Brigadoon Daily
Your daily dose of the emerging issues + independent thinkers shaping commerce + culture
November 15, 2021
Backcountry Skiing, House of Gucci, Mars, Bored Ape Yacht Club
TOP FIVE
1. 40,000 attendees, 15 days — but was COP26 all a waste of time?
2. Can Reaganism rise again?
3. The great organic-food fraud
4. Know how the Beatles ended? Peter Jackson may change your mind.
5. US beats Mexico and then rubs it in
BRIGADOON EVENT
Brigadoon Workshop: World 2022 | 7 Elections + 7 Topics
This two-session workshop will help you understand the geopolitical landscape, plan for seven critical elections worldwide, and gather insights on the seven topics that will shape commerce and culture as we advance.
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 | 12:00 - 2:00 pm ET
Washington, DC or Virtual
For more information or sign up - click here.
GLOBALIZATION + STATECRAFT
40,000 attendees, 15 days — but was it all a waste of time? As the COP26 talks to limit global warming end, there are fears that the failure to agree to phase out coal has scuppered the summit.
The Times
+ The great #EV raw materials disconnect:
“#COP26 declaration would require over 7m tonnes of lithium annually, which is 17 times more than 2021..”
“.. 5m tonnes nickel sulfate, 19 times more than in 2021.”
With Irn-Bru and climate-funding pledges, Scotland’s leader made a role for herself at COP26
WP
Nicola Sturgeon in sharp focus for ‘fortnight of selfies’ at COP26: Was the first minister promoting Scotland at Cop26 or preparing for a life after politics?
The Times
Explainer: How Miami became a great Latin American city: Hard to believe, but this global meeting point of the Americas used to be a sedate Southern resort — before morphing at speed into a multicultural metropolis where Spanish is the lingua franca.
FT
Urbanites flock to Atlantic Canada as pandemic blunts cities’ appeal: As housing prices soar in big cities, the country’s eastern provinces are experiencing a surge in migration. Newcomers are being welcomed, but some locals are wary.
WP
Iceland roasts Facebook in tourism ad promising ‘Enhanced Actual Reality’: A video advertises the “Icelandverse” as a magical place where “water is wet.”
WP
Ukraine warned of ‘high probability’ of Russian military escalation this winter: Kyiv’s deputy defense minister tells FT western intelligence not just based on troop surge at the border.
Scotland is still equally divided on independence: The Times reports despite six months of relative political quietude, Scotland remains divided and polarised on the constitutional question. Just under half (49 percent) say they would vote yes to independence, just over half (51 percent), no.
Poll tips SNP to gain Westminster seats but no change for Union within five years: The latest Panelbase survey of voters forecasts that in an election the Scottish Tories would lose half their six seats.
The Times
Will Boris Johnson get away with sleaze scandal? Voters are complaining but senior Tories hope Teflon-coated Boris can ride the storm again.
Tim Shipman
The Burgundians: A vanished empire by Bart Van Loo review: A thrilling history of a lost empire: A superb look at a long-gone empire and the mad dukes who ruled it.
Dominic Sandbrook
When Biden meets Xi: Diplomacy can’t repair the relationship—but it can still prevent disaster
Danny Russel
Can Biden and Xi talk their way out of a slide into conflict?
Doyle McManus
The real danger of a biological cold war with China: Can we thwart Beijing’s drive for US secrets without stifling science or harming American innovation?
Matthew Ponsford
Xi Jinping’s victory lap looks a little premature: For all its noise, the president’s “common prosperity” program is still mostly talk and China’s deeply unequal economic structure remains largely unchanged.
Matthew Brooker
‘Xi Jinping Thought’ makes China a tougher adversary: The party ratifies it as a Marxist ‘breakthrough,’ consolidating his power and expanding its control.
Kevin Rudd
The COVID drugs are finally here: New medicines from Pfizer and Merck could take some pressure off hospitals. But will they work on the already vaccinated?
FT
POLITICS + CAMPAIGNS
High inflation pushes Biden to focus message on rising prices: Rising cost of groceries, gasoline, and rent could put Democrats’ legislative agenda at risk; Republican Party sees ‘gold mine.’
WSJ
Biden says he takes inflation seriously. He’s not acting like it. Prices are rising due to forces beyond the president’s control. But his policy program has tended to make the problem worse, and voters will blame him regardless.
Rich Lowry
Top Biden health officials push to make coronavirus booster shots available to all adults: WP reports the support is not universal; CDC director ‘wants to see the data.’
Biden approval hits new low as economic discontent rises, Post-ABC poll finds: The Post-ABC poll finds that, if elections were held today, 46 percent of adults overall would back the Republican candidate for Congress and 43 percent would support the Democratic candidate. Among registered voters, the GOP advantage goes to 51 percent vs. 41 percent for Democrats, a historically strong result for Republicans on this measure.
Harris and Buttigieg under the spotlight amid uncertainty over Biden’s future
WP
The top 10 GOP presidential candidates for 2024, ranked
WP
Can Reaganism rise again?
Ross Douthat
Beyond red vs. blue: The political typology: Even in a polarized era, deep divisions in both partisan coalitions.
Pew
The crypto ambitions of New York’s next mayor — and what could stop him: Eric Adams’s embrace of crypto and his promise to make the city the center of the industry have generated excitement. He’s got his work cut out.
Fola Akinnibi + Crystal Kim
Ocasio-Cortez isn’t wavering. Are New Yorkers on her side? By voting no on the infrastructure bill, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set off a fierce debate, including among city residents eager to see the subways improved.
NYT
Where electric cars could help save coal: In states like North Dakota, giving up gasoline might not mean giving up fossil fuels.
WP
DISRUPTION + INNOVATION
Nuclear fusion is close enough to start dreaming: A world of cheap, clean energy may be closer than many people realize, and its consequences more profound.
Tyler Cowen
COMMERCE
TikTok fans brew even more complicated orders at Starbucks: Social-media influencers take customized drinks to new extremes; baristas find it a bit exhausting.
WSJ
The great organic-food fraud: There’s no way to confirm that a crop was grown organically. Randy Constant exploited our trust in the labels—and made a fortune.
New Yorker
The incredible tale of the greatest toy man you've never known: He brought Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Cabbage Patch Kids to our living rooms. He made and lost fortunes. Can Al Kahn stay in the game?
Inc.
Bloomberg: BMW and Audi may have McLaren in their sights
How do you get a royal warrant? The Queen’s seal of approval is prized by companies, but once won, it’s tricky to keep hold of, as Rosie Kinchen discovers.
The Times
Amazon’s spinmasters: Behind the internet giant’s battle with the press: There was a time when Jeff Bezos barely cared about public relations. But after years of increasingly hostile media coverage and growing public scrutiny of Amazon, the company has gone on the offensive against journalists. It even measures its PR team on the corrections they get on stories.
Information
The 10,000 faces that launched an NFT revolution: When two Canadian coders started an online project called CryptoPunks, they had no idea they’d spark a hyped-up, blockchain-fueled cultural juggernaut.
Wired
How four NFT novices created a billion-dollar ecosystem of cartoon apes: Bored Ape Yacht Club became internet rock stars by making NFTs of grungy simians that aren't just viral images — they're tickets to a whole new lifestyle.
RS
+ Last quarter, a record-breaking $11 billion worth of NFTs were sold across multiple blockchains
Bitcoin mining noise drives neighbors nuts—a giant dentist drill that won’t stop: Cryptocurrency operations require banks of computers and fans to cool them, and the din is making people who live nearby frazzled.
WSJ
Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto could be unmasked at Florida trial: Lawsuit over a $64 billion cache looks beyond the pseudonym to solve the mystery of who created the cryptocurrency.
WSJ
MARKETING + COMMUNICATIONS
Time for marketers to revisit advertising’s power to do good
Dhruv Warrior
SPACE + SCIENCE
Urban life on Mars? Architects, designers, and scientists are imagining how Red Planet settlers might live—and hoping to find lessons for everyone back on Earth.
Bloomberg
PERFORMANCE
The body is not a machine: Modern biomedicine sees the body as a closed mechanistic system. But illness shows us to be permeable, ecological beings.
Nitin K Ahuja
CULTURE
Lady Gaga and Ridley Scott on ‘House of Gucci’: When beauty turns ugly: To play a fashionista willing to kill in the director’s fact-based drama, his star plunged deeply into character. “How could I possibly turn it off?” she said.
NYT
Know how the Beatles ended? Peter Jackson may change your mind. The director’s three-part documentary “Get Back” explores the most contested period in the band’s history and reveals there’s still plenty to debate.
NYT
What happened to Eric Clapton? When coronavirus struck, the guitar icon took a forceful — and controversial — stand that has friends and fans puzzled as never before.
WP
SPORT
So, you want to be a backcountry skier?
WP
US beats Mexico and then rubs it in: Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie scored and the Americans, fueled by a perceived slight, reveled in their third win over their rival this year.
NYT
There's nothing like USA/Mexico. There's nothing like "Dos A Cero." The coolest sporting event I've ever experienced
Reags
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Curation and commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder @ Brigadoon
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