NASHVILLE, TN—Somewhere between the second verse of “Road Less Traveled” and the fourth refill of a flat Diet Coke, Lauren Alaina has become the accidental cultural attaché of a world that can’t decide whether it’s falling apart or just remixing itself. Yes, she’s the Georgia-born runner-up from American Idol’s tenth season—remember when that franchise still…
Bill Belichick’s New Girlfriend: A Glorious Global Distraction While the World Burns By Dave’s Locker International Correspondent Geneva, Switzerland – In a week when the Arctic Circle posted a balmy 12°C, when the Bank of Japan quietly admitted it has been printing yen like counterfeiters on Red Bull, and when the EU’s AI Act started…
Thomas Skinner Strictly: The Glitterball as Geopolitical Football By Our Man in the Greenroom, still hung-over from diplomatic canapés LONDON – Somewhere between a bunting-draped Blackpool Tower and a hastily booked EasyJet to Marbella, Thomas Skinner—the East-End mattress mogul turned meme-savant—has become the most unlikely soft-power export Britain has produced since the Queen parachuted into…
Chris McCausland: The Blind Comedian Teaching the World to See Its Own Absurdity By Correspondent-at-Large, Dave’s Locker Global Desk LONDON—Somewhere between the Brexit hangover, the climate meltdown, and the latest AI-generated pop star, a middle-aged Scouser with a white cane has become the most reliable export Britain has managed in years. Chris McCausland, 47, professional…
SYDNEY—In the age of algorithmic pop stars and CEOs who moonlight as rocket-ship salesmen, the planet still finds itself briefly stunned by a 26-year-old from Utah who can do a cartwheel into a back-flip into a perfectly timed body roll and make it look like geopolitical commentary. Alexis Warr, newly crowned champion of Australia’s “So…
The Curious Case of Thomas Skinner: How One Man’s Name Became the World’s Most Portable Punchline Dave’s Locker – International Edition It started, as most global fiascos do, with a typo. Somewhere in the teeming server farms of an Asian supply-chain giant, a purchase-order algorithm swapped “THOMAS SKINNER” for “THOMAS SKINNER™.” Overnight, the phrase metastasized…
Dateline: Geneva, where the chocolates are sweet but the blackmail is artisanal. A curious phrase—“badger game”—has resurfaced in diplomatic circles, tabloid back pages, and encrypted Telegram threads from Lagos to Lima. At first glance it sounds like a rural pub sport involving small, stripey mammals and questionable alcohol. In reality it is the oldest multiplayer…
The Curious Case of Pat McAfee: How an NFL Punter Became the World’s Loudest Weather Vane By the time Pat McAfee’s voice ricochets across your earbuds in Lagos, La Paz, or Lillehammer, the planet has already decided what it thinks. In one hemisphere he is the court jester of American excess, in another he is…
Devon Dampier and the Global Ripple of a Small-Town Scandal By Our Correspondent, filing from three time zones and a bar with suspiciously good Wi-Fi Picture the scene: a mug-shot taken under fluorescent lights in Alachua County, Florida—hardly the stuff that usually jolts currency traders in Singapore or keeps policy wonks awake in Brussels. Yet…
Camila Alves Is the Last Diplomat Left Standing—and She Only Wanted to Sell You a Handbag By “Globetrotting” G. Mallory, Senior Correspondent, Dave’s Locker RIO DE JANEIRO—While the G-7 busied itself deciding which adjectives to hurl at Russia and the BRICS practiced their annual photo-op yoga, Camila Alves quietly boarded a flight from Austin to…
Katmai National Park, Alaska — While COP30 delegates in Belém were busy arguing over commas in Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, the planet’s most honest climate summit concluded last Friday with the coronation of Bear 747—“Wide-Body” to his fans—as champion of Fat Bear Week 2025. The annual pageant, part popularity contest, part gluttonous talent…
**When Titans Tango: The Global Implications of Anderson-DiCaprio’s Hypothetical Ballet** The international film community found itself in collective cardiac arrest this week when whispers emerged that cinema’s most meticulous auteur, Paul Thomas Anderson, might deign to collaborate with Hollywood’s last true movie star, Leonardo DiCaprio. The news spread faster than a cryptocurrency crash, sending film…
