The Joy of Six 1321

"In the past two weeks, Elon Musk - a man no one elected to any office - has gained unprecedented access to Social Security payment systems, fired federal workers, shuttered entire agencies, and installed his loyalists throughout the government. If this were happening in any other country, we'd call it what it is: a coup." Parker Molloy complains that the media is treating this outrage like standard political news.

Rachel Coldicutt asks what Musk's rampage through Washington means for Britain's technology policy.

"Something significant happened last week. The UK government forced the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority to resign. Marcus Bokkerink’s crime? Not being sufficiently 'pro-growth'. The chair of a regulator who is supposed to ensure a level playing field for businesses has been replaced by a former Amazon executive." Sue Hawley argues that Keir Starmer's drive to cut red tape could unleash a new wave of dirty money and corporate bad behaviour.

Jonathan Mills draws parallels between British universities today and British Leyland in the Seventies: "When an organisation's revenues fall, or look like they will ... panic sets in. The organisation starts looking at profitability and because it's all set up around departments in the first place, that's how management think in a crisis. Unproductive departments must go, so they look at the department accounts and pick a productive department with the least "profit", and close it. Wonderful! Next year will see a return to profit! Except that it doesn't."

José Vela Castillo introduces us to the revolutionary immigrant architects whose stories inspired Brady Corbet’s film The Brutalist.

"The rest of the cast exited and still we waited. Frankly, having stood there like lemons for nearly an hour we were on the brink of giving up but then we heard her trademark voice – a cross between an exultant yell and a prowling growl – and she came bowling out of the theatre, extravagantly gesturing and slightly fried. Correction: slaughtered. Thrilled, it seemed to us, to see two schoolboys anxious for her autograph, she threw herself upon us and to our amazement, we wound up walking her back to the Savoy." David Benedict on his meetings with Elaine Stritch.