The Joy of Six 1115

"The worst instincts of a dictator are on display in Vladimir Putin’s Russia: the overcentralisation of power; the repression of dissent; the futile attempt to fool all of the people all of the time; and the search for security in expansion and isolation." Ronald Suny says Stalin’s phantom continues to stalk the Soviet and post-Soviet landscape, right up to the present war with Ukraine. 

Monica Horten explained before the event why leaving the EU single market to uncertainties of supply, price hikes and possible shortages in Britain's supermarkets.

David Higham makes 10 suggestions to improve the UK's regional policy.

"The novelty of AI being able to compose a Nick Cave song or English 101 essay has worn off; in its place remains the growing category of coverage essentially itemizing every possible thing that could go wrong with the proliferation of these generative chatbots." Delia Cai on the swift demise of hype about AI chatbots.

Simon Evans foresees the death of rock and roll: "A few good men have not deserted their posts but they are dying in their boots. The reinforcements never came. 'Just about every rock legend you can think of,' Damon Linker wrote in an essay for the Week, 'is going to die within the next decade or so.' The stats are grim and foretell a 'tidal wave of obituaries'."

"Like Howerd, Sterne knew that the secret of innuendo is complicity, to force the reader/audience to join the dots, and then to protest with fake self-righteousness when the joined dots add up to a rude picture. ... And like Howerd, Sterne was always complaining that he needed to get back to some notional central narrative." Conrad Brunstrom enlightens us about the parallels between Frankie Howerd and Laurence Sterne.