link roundup

On weeks between substantive posts, I thought I’d do a roundup of some of the things I’m reading and thinking about.

• I’m doing my periodic reread of How to Hide an Empire. I feel like this book should be required reading for every progress-oriented American; it’s not designed to be about progress, but a lot of the section about WWII is about how technology and industrial progress reshaped the projection of power.

• High skilled migration: still good for the receiving country.

• Banning alcohol in South Africa (during COVID) reduced mortality by 14% (largely by reducing car accidents). It also prevented 77 murders, 790 assaults, and 105 rapes.

• Giving all children in sub-Saharan Africa antibiotics lowers mortality 14%.

• The In the Dark podcast remains a masterclass in investigative reporting. This season: the Haditha massacre. Did Marines kill 24 people in Iraq in cold blood? And if so, why wasn’t anyone convicted of murder?

• One dolphin in Japan has bitten 29 people over three years. Honestly, good for him.

• Michael Gove thinks that an outdoor smoking ban at pubs would “not be very brat summer”.