Are we going to regulate AI so that it develops safely? Well, look what happened with CO2 emissions, cigarettes, phones and social media. Me @FT (free to read) as.ft.com/r/f3dc012b-f...

This happens at every World Cup as the ordinary tourists who usually come to cities in June and July stay away, while most football visitors only fly in for the game and then out again

Tibor Fischer in The Telegraph: "Orban will win again and the Leftist chatterati just doesn't get why"

Opps.

Searching for FIFA Founder Jules Rimet The life of FIFA’s founder shows that global soccer’s governing organization’s willingness to embrace brutal regimes was baked in from the start.

We have an extraordinary excerpt from @simonkuper.bsky.social's latest book WORLD CUP FEVER in @newrepublic.com today, about the life of FIFA's forgotten founder Jules Rimet newrepublic.com/article/2084...

Life is getting longer while most of the things that give it meaning are in decline. Now, thanks to AI, meaningful work is under threat too. How old do we really want to live to? Me @financialtimes.com (free link) as.ft.com/r/f6a6129d-d...

Is life getting too long? Me @financialtimes.com with a little help from Louis CK as.ft.com/r/e94c88b8-b...

The best and the brightest

Football In A Library: Simon Kuper's 'World Cup Fever'

NEW EPISODE: The first in the occasional 'Football In A Library Series' on the WTMG pod...

The brilliant @simonkuper.bsky.social talks about his latest book 'World Cup Fever - A Footballing Journey in Nine Tournaments' with @goldbergradio.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/episode/1qPP...

Gen. Caine and Adm. Cooper should put a statement now making clear the U.S. military will not follow orders that would mean committing war crimes, including military actions whose purpose would be to destroy a country or a civilization.

What happens to Britain's radical right if Orbán loses? Inside the money, power and patronage connecting Hungary and the British right

"Matthew Goodwin has been paid a salary of up to €10,000 a month [from Hungary's state-funded MCC], according to leaked documents obtained by Hungarian investigative journalists Direkt36 and reported by the Good Law Project"

That could all end if Orbán loses...
open.substack.com/pub/democrac...

Simon Kuper chronicles the last days of the Special Relationship between the UK and US. It's something Keir Starmer badly wants and Donald Trump is determined to trash. www.ft.com/content/9ce4...

An all too special relationship [FREE TO READ] Maga leaders obsess over an imagined version of a long-lost Britain

Contrary to popular opinion, the US-UK "special relationship" really is special. Both the UK government and the Trump people treat it that way. And that's a problem - very damaging to the UK. Me @financialtimes.com on MAGA fantasies of a bygone Britain as.ft.com/r/9146432d-1...

John Scalzi can write very well, and writers should indeed write their own work. But is it wrong to use AI to help you research a topic (while knowing that it's sometimes prey to hallucinations)?

I think it was PG Wodehouse who said the whole point of being a writer was to have a bookshelf full of all the different editions of your books above your typewriter. I just added the new, gloriously dark-green US edition of World Cup Fever. Get yours here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/World-...

“The US, the WFP’s biggest donor, has cut funding by about two-thirds, or $3bn. Meanwhile Donald Trump is seeking another $200bn to fight his war with Iran.”

Las hambrunas provocadas por nuestros líderes: la columna más desoladora que Simon Kuper ha escrito en meses
www.ft.com/content/8e87...

How conflict is driving hunger [FREE TO READ] The Swede who runs the World Food Programme on its hardest year for decades

The least discussed aspect of the absurd war in Iran: it's driving a global hunger crisis, which was already disastrous even before the war. Here's me talking to the @WFP on how conflict causes hunger. A lot more important than US gasoline prices as.ft.com/r/467d14b8-9...

Slavernijhistoricus Justin Marozzi: 'Waarom kijkt niemand naar de islamitische slavenhandel?' De Verenigde Naties veroordelen de westerse slavenhandel als de ergste misdaad in de menselijke geschiedenis.

Ben er trots op een vriend te zijn van deze historicus van de slavernij. Belangrijk: de slavenhandelaren waren niet alleen Europeanen (al doet dat feit natuurlijk niets af aan de wreedheid van die Europeanen). Het verhaal gaat geografisch veel verder www.ewmagazine.nl/buitenland/a...

How conflict is driving hunger [FREE TO READ] The Swede who runs the World Food Programme on its hardest year for decades

The least discussed aspect of the absurd war in Iran: it's driving a global hunger crisis, which was already disastrous even before the war. Here's me talking to the @WFP on how conflict causes hunger. A lot more important than US gasoline prices as.ft.com/r/467d14b8-9...

Here's a new link to the article as previous link expired: as.ft.com/r/0d477320-5... On bikes but also school streets, turning parking into cafe terraces, making a city for people not heaps of metal

How Paris beat the car [FREE TO READ] Though chaotic, the city’s transition has become a global role model

The left holds Paris. Emmanuel Grégoire is new mayor, succeeding Anne Hidalgo. He beat the right by about 51%-40% say estimates. Many factors mattered, but clear that voters endorsed left's transformation of Paris into biking city. See my @financialtimes.com column as.ft.com/r/7840a393-8...

Writing Without Excess 21 Questions with Simon Kuper, author of World Cup Fever

I answer 21 questions from the Next Big Idea book club about writing - about a room of one's own, keeping notebooks, listening, what you can get from reviews, and not writing a word till you make an elaborate structural plan for where every bit goes
authorinsider.nextbigideaclub.com/p/writing-wi...

How Paris beat the car [FREE TO READ] Though chaotic, the city’s transition has become a global role model

The left holds Paris. Emmanuel Grégoire is new mayor, succeeding Anne Hidalgo. He beat the right by about 51%-40% say estimates. Many factors mattered, but clear that voters endorsed left's transformation of Paris into biking city. See my @financialtimes.com column as.ft.com/r/7840a393-8...

Trump’s wars are made for TV [FREE TO READ] And, tragically, the real life death toll seems irrelevant

Trump still thinks like a TV producer. But when the reality show that was his first term got boring, and the audience demanded an Epstein Files season, he switched to a far more dangerous action-adventure series - in Venezuela, Minneapolis, Iran, soon Cuba as.ft.com/r/19f56341-6...

Het komende WK Voetbal wordt misschien wel het meest politieke ooit. Tijdens de theateravond De Macht van het WK Voetbal neemt @simonkuper.bsky.social ons mee op reis naar het heden en verleden van het mondiale voetbal.

O.a. in Den Haag, Utrecht & Groningen!

👉🏻 www.haagschcollege.nl/macht-van-he...

© CBC/Radio-Canada 2026. All rights reserved.

I talked to @CBCRadioCanada about how the World Cup reflects geopolitics, how anti-Trump America could use the tournament against Trump, and my new book, World Cup Fever www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Municipales 2026 à Paris. Emmanuel Grégoire loin devant Rachida Dati, vers un second tour à quatre ou cinq candidats ? Selon les premières estimations, le socialiste Emmanuel Grégoire (entre 36,4 et 38 %) virerait largement en tête du premier tour des municipales à Paris devant l’ancienne ministre de la Culture Rachid...

And news from Paris: the left should hold on to power, with candidate Emmanuel Grégoire having beaten right-winger Rachida Dati quite big in 1st round, about 37%-25%. He'll likely win the 2nd round. This would mean Paris extending its pro-bike anti-car revolution www.ouest-france.fr/elections/mu...

RÉSULTATS. 1er tour des élections municipales 2026 au Havre : Édouard Philippe en tête, une triangulaire pour le second tour Édouard Philippe, maire sortant, obtient 43,76% des votes au premier tour. Il arrive devant Jean-Paul Lecoq, tête d'une liste de gauche rassemblée (33,25%) et Franck Keller, tête de liste UDR-RN (15,3...

Philippe said that if he lost the mayoralty, he wouldn't run for president. And he's the candidate with best chance of beating likely far-right candidate Jordan Bardella, aged 30. E. Philippe is Macron's ex-PM but has created distance from hated Macron france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/normandie/se...

French municipal elections: most important news for future of France is that Edouard Philippe is likely to survive as mayor of Le Havre, having won about 43% in the first round. Holding on to the working-class city makes him credible candidate for post-Macron centre in 2027 presidential elections

How Paris beat the car [FREE TO READ] Though chaotic, the city’s transition has become a global role model

Here's a new link to my piece on how Paris chose the bike, and what lessons for other cities. Thanks @barrysmit.nl for alerting me to expiry of old link as.ft.com/r/026ab836-f...

Amsterdam and Copenhagen are years ahead of Paris for bikes. The interesting thing about Paris is that it was a vast car-clogged city that made the change fast, and recently - hence lessons for other cities now