capitol hill mob protest
(Image: EPA/Jim Lo Scalzo)

LABOUR

America’s rail freight industry, already run down by poor, ideological management, is now facing a crippling strike over its refusal to give a pay rise, with dire consequences for the US economy. Around 30% of work in the US is done remotely now — and the economic effects are becoming clear. We’re not the only ones re-embracing industry-wide bargaining — in California, the mammoth fast-food industry faces a challenge to its attempts to keep workers disempowered. Who wrote the rules for international capital? A bloke called Harry White, the subject of a new book on the creation of the post-war global financial structure. Will countries like France regulate “dark” stores before they die out in the coming recession? And what if Christians treated Labor Day as a Christian holiday?

DEMOCRACY

Joe Biden has rightly taken on the fascism of Donald Trump and his supporters — and the profound threat to US democracy they present. Unsurprisingly, however, the “both sides”-obsessed US media clutched its pearls and lamented that the president was being divisive and partisan. When your media choice is an amplifier and enabler of right-wing extremism or a centrism-at-any-cost mainstream media, is it any wonder democracy is under serious threat? There’s some ridiculous bothsidism in this piece but it’s an otherwise interesting comparison of the lead-up to the Civil War and America now. And how Biden successfully baited Trump into entering the mid-term campaign — right where Republicans don’t want him. The Koch family spent US$1.1 billion trying to sway the 2020 election cycle in the United States.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The conservative political playbook in the UK and its Australian connections. The Spanish government is offering free train travel to help fight inflation — funded by a windfall profits tax on energy and banks. Fifty years since Munich — West Germany’s fatal handling of a terrorist attack. Publicly the Putin regime insists sanctions have done little to harm the Russian economy. Internally, it’s a different story — Russia faces a long road to restore the economy to its pre-invasion levels and faces a serious brain drain. The case for banning Russian tourism to the EU… except it’s more complicated than that.

TECH AND CLIMATE

Bryan Appleyard is overly optimistic about autonomous vehicles but otherwise has some trenchant points about the welcome end of the internal combustion engine. Enjoy — the record-breaking hot northern summer will be the coolest one you experience for most of the rest of your life. The costing of climate emergency modelling has been badly astray — the costs of global warming are much higher than previously believed. Get it right, economists — climate costs aren’t your regular “inflation”. While buffoons tout nuclear power in Australia, in France — where nuclear is a longstanding part of the country’s economic fabric — its problems are contributing to energy problems, especially in the UK. American schools are trying to tech their way out of gun violence, and the results are actually making kids less safe.

CULTURE, PERFORMANCE, REVIEWS, SILLINESS

The return of the pseudo-royal Marry and Heghan. Great hatchet jobs of our time: Matt McManus and Nathan J Robinson examine, dissect, fillet and grind into mince the latest work from popular far-right writer Douglas Murray. Darrell Spencer explains at epic length what kind of death he wants, drawing primarily from golf and McCabe & Mrs. Miller. And — why not? Texas requires the display of “In God We Trust” posters in schools. But, heh heh, not if it’s in Arabic, of course.

FINALLY

Hey, Newcastle readers — got room for some canine affection in your life? There’s a desperate need for dog foster carers up there. And I’ve finally found a dog that can spin faster than a whippet (with apologies to my greyhound Kenny, who occasionally musters up the energy for a spin, but size does count when spinning).