Equality As A Consolation Prize

Ruxandra Teslo | 3rd March 2026

In a disenchanted world, equality is a consolation prize. “Without providence and fate, outcomes appear to flow almost entirely from human choice and human systems. In casting off the old metaphysical scaffolding, we have also stripped the so-called ‘losers’ of society of any sense of inherent dignity rooted in a larger cosmic story. In a secular world, equality is a last attempt to offer dignity to the weak” (2,900 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

The Bloody Legacy Of Ayatollah Khamenei

Reid Newton | Middle East Uncovered | 1st March 2026

Khamenei used the system he inherited to strip Iranians of all political agency. His regime met dissent and protests with unequivocal brutality. He expanded capital punishment to include charges such as “enmity against God” and “corruption on Earth”. “He will remembered by unmarked graves, economic devastation, prison cells, public executions and a generation that went unheard” (1,900 words)

Why Attack Iran?

Timothy Snyder | Thinking About... | 28th February 2026

Historian examines the US attacks on Iran. Propaganda encourages acceptance without interrogation, but it is vital to do the opposite. "A war is a time when we will be told not to ask questions. But a war is actually when questions must be asked. And they must be asked in light of what we already know." What might seem like "foreign policy" can be better understood as personal politics (800 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

The Case Of The Disappearing Secretary

Rowland Manthorpe | Rowland's Newsletter | 1st March 2026

Fifty years ago, it was unthinkable for a manager to type anything. Documents were dictated and then secretaries typed them. Then came a tech revolution: the personal computer. What can we learn from this for the transition into the AI era? Secretarial work didn't vanish, nor did secretaries. The job evolved: "You stop doing tasks and start overseeing systems." Change is always slower than we think (3,700 words)

We The Bacteria

Régine Debatty | We Make Money Not Art | 27th February 2026

Review of a book offering an "alternative history of architecture from the point of view of microbes". It argues that our entire built environment was created in service to microbial ecosystems. From plague hospitals to urban parks, via sewage systems and indoor bathrooms, the way we build structures has been influenced by microbes, the diseases they can bring, and our fears of infection (1,000 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

So You Want To Build A Tunnel...

Grady Hillhouse | Practical Engineering | 17th February 2026

"Hobby tunnelling" is increasingly popular. Amateur engineers, captivated by the idea of carving their own passageways into a subterranean wilderness, are just getting on with it. One example under a Toronto carpark sparked fears of terrorist plots until the maker came forward: "It was just a guy who liked digging." Tips for diggers: check your permits, think about spoil disposal, and watch out for fires (3,000 words)

Podcast: The Highest Exam | New Books In Economics. About the gaokao, China’s high-stakes college entrance exam and how it shapes the schooling system from the bottom up (52m 57s)

Video: Funeral For A Tree | YouTube | Steve Parker | 2m 56s

Virtual tour of an exhibition that celebrates the life of a 65-year-old oak tree. When the tree died, the artist turned slices of its trunk into wooden "records" that play the calls of birds that roosted in the tree.

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

Why I'm A Quaker

Ozy Brennan | Thing Of Things | 8th January 2026

Modern Quakerism is "very possibly the most orthopraxic religion I’ve ever encountered". The primary thing that makes you a Quaker is participating in a Quaker Meeting. Quakers are focused on regular communication with what they call "Inner Light". Theology is a distraction. Being an atheist is fine. Also: "Quakers had been right about almost every major moral insight of the past 400 years" (3,600 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

A Frank Lloyd Wright Typographic Mystery

Paul Lukas | Inconspicuous Consumption | 25th February 2026

Wonderful piece of amateur detective work. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a Unitarian Universalist church that opened in a Chicago suburb in 1908. The letter H appears three times in the slogan he placed over the entrance. One of them is now upside down — a subtle, but noticeable, mistake. How and when did this happen, and who is responsible? The answer is surprisingly hard to track down (2,000 words)

Jimi Hendrix Was A Systems Engineer

Rohan S. Puranik | IEEE Spectrum | 25th February 2026

Hendrix might not have spoken in decibels and ohm values, but a close analysis of his work reveals a high-level technical understanding. "Reframing Hendrix as an engineer doesn’t diminish the art. It explains how one person, in under four years as a bandleader, could pull the electric guitar toward its full potential by systematically augmenting the instrument’s shortcomings for maximum expression" (1,300 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

My Battle With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Hermione Hoby | Guardian | 24th February 2026

So much of the writing on this topic force experiences into a linear narrative, ending with a triumphant recovery. This one is more interesting because it lacks resolution. Despite the writer's efforts — with everything from medical specialists to wellness coaches to fancy juices — her episodes of extreme, debilitating fatigue recur. Being sometimes-ill is difficult for the patient, and the world, to understand (4,200 words)

Should The Supreme Court Be “Pro-Congress”?

Gabe Fleisher | Wake Up To Politics | 23rd February 2026

Analysis of the verdict striking down Trump’s tariffs, already being hailed as “the most important Supreme Court decision this century”. Gorsuch’s concurring opinion “takes just about everyone on the court to task” for partisan hypocrisy, concluding with a “paean to the legislative process”. He wants to (re)enshrine the primacy of legislative power but neither his conservative nor his liberal colleagues agree (3,900 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

Everyone Is Reading Fantasy

Francis Spufford | Guardian | 22nd February 2026

Fantasy is now the dominant literary genre in the book market. What draws people to it? “Fantasy is true to the experience of the human psyche. The strictly disenchanted world, where nothing exists but physical processes describable without metaphor, and even consciousness is just a material problem waiting to be solved, can be a desiccated place. It keeps heart and mind on inadequate rations” (2,100 words)

How Far Back In Time Can You Understand English?

Colin Gorrie | Dead Language Society | 18th February 2026

Linguist crafts a blog post where the language gets older every few paragraphs, going back a thousand years. His voice changes to mimic a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler. Due mainly to unstandardised spelling, English is virtually unrecognisable if one goes back far enough. Read it and notice when you start to struggle with comprehension. How far did you get? (4,600 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

Luxury’s Overexposure Is Biting

Matter | 23rd February 2026

Luxury is now ubiquitous on social platforms and popular media, and this has been bad for business. “Products are seen constantly; few care and even fewer buy. These displays of luxury are so excessive and so intense that, for the majority of aspirational consumers they have become nothing more than product porn. Excess and expense abound. But the products are interchangeable” (2,600 words)

Bad Lunch

Mishele Maron | Sun Magazine | 31st December 2026 | U

Cooking on a yacht for the rich is hard. Even the best clients love to point out that they paid a lot of money for the experience. The worst actively monitor the workers, leaving dots of lipstick on windows to check how often they were cleaned. One ordered two dozen different desserts for the same meal. No request was too unreasonable: every private chef knows they are "only as good as my last dish" (4,500 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

You’ve Done It Again, Michael

Jynne Dilling | n+1 | 20th February 2026 | U

Publisher's fond memories of the late Michael Silverblatt, beloved public radio broadcaster and host of Bookworm, a show that ran for 33 years and comprised "48,000+ minutes of conversations with every canonical English language writer imaginable". "The most well-read individual on the planet" was startlingly humble and now represents a bygone, and better, period of literary discourse (2,100 words)

Podcast: Richard The Lionheart | Memory Medieval Podcast. Despite the episode’s title, it is mainly about Richard’s rival Saladin and why he is regarded as such a great military commander (2h 20m)

Video: Gnome | YouTube | Ben Cresswell | 4m 50s

An adorably curious character explores the great outdoors. The stop-motion and sound design are outstanding.

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.