"Professional investment in sports and retail participation in private equity could create extraction upon extraction, raising the spectre of perfectly self-exploiting fanbases."
Oh I think we're mostly already there... but yes it can get worse.
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/m...
This is lovely. We'd probably all be more cheerful if we knew the bailiffs could, and actually do, come for the corporates rather than only for us.
Of course it's in Europe. Would never happen in UK.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
This is the best Substack article I have read this year (and I read a lot of them).
I think it's really important people who are struggling to earn a living, struggling to understand why their efforts no longer succeed as they used to, realise why.
open.substack.com/pub/jawesten...
I just love the offhand insinuation of "we'll enjoy them being here, whether playing or being mown down by automatic fire".
T&Cs: Welcomes may contain threats to life.
Given Spotify have 750M+ active users, the number of immense bands with < 7.5M monthly listeners (not listened to by 99%) makes me want to cry.
I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you
Timeless artistry.
If they go down then Nokia confirmed :)
While not as drastic, perhaps the Intel to Arsenal's Nvidia?
This article feels like a parable for business in general: What happens when product and customers are ignored in favour of a total focus on numbers and financialisation.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Not sure I'd blame the icon design here, more the inability of people to bother establishing facts properly, so used are they to being spoonfed naive information
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dangermouse and Baron Greenback for the £50 please
I wonder if brands who partner with Klarna ever stop to think about why they are so keen to get their customers to spend money they don't have.
Has any brand ever flipped it and promoted themselves as not wanting that? I can't recall one.
I'm just going to say it. The scarcity of work is becoming quite frightening. After 25 years in marketing and 10 years freelancing I have no idea how to fix this.
Of the 3, it was definitely the most plausible :)
Love the range of excuses herein, including: Serco, foggy weather, and 'having to get things from Gosport'.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Finally finished Yuval Noah Harari's book 'Nexus'. Enjoyed it immensely and the final chapter is perhaps better than anything in 'Sapiens'. It clarifies our future choices about AI very usefully.
I want to call this Nutkinsian determinism.
Research for an article on modern doublespeak has led me to watch The Critical Drinker YT channel. I wonder whether this guy intends to be the gateway drug to the manosphere or if he thinks it's all harmless pushback fun?
Either way, how YT creators evolve is becoming an interesting subject.
No unfriendly states near the data centres. Now we're getting to the plausible reasons...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
More of this please. More serious people taking down the entire internet grifter class.
open.substack.com/pub/sporting...
When a digital agency boss agreed to a client demand for "done for Monday" work at 4.30pm on a Friday just as he was putting his coat on and leaving. He shouted over his shoulder "get pizza if you have to, but no more than £25" as he sashayed out.
Majestic stuff, worth 4 mins of your time, you'll laugh.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...
Dot balls sighted, sir, 3 of ' em!
New article in which I revisit 'The Dark Knight' to frame our desperate search for sensation in a world where no one gets to vote on AI and spending money doesn't feel like a vote for anything either.
open.substack.com/pub/exodus25...
Richard Stanley's The Island of Dr Moreau. Oh, hang on...
3 words leapt out: Infinite content stream
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
The Roses (2025) also had a very different style of beautiful kinetic typography in the opening credits.
louisjmorton.com/The-Roses-Ti...
Is it unfair to counter the maxim: "Words matter, words hurt."
with the response "Only seriously to the terminally online."?
Only they, who feel no other stimuli than those provided by a screen, can perceive such levels of anguish.
Are we building our moral compass around that standard?
Modern morality bingo: Full House
Harsher penalty for words than physical violence
Perp pivots to victim status with "didn't intend, not my values"
Outrage machine spins up "no place in society" blandishments.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
