Lisbon, City of Light and Dimming Futures By our correspondent in existential real-estate, still waiting for the tram that never comes If you stand on the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte at dusk, the Atlantic bruises the horizon while the Tagus River reflects the last euro your landlord just hoovered out of your wallet. Below,…
Countdown: Season 2 – When the World Holds Its Breath, Again By Dave’s Locker Foreign Desk Geneva—If you listen very carefully above the hum of espresso machines in the Palais des Nations canteen, you can hear it: the low, collective murmur of diplomats rehearsing the phrase “red line” in sixteen languages. Countdown: Season 2 has…
Julia Bradbury, the erstwhile queen of British rambling television, has unwittingly become the global canary in our collective coal mine. While she once merely guided middle-class English pensioners through Cotswold cowpats, her recent public battle with breast cancer has transformed her into an unlikely geopolitical barometer—proof that even the most anodyne celebrity can’t escape the…
The Gloria Funicular: Lisbon’s Vertical Escalator to the Human Condition By our Special Correspondent, still waiting for the elevator to self-respect If you stand at the foot of Calçada da Glória on any given afternoon, you will witness a tableau so perfectly absurd it could be commissioned by the United Nations as a cautionary exhibit….
Rachel Reeves and the Art of Global Fiscal Schadenfreude By Our Man in a Grey Cloud Somewhere over the North Sea There are moments, usually around 3 a.m. in a hotel bar in Frankfurt, when one realises that the entire planet is simply a vast, badly-run hedge fund with mood lighting. Enter Rachel Reeves, the…
Florida’s Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo, has quietly become America’s most efficient exporter of confusion—an impressive feat in a country that already ships reality TV, deep-fried butter, and unsolicited military advice to every corner of the planet. While Washington haggles over debt ceilings and Beijing perfects the art of the passive-aggressive communiqué, Ladapo has cornered the…
Tropical Storm Lorena: A Gentle Reminder That the Planet Still Hates Us By Our Correspondent in the Tempestuous Tropics They named her Lorena, presumably after someone’s abuela who brewed lethal coffee and never forgot a grudge. This week, the storm politely introduced herself to the Mexican Riviera, slapped Acapulco with 65-mph winds, and then drifted…
Courtney Wild and the Global Epidemic of Disposable People By Marcello Vanzi, International Correspondent, Dave’s Locker PARIS—If you squint through the diesel haze drifting off the Boulevard Périphérique, Courtney Wild’s story looks almost Parisian: a woman reduced to a headline, a case file, a cautionary tale. Yet the same plot points—powerful men, silenced women, and…
Honduras: The Little Republic That Couldn’t Catch a Break By Dave’s Locker International Desk (with a stiff cup of contraband coffee) If global geopolitics were a dinner party, Honduras would be the guest who arrives early, helps set the table, and still gets seated next to the drunk uncle who keeps spilling merlot on the…
