The eyes of the world will be on the US midterm elections in November. Donald Trump may not be on the ballot, but he will still dominate the contest. These are the key Senate races to watch between now and November 3 ft.trib.al/BIhPVUg
Alan Smith
@theboysmithy.ft.com
Head of Visual and Data Journalism @financialtimes.com; Honorary Prof @UCL Social Data Institute. Views expressed are my own. Reposts are not necessarily endorsements.
Labour overtakes Reform UK in opinion polls for first time in more than a year as.ft.com/r/e139987e-9...
Mexico now exports more hardware for data centres than it does cars - quite the reshaping of an economy... New, with Christine Murray www.ft.com/content/ac32...
New from me: Until recently, the gap between comfortably-off and just-getting-started could plausibly be crossed in a decade or two of hard work. Growth in asset prices means that’s no longer true: even a lifetime of striving doesn’t offer a realistic prospect of feeling you’ve “made it”.
This is wildly irresponsible of Google - allowing people to create AI generated satellite images. Satellite imagery has always been such a useful and reliable source because it came from reliable sources, but now Google is messing with it at source. www.digitaldigging.org/p/how-to-pla...
How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran
The question is: what on earth is Google doing?
digitaldigging.org
Mapping Knowledge Across Time — finding order in the chaos of history ft.trib.al/AJx6imm
Mapping Knowledge Across Time — finding order in the chaos of history
A messy, beautiful study traces how humans have visualised information about the world around them over the past millennium
ft.trib.al
Of course this graphic also threw up the "where does the north start?" chestnut in the newsroom, to which there is only one answer for a Pompey fan: Heidi Alexander in Swindon South is the gatekeeper ...
By my reckoning the median latitude of the cabinet has shifted north from Wolverhampton/Leicester to betwixt Sheffield and Knowsley ...
By my reckoning the median latitude of the cabinet has shifted north from Wolverhampton/Leicester to betwixt Sheffield and Knowsley ...
One question that’s come up a couple of times: where do Andy Burnham’s new cabinet represent as MPs? The north west has been the big gainer, with seven cabinet ministers holding seats there – of whom, five are in Greater Manchester
NEW: China has made huge progress in cleaning up its air pollution since the 2013 peak, but reliance on coal during the Iran war has led to a deterioration in air quality this year. Huge thanks to Haohsiang Ko and Eleanor Olcott, read the report. www.ft.com/content/e67f... #dataviz
Friends who code say so much has radically changed in the last six months in what they do and this excellent piece gives great insights into how
This piece on the "load-bearing internet people" and how AI-code writing is overwhelming the web's unheralded maintainers by @samlearner.bsky.social is absolutely terrific: brilliantly accessible without being patronising:
wrote for the magazine about the open source software that underpins our digital lives, how it is being upended by AI code tools, and about maintainers as.ft.com/r/b7f62212-9...
Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party?
Our obsession with AI code-writing tools is overwhelming the web’s unsung human caretakers
ft.com
Fascinating, beautifully written magazine cover story by @samlearner.bsky.social on how vibe coding is overwhelming the unsung human caretakers who keep the web running. Your weekend must read right here as.ft.com/r/1e761e4c-c...
Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party?
Our obsession with AI code-writing tools is overwhelming the web’s unsung human caretakers
as.ft.com
Sobering to see in one chart how June temperature records have been broken this year in so many European countries www.ft.com/content/5f06...
every time a stutter step penalty is saved an angel gets its wings
NEW: a look at how surging power demands from data centers are helping to drive a shortage of electrical transformers ig.ft.com/transformers/
"Binface himself told the FT..." Get the lowdown on the Dunny-on-the-Wold/Clacton by-election from one of the leading candidates in our exclusive from Elizabeth Bratton as.ft.com/r/ec02c5a3-e...
Nigel Farage’s unusual by-election opponent: Count Binface
Comedy candidate is becoming a vehicle for opposition to Reform UK’s leader
as.ft.com
We're hiring in my team at @financialtimes.com - please do reach out if you have any questions. Whilst this is currently a contract role we have every hope of extending. job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/financialtim...
Graphics journalist, Visual and Data desk ( Contractor)
London
job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io
This is not Donald Trump's first intervention in a major football tournament.There was also the time he did the draw for the quarter finals of the Rumbelows Cup on Saint and Greavsie ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzO8...
🏆😧 When Donald Trump did the League Cup draw | ITV Sport Archive
YouTube video by ITV Sport
youtube.com
Ukraine is striking Russian energy infrastructure at an unprecedented rate, according to an FT data analysis showing that Kyiv’s intensified drone campaign is spurring Russia’s worst fuel crisis in decades. w/ @theboysmithy.ft.com Anastasia Stognei @maxseddon.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/1368...
Ukraine striking Russian energy infrastructure at unprecedented rate
Kyiv’s intensified drone campaign is spurring Russia’s worst fuel crisis in decades
ft.com
So many amazing/horrifying details and visuals in our piece on how Trump is remaking DC ig.ft.com/trump-dc/
Most people know that richer people tend to be thinner. Less appreciated is that this divide is largely driven by women. My column: The economics of women's weight 300 free clicks: as.ft.com/r/feaaaacf-8...
What happens with the AI boom ends, for the economy and for markets? Our piece on an interesting report from the Bank for International Settlements 👇 AI ‘exuberance’ risks ending in lengthy investment bust, BIS warns www.ft.com/content/e81c...