Dave Lee

FT's Henry Mance interviews former UK prime minister, Gordon Brown. It's a strong portrait of a hugely underappreciated leader:

Brown gives interviews in the same way an emperor penguin crosses Antarctica: sometimes gliding effortlessly, sometimes barely tolerating the headwinds. His joys and anxieties run through his entire frame.

Gordon Brown: ‘I really didn’t think we could go as far backwards as we’ve gone’ · ft.comThe former prime minister says Britain could have avoided austerity — but that politics has changed since the 1990s

Ed Luce in the Financial Times:

We are barely two months into the republic’s year from hell. In 2024, US politics is hitting a perfect storm of partisan loathing in a society where algorithms become ever more skilled at generating outrage among the exhausted majority. Conditions are as good as they get for an outrage entrepreneur like Trump. The rest of this year promises to be nastier than anything we have seen.

Year from hell · ft.comEconomic growth is failing to heal a nation torn over identity disputes instead of addressing its long-term challenges

Washington Post reader Ted Miller, of Alexandria, in a letter to the editor:

No sooner had the Senate passed a $95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other U.S. allies than House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pronounced it a nonstarter on his side of the Capitol. Won't even debate it. Instead, his colleagues tilted at their latest windmill: the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. According to Quorum, a data analytics firm, this keeps the 118th Congress on track to be the least productive legislature in decades. Here is Nero fiddling while Rome burns. As a taxpayer, I resent paying the salaries of legislators who refuse to legislate and prefer preening for the TV cameras to the hard work of governing their nation in an increasingly dangerous world. I don't get to elect the representatives from Louisiana, but I would respectfully suggest to the good citizens of that state that they aren't getting their money's worth.

Opinion | We’re not getting our money’s worth out of this Congress · washingtonpost.comI resent paying the salaries of legislators who refuse to legislate.

An excellent take from "JOHNSON", The Economist's long-running column on language and its misuse. While words and turns of phrase can dip in and out of style, a writer should never give up on precision.

Here is a suggestion for writers. You cannot outshout the crowds. So distinguish yourselves by choosing accurate, vivid words between the evasions of euphemism and the temptations of exaggeration. Crimes against language, in the long run, make it harder to describe crimes against humanity.

Euphemism and exaggeration are both dangers to language · economist.comBut verbal extremism is now the bigger threat

writingthe economist

The Guardian's Zach Vasquez on Amazon's highly compelling comedy, Jury Duty:

Gladden, who answered a Craigslist ad for what he thought was a real documentary about jury duty, proved a once-in-a-lifetime find: an aloof, but intelligent and charming everyman who not only tolerated all of the insanity the showrunners and actors threw at him, but, through his innate kindness and empathy, transformed what would probably have been an experiment in cringe comedy into one about the transformative power of makeshift family.

Charming everyman · theguardian.com

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