“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” I was reminded of Hunter Thompson’s line by a speech from Ravi Menon, former managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, recently in the press. “The New Geo-Economics in a Quantum World.” A speech by a distinguished economist from Singapore… that safe harbour of sensible … Read more
Analysis of Xi Jinping’s Shanghai speech opening the 2026 World AI Conference It started in New Hampshire Xi opens not in China but in America, at Dartmouth, New Hampshire, in 1956, with “a group of young scholars.” A Chinese head of state, making the most explicit bid yet for leadership of global AI governance, cedes … Read more
Which Map? This week, in Melbourne, two prime ministers looked out across the same ocean and saw two different things. Australian PM Anthony Albanese, welcoming Narendra Modi to the Australia–India Leaders’ Summit, said: “While we are separated by an ocean, we are indeed the closest of friends.” A few moments later Indian PM Narendra Modi … Read more
Political commentators love the phrase “the battle for Number 10”. It’s shorthand for a general election. Until this week. In his speech at The People’s History Museum in Manchester, Andy Burnham stated he would create a “No 10 North”. So now we have to ask. Which No 10? The phrase only worked because it was … Read more
On her 16th Birthday, 12th July 2013, Malala Yousafzai made a speech at the United Nations, on the importance of education; the education of young girls in particular. 13 years later, at the recent TED, Malala gave another speech. It could have been titled: “On Failure”. Indeed there was an implied admission of failure in … Read more
In St Paul, Minnesota, Bernie Sanders delivered a strong speech to the “No KIngs” rally. He spoke from notes; and the speech was carefully crafted. For the first one third (almost exactly: to 9:53) of the speech Sanders addresses what he is against. The vocabulary is choice: authoritarianism, oligarchy, kleptocrat, pathological liar, narcissist. Then there … Read more
Silent Night: The Ecology of “Club Death”. by Talks Decoded Thoughts on a TEDx talk by Freek Wallagh at TEDx Amsterdam.Read on Substack Freek Wallagh is a poet and the current Night Mayor of Amsterdam. His TEDx talk was a defence of the city’s nocturnal life. And something considerably more. On first viewing, it is … Read more