Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 25

TOP FIVE:

1. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine plants a bomb under the Russian state: Tatiana Stanovaya writes an aggressive foreign policy combined with tighter repression at home will fuel public discontent.

2. Office occupancy rates across the country are creeping up after a January dip: Across 10 major US cities, it was an average of 31 percent of pre-Covid levels earlier this month, up from 23 percent in early January, according to the security firm Kastle Systems.

3. How to beat Putin with natural gas: Kenneth C. Griffin + Niall Ferguson write America and its allies can wean Europe off its dependence on energy imported from Russia.

4. Marie Colvin death ten years on: 'Terrible things may be happening and they go unreported.'

5. Phil Mickelson and the bleak truth of ‘sportswashing’: Jason Gay writes a golf star brazenly acknowledges the moral trade-off with a problematic partner, and the sports world roils.

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Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 24

TOP FIVE:

1. Ukraine crisis kicks off new superpower struggle among US, Russia, and China: WSJ reports Beijing and Moscow now hold a stronger hand in confronting the West than during the Cold War.

2. The five-day workweek is dying: Derek Thompson writes the implications for work and cities are going to be fascinating.

3. French election 2022: The Times reports Macron to fire starting gun on campaign against ‘mediocre rivals’

4. LAT: Avril Lavigne reaches back to her roots on new album to recapture pop punk’s glory days

5. Harvard takes a new trip into the world of psychedelic drugs: The Times reports six decades after Timothy Leary’s controversial experiments on his willing students, scientists are taking a more sober approach, writes Will Pavia.

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Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 23

TOP FIVE:

1. South Korean nukes? Threats from China and North Korea have led 71 percent of South Koreans to say they support Seoul developing a nuclear weapon, per a new Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll released Tuesday.

2. Electric flying cars are just dirty old helicopters, rebranded: David Fickling writes the promises sound too good to be true — and they are. These new vehicles will do little more than ferry the elite, burning carbon and causing noise pollution as they do.

3. Francis Ford Coppola’s $100 million bet: GQ reports fifty years after he gave us The Godfather, the iconic director is chasing his grandest project yet—and putting up over $100 million of his own money to prove his best work is still ahead of him.

4. Are the Olympics becoming irrelevant? What's worse than frustration or anger at a major sporting event? Indifference and resignation. But these are exactly what DW's Jens Krepela feels when he looks at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

5. US women’s soccer players, US Soccer Federation reach $24 million equal pay settlement: WSJ reports the deal, reached by the federation and the players who sued it for discrimination, is contingent on a new team collective-bargaining agreement.

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Brigadoon Daily | Feb. 22

TOP FIVE:

1. France will not vacate the Indo-Pacific anytime soon: Philippe Le Corre writes Emmanuel Macron keen to use EU presidency to move past AUKUS quarrel.

2. How Telegram became the anti-Facebook: Darren Loucaides writes hundreds of millions of users. No algorithm. No ads. Courage in the face of autocracy. Sound like a dream? Careful what you wish for.

3. Innovate or die: Korea Inc. faces harsh choice as election looms: Nikkei reports the nation's next president tasked with reshaping the export-oriented economy.

4. Why did we stop building beautiful neighborhoods? FT reports governments lack the incentive, businesses usually lack the power and almost everyone seems to lack the skill.

5. In an Arctic outpost, Friday nights are for curling: NYT reports in a town with one stoplight, 120 miles above the Arctic Circle, curling provides women with a reason to leave their houses. And that is no small thing.

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