Simon Kuper
@KuperSimon
@FT writer. Now increasingly at @simonkuper.bsky.social Football podcast: Heroes and Humans (@heroesandhumans). Recent memoir of modern Paris, Impossible City
I cannot believe it's out, after months of work, but here's our very first Heroes and Humans of Football podcast! Me with @MehreenKhn. It's about Kylian Mbappé: made in Paris, in an extraordinary family, about to be exported to Madrid. Please listen! heroesandhumans.com
The world was getting stupider, driven by tech, even before AI began rotting the brains of students in particular. What are our chances of stopping the rot? Or will intelligence just wither like sword-fighting or black- smithery did before? Me @FT on.ft.com/4eDy3sC
Europe for the first time ever is surrounded by three hostile big powers: Russia, Trump's US, and China. The one it understands least is China. What do the Chinese want from us? I consult Europe's tiny caste of Chinese-speaking experts @FinancialTimes on.ft.com/44TiwAw
In the age of English-language dominance and machine translation, demand for other languages in the workplace is collapsing. Very few job ads request French, hardly anyone learns Mandarin, etc. Me on how languages work at work, and when minor ones matter on.ft.com/44zDTIj
Now available for preorder - Extractive Capitalism: How Commodities and Cronyism Drive the Global Economy by @LalehKhalili "A brilliant explainer of how the world works." - @KuperSimon
New Book Alert: Empire of the Elite, by Michael M. Grynbaum - a journey through the lost Condé Nast magazine empire hachette.co.uk/titles/michael…
New Book Alert: Something Changed: Beefy, Boadicea, Brixton, Bunting and How Cricket Helped Change the Nation, by Ben Dobson pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/something… On Botham, Thatcher (twin spirits) and the summer of 1981
These drawings are by Abdul Zahra Huthyfa, a football artist in Baghdad, who urgently needs work to pay for family medical bills. To buy one of these, or commission another portrait, email him at [email protected]. These are beautiful gifts at very reasonable prices.
Just sent out my free weekend update. As part of reality weekend i compare what Biden did for Ukraine and what Trump has actually done. Look, I was more critical of Biden than most, but compared to Trump, he was a Ukrainian lion. Trump has made Russia stronger.
Uh-oh…
a deranged Trump claims Obama and Hillary wrote the Epstein files and urges people to not care about them 🥴
Despite living in Paris for years, Simon Kuper had never so much as stuck a finger in the brown waters of the Seine. Suddenly, one Saturday, he was swimming in it on.ft.com/3Imlar0
DM for posters and football illustration unique one edition I need to collect 600euro for urgent family issues
Hard to disagree with Simon Kuper. ft.com/content/aa69e9…
E-coli? I hate fresh water and am disgusted by most things natural, but the FT asked me to jump into the Seine on the day it reopened to swimmers after 102 years
Memo from Paris: Simon Kuper takes a dip in the Seine on.ft.com/4621QJn
Nathalie Halbout, formerly of New Jersey, is now a volunteer nurse in her native Kyiv, taking care of soldiers, many of them wounded by drones. She writes fascinatingly about her experiences, and fundraises for medical supplies. Please follow her for more, and donate!
Alex Phillips leads the international footballers' trade union, @FIFPRO. I interviewed him for @FinancialTimes about whether the transfer system will survive, why he isn't opposed to a salary cap, the life of the typical pro footballer, mental health etc on.ft.com/4kzpwsd
