One single thread of history...
Plus: Why Labour won, US debt, and our dystopia obsession
Hello! I have had an eventful last few months—I left my job in New York, and I’m now back in London. This means the coffee/tip jar is back, and it means that On the Home Front is going to be UK-focused once again.
I noticed in my long absence that Fair Warning is now up to over 2,000 subscribers. That’s really awesome and I so appreciate everyone who reads, gets in touch, or sends/recommends Fair Warning to others. So thank you all very much!
If you’ll allow me one non-data story to start, I’d like to share an essay, We Need To Rewild the Internet. Here’s an excerpt I thought was interesting:
Today’s top-down, concentrated internet is, for many, an unpleasant and harmful place. Its owners are hard to remove, and their interests do not align with ours.
As Jacobs wrote: “As in all Utopias, the right to have plans of any significance belonged only to the planners in charge.” As a top-down, built environment, the internet has become something that is done to us, not something we collectively remake every day.
On the home front
Twelve charts that show how Labour won by a landslide
Basically what it says on the tin, this Guardian piece explains in charts what exactly happened. And what’s really interesting is that Labour’s win was really a combination of factors and not even necessarily voter enthusiasm for the party itself.
By the way, I really enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at The Guardian’s election artwork—purposely imperfect paper cuttings.
The UK, 14 years after Conservatives won power
Kind of the reverse of the Guardian piece I suppose? This Reuters story looks at the Tories’ record in power. It’s pretty damning and not hard to see why they lost, really.
Over the pond
ProPublica has created a database of financial disclosures from the nine US Supreme Court Justices. It’s free to access and explore at your own leisure. Also, what a great illustration!
This 3D model offers clues into the view the Secret Service had of the Trump shooting suspect
ABC News published this great (short) visual investigation into what the Secret Service may have been able to see from their positions on the rooftop behind Trump as he was speaking. I love these kinds of investigations; after the dust settles, they are so important in helping readers to understand exactly what happened and how events unfolded.
I definitely learned something reading this—namely that the public debt in the US is 98% of GDP. Wow. In this story The Economist digs into the debt, explaining how America got here, and what might be needed to get out. Spoiler: It’ll be painful.
Elsewhere…
Australia, according to Archie Moore
This is an interesting exploration of one Australian artist’s family tree as displayed at the Venice Biennale. But it’s also an eye-opening look at much, much more than that: “This artwork is a way to just take one single thread of First Nations history and you can see that it cannot fit onto a single school blackboard... It's far more expansive... It creeps up the walls and over the ceiling and cannot be kind of contained by a small frame in the drawing."
The Vanishing Islands That Failed to Vanish
Wonderful and fascinating piece by the New York Times about islands that scientists expected would vanish under the rising oceans. Instead, while some have shrunk, some have remained stable and some—unbelievably—have grown.
Odds and ends
This Pudding piece by Alvin Chang explores how science fiction has changed over the years, and what that tells us about humanity’s fears—and hopes. This is a really nice and informative read. I love the pixelated style, it really takes me back to late 80s/early 90s games I played as a kid.
The Alternate World of Copy Songs
This is just kind of amazing? I had no idea Myanmar was a hotbed of blatant song ripoffs and this is a great essay digging into why.
That’s everything I have for this week! Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed Fair Warning, please forward to friends and tell them how great it is. If you REALLY liked it, you can buy me a coffee. And as always, you can get in touch with me on X at @SophWarnes or by replying to this email.
PS: One last, boring note: As mentioned at the start, I left my last role in June and I am now looking for new opportunities in the UK or on the east coast. I’m a data and graphics editor with recent experience in audience and content strategy. I’ve worked in digital journalism my entire career and almost exclusively at national news outlets in the UK and the US. My LinkedIn profile is here. Feel free to get in touch if you or someone you know has a role that you think I may be a good fit for. Ideally a full-time role, but I’m open to up to 3 days a week contract/freelance in the meantime. Thanks!