham), and the iPhone 15 dropped in Singapore… to expected crowds, even from overseas.
All the Single Ladies
Not since Piketty has everyone and his uncle with an X account had an opinion about a (dry) economics screed. Melissa Kearney’s The Two-Parent Privilege has its thesis embedded in its title. This privilege is self-evident, say some, but others assiduously avoid it. My take is that anyone who wades into this mire is writing less of an economics text than sociological tinder. Wade into TikTok and you will find manosphere accounts touting singlehood for men as women “are too headache”, radfem accounts saying women in wealthy countries are now able to nope out of marriage because of unprecedented freedom, and lost kids who are just looking for some wisdom… any wisdom. One thing is apparent – we are collectively reinventing what socioeconomic bonds and structures look like in this late stage capitalist world.
While we’re at it, on the economic front, we get news that Singapore’s core inflation is cooling (no one’s really feeling it though), but the UK slides further into recession risk and Germany ain’t looking that hot either.
He Said, He Said
Who’s the new international pariah on the block? Western headlines gave China and its gloomy demographic outlook and dicey property numbers a rest last week and turned its collective lens on India over the alleged assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil by Indian agents. While the diplomatic row continues apace, what’s interesting to me is that the west is slowly – belatedly, in my opinion – realising that other nations are no longer as easily hushed or beaten into submission by sanctions, press and other instruments both blunt and sophisticated. My take is that after the heat from this incident dissipates, the west will likely treat India the way it treated Saudi Arabia, that is, cultivated as a counterbalancing-weight ally while glossing over whatever it finds less savoury about its human rights records and other domestic affairs. What interesting times we live in.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot
Speaking of Canada, they haven’t had a good run of it recently in the press. What the FUCK was the Liberal Party thinking, giving airtime to a Nazi in parliament? I know Ukraine is media darling du jour, but maybe exercise some critical thinking and less idiocy, guys.
Snakes and (Immortal) Ladders
This won’t be for everyone, especially if you (1) don’t understand / read Chinese and (2) don’t care for opera, but it’s worth a mention. The excellent
wrote a thorough review of the Legend of White Snake, one of the Four Great Folktales of Chinese culture, now available on YouTube, with enough detail that you could actually read it first then follow the story without subtitles. This legend has everything, folks – immortals in disguise, practice of the esoteric arts, snake spirits and star-crossed lovers. Enjoy.
re: All the Single Ladies: Most conservative men are mysoginistic to the core and don't give a shit about women until they perceive threat - then it's circle the wagons, attack, lie and sprout pious platitudes. Late stage capitalism indeed, and time for the rise matriarchy.