Xmas a la Edward Hopper
(Courtesy of Alex Tabarrok)
Quote of the Day
“The biggest blind spot of economics is the economy.”
- Dan Davies
Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news
Bach | Christmas Oratorio
Wonderful music for this time of year. It’s an hour and a half long, but worth it if you have the time. If not, at least stay with Part 1 which lasts for 26 minutes. Part 21 starts at 00:26; Part 3 at 00:54 and Part 4 at 01:18
One of my long-term dream projects is a road-trip through Germany, ending at the Thomaskirche, Bach’s church, in Leipzig.
Elizabeth Braw has a nice essay about the Oratorio in Engelsberg Ideas.
Long Read of the Day
How the media made Nick Fuentes
My Observer column of 12 December:
Fuentes is an equal-opportunity dog-whistler, so much so that many social media platforms have excluded him (but YouTube has had no qualms about hosting America First). His big break came in 2024, when Elon Musk let him back on X, where he now has more than 1 million followers.
Given the number of rightwing fanatics on X, you’d have thought that just adding one more might not be such a big deal. Big mistake. Fuentes is suddenly ubiquitous in American political discourse. He started popping up in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Politico and other respectable outlets. He has also spawned a large group of followers called “groypers”, after a cartoon amphibian named Groyper, which is a variant of the internet meme Pepe the Frog. Groyper is depicted as a rotund, green, frog-like creature, often sitting with its chin resting on interlocked fingers…
PDF version here
My commonplace booklet
Fame at last!
I had an email from a friend asking if I knew that I was now an exhibit in the British Library. He sent this pic as evidence. I was puzzled. But then I zoomed in and understood.
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