Sam Joiner
@samjoiner.bsky.social
Creative Director at the Financial Times. I lead visual journalism strategy and oversee visual investigations, visual stories, design and pictures.
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”.
DR Congo’s cobalt exports carry a hidden cargo: uranium. New visual investigation with @lighthousereports.com reveals how uranium-laced cobalt could enter covert supply chains hidden from regulators — raising proliferation concerns among DRC officials and nuclear experts. as.ft.com/r/7aa59487-e...
DR Congo’s cobalt boom carries an unwanted cargo: uranium
Radioactive ores have become a proliferation risk in the land that supplied material for second world war atomic bombs
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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
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NEW: a look at how surging power demands from data centers are helping to drive a shortage of electrical transformers ig.ft.com/transformers/
the spacex/enshittification thesis gets a proper visual treatment. This is very nicely done: ig.ft.com/spacex-ipo/
How SpaceX could pull millions of savers into Musk’s orbit
The world’s richest man is shooting for Mars. Ordinary investors may have no choice but to come along for the ride
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NEW: Xinjiang has the highest detention capacity in the world, according to FT analysis - enough space for almost 1 in 40 people in the region - more than five years after the Chinese govt announced the camps had closed.
A US satellite in blue tracks two Chinese satellites. Prudent monitoring — or rehearsal for combat? A high-stakes arms race is taking place in orbit; the winner will "control Earth by controlling space”. But things can go very wrong, very quickly. Today's Big Read is on #FTEdit 👉 ft.trib.al/iwgFTZe
Good morning and Happy Nigella Day! Because all is briefly right with the world and as a special treat, it's free to read. www.ft.com/content/4819...
How did I end up here? — Nigella Lawson’s first FT column
A defence of food writing (and a recipe for rice pudding) as Nigella returns to her alma mater newspaper
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Iran allows handful of favoured ships through Strait of Hormuz ft.trib.al/27SrUF0
Iran allows handful of favoured ships through Strait of Hormuz
Passage for vessels is designed to show Iran’s dominance over waterway and limit diplomatic isolation, analysts suspect
ft.trib.al
some interesting stuff happening lately with the truth machines as.ft.com/r/40518eb1-4...
Ultra-short-term bets add ‘even more mania’ to crypto trading
[FREE TO READ] Five and 15-minute contracts have surged in popularity as cryptocurrencies have fallen from recent peaks
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Qatar’s energy minister has warned that war in the Middle East could “bring down the economies of the world”, predicting that all Gulf energy exporters would shut down production within days and drive oil to $150 a barrel. Great scoop by Andrew England and Malcolm Moore as.ft.com/r/4210f11c-e...
Qatar warns war will force Gulf to stop energy exports ‘within days’
[FREE TO READ] Gas producer says it will take ‘weeks to months’ to restore deliveries after Iranian drone strike
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aaaaaand: 175 entities in the network were sanctioned today by the UK.
Chris Cook@chriscook.news · 6mo agoone of the world's largest smuggling networks has accidentally exposed itself because of a stupid e-mail configuration blunder, which has revealed around 50 apparently unconnected companies are all sharing back-office functions: www.ft.com/content/4310...
"Suspended above roads, hospitals and critical infrastructure, layers of netting criss-cross parts of the city so densely that in some districts the sky is barely visible."
Sam Joiner@samjoiner.bsky.social · 5mo agoNew: Drones are redrawing the map of war in Ukraine. Relentless surveillance has pushed the battlefield 20km beyond the front, in both directions. Supplies arrive by drone; the wounded leave by robot. This is the “kill zone” — and the future of warfare. 👉 ft.com/kill-zone
New: Drones are redrawing the map of war in Ukraine. Relentless surveillance has pushed the battlefield 20km beyond the front, in both directions. Supplies arrive by drone; the wounded leave by robot. This is the “kill zone” — and the future of warfare. 👉 ft.com/kill-zone
A city under siege: Minneapolis reels after another killing ft.trib.al/sdWQun9
A city under siege: Minneapolis reels after another killing
ICE could become the largest enforcement agency in the US, but critics say its behaviour is increasingly lawless
ft.trib.al
For this graphic we compare the terrain of the three most expensive rail projects in the world. HS2 costs an eye watering $537mn per km despite being built on relatively flat terrain. Read Gill Plimmer, @pickardje.bsky.social and Jonathan Vincent's excellent article www.ft.com/content/3f73...
This is *before* the new budget increases, which could take the total cost over £100bn www.ft.com/content/3f73...
Eye scans, licence plate readers, spyware: technology used to catch criminals and terrorists is being repurposed to fulfil Trump's pledge to deport 1mn undocumented migrants this year. Critics fear it’s the thin end of the authoritarian wedge. An #FTEdit thread on America’s new surveillance state 👇
New: Trump’s immigration data dragnet. @peter.andringa.me investigates the brokers and tools behind the US administration’s deportation drive. Former officials raised concerns about the volume of data, lack of oversight and shift from criminal to immigration work. ig.ft.com/us-ice-surve...
NEW: We took a deep dive into ICE's data dragnet: the data brokers, biometrics tools, and license plate readers powering Trump's deportation effort. Some of the contracts are for tools previous administrations deemed too intrusive.
Trump’s immigration data dragnet
The US is pulling in vast amounts of personal information in its drive to deport 1mn people this year
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New: The power crunch threatening America’s AI ambitions. Our visual story looks at how Big Tech is trying to close a data-centre power gap that could leave the industry 40% short of the electricity needed by 2028. “It’s going to be a white-knuckle ride,” one analyst told us. ⚡🤖 👉 ft.com/ai-power
Fun FT visual story about the EU's internal barriers to trade (including ridiculous labelling requirements). It makes doing business in India - another multi-lingual, multi-state union - look like a walk in the park. as.ft.com/r/813c200e-2... @samjoiner.bsky.social @richardmilne.ft.com
The EU single market’s elephant in the room
[FREE TO READ] Small, often invisible barriers to trade affect products from businesses across Europe, including a fluffy Ikea pachyderm
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New: Major UK retailers are selling tuna from fisheries where crews say they endure beatings, gruelling hours and inadequate food. Some spend years at sea without visiting port. Our latest visual investigation by @upyorkshire.ft.com, Dan Clark and @inari-ta.bsky.social 👉 ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
NEW: Our investigation finds a tuna supply chain riddled with exploitation and abuse - where fishermen spend months or even years at sea. Some describe threats, beatings and deception over pay. Yet the fish they catch is still ending up on our plates. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
The dark truth behind supermarket tuna
Major retailers are selling tuna from fisheries where crews say they are exploited and abused
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