"Chris van Tulleken refuses to tell me what to have for breakfast. 'Everyone thinks that I have a strong opinion about what they should eat,' he tells me, as I hesitate between the eggs benedict and the full English. 'And I have almost no opinion.'
Now, this isn’t quite true." (The Atlantic)
"As I arrived for the first day of the National Conservatism Conference in London, a protester outside shouted directions to me: 'Up the stairs—turn far right.'” (The Atlantic)
"If the coronation proved anything, it’s that a great number of people in Britain are incredibly talented, albeit at skills that were last useful in the 18th century. Did you know, for example, that there are such things as “drum horses,” which the riders steer with reins attached to their feet? We’ve also got heraldic trumpeters, master embroiderers, and someone who can fix the suspension on a gold coach. If you need a “unicorn pursuivant” at short notice, Britain has you covered." (The Atlantic)
"I believe that these bans on child transition are unhelpful, illiberal, and in many cases disturbingly punitive—and I say that as someone with serious reservations about the most influential model of child gender care in America." (The Atlantic)
"Somehow Florida, a state that bills itself as the home of the ornery and the resistant, the obstinate and the can’t-be-trodden-on, the libertarian and the government-skeptic, has fallen for the most keenly authoritarian governor in the United States." (The Atlantic)
"Many other corners of the internet are full of serial enthusiasts who have pinballed from one ideology to another, believing in each one deeply as they go. These flexible evangelists are perfectly suited to becoming online gurus. They believe, and they need to preach." (The Atlantic)
"The cost of all the pomp and pageantry, the tabloid sales and the viral clicks, the patriotism and the tradition, has been the utter destruction of one boy’s mind." (The Atlantic).
From productivity hackers to dating coaches, from crypto bros to wellness influencers, when did the internet get taken over by gurus? Helen Lewis investigates. (BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds)
Like everyone else still left on Twitter—at this point, roughly 90,000 journalists and 14 bemused normal people—I was deeply skeptical about Elon Musk’s takeover of the social network. (The Atlantic)
His message was a macho one of risk-taking and courage, which tapped into the existing Republican advantage among male voters. (The Atlantic)