Weekend Reading #146
Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash
This is the hundred-and-forty-sixth weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 27th November 2021.
To receive a copy each week directly into your inbox, sign up here.
*****
What we're thinking.
The obvious action this week as we write this is the new variant of concern breaking out all over the world. Everyone’s knee-jerk reaction is understandably to panic (and most are). All we know that everyone’s December trip to see family in South Africa went off the table quite unceremoniously and that’s pretty grim all around. From a markets perspective there has been some increased positioning and narrowing market breadth into this “event” so the reaction on a low-volume, post-Thanksgiving Friday maybe shouldn’t be judged too quickly. There is still a lot of information to come about this new variant and there is no sense rushing to conclude just yet.
Earlier in the week we saw the collapse of the Turkish Lira. Finally, the dam broke after years of geopolitical and policy disaster. The country’s demise has been happening in slow motion. So much so that most of the corporate sector has been very well prepared and the fallout in this regard is not too severe. The real victims are sadly those that don’t have savings stacked away in hard currency (and Bitcoin). The official inflation number is just below 20% but in reality, its much higher and will be devastating to the lower income portion of the populace. We’ve written before that the end game is approaching and now, we are firmly in it. One way or another the Erdogan era seems to be drawing to a close. We just hope it ends with a whimper and not a bang.
What we're reading.
James Rebanks is an English sheep farmer and author from Matterdale in Cumbria in the north of England. His 2015 book, A Shepherd's Life was a memoir about his life as a shepherd and, despite its niche subject matter, was a smash hit. But, when examined in more detail, Rebanks' story is an incredible one and the way he writes and what he writes about is vital considering the age that we're living through. This week I read his second book, English Pastoral, which is part ode to the glory of the English countryside but more so a call to all of us to be more aware of our surroundings and to think a little more carefully about the way that we treat the natural world. Unlike so much of the content being written about climate change and sustainability, Rebanks is not tub thumping, angry or threateningly dystopian. Rather, coming from a long line of farmers and, hence, an expert in all things relating to creating a healthier natural world, the book is packed with fascinating information about the effects that our shopping and farming habits are having on our world. By being a little more considered in our approach, the farmers of this world, who supply us with what goes in our fridges and on our dinner tables, will be able to be more considered about the way that they produce what we eat, and nature will be returned to a more natural state. The damaging era of pesticides, fertilisers and industrial farming is far from over – but reading Rebanks' beautiful prose does make you think that if we could just all shop a little more local, eat a little more seasonal, care a little more about our diets and the farmers that deliver for us, the world would be greener, healthier and more sustainable. Rebanks' writing is wonderful, with his description of these green and pleasant lands a great advert for a Cumbrian holiday. Better for your carbon footprint, too! EJP
What we're doing.
During the week I went with a friend to watch an English non-league match between Borehamwood and Notts County at Meadow Park (Borehamwood’s home ground). I have not been to a football match of any kind in years and even though the quality of the football was a bit mediocre (to put in mildly), it was a brilliant experience. One forgets how much noise a few hundred fans can make! It got me thinking about physical vs digital experiences. Attending something live is just so much more enriching. The chirps from the stands, the sound of the football being kicked and headered – that cannot be recreated with any great feeling inside the metaverse. DC
I’ve tried bouldering a couple of times over the years but never fully gotten into it. This week I went again, this time to the Climbing Hangar in London’s Parsons Green and it was a fantastic experience. The climbing area is split across 3 levels, with each of the different climbing courses marked with colour coded grips so you can easily assess the varying difficulty. I’d managed to move up a tier since my last climb, accomplishing one of the more difficult (almost upside-down inclined) courses. This was the first time I’d been to the Climbing Hangar, but I certainly will return. In the past I’ve been to the Westway Centre in Notting Hill, but during the winter months it often gets freezing due to the huge shutter doors and poor insulation, so Parson’s Green seems to be a great little spot until the Spring. HS
What we're watching.
Doom-scrolling BBC iPlayer for something to bridge the gap between dinner and bedtime, my wife and I stumbled upon a series that is simply breath-taking. Normally squeamish, I took some persuading by my tough-as-nails wife to even watch 10 seconds of this show, but I'm glad I kept my pathetic-ness in check as I cannot recommend highly enough the amazing, Surgeons: At The Edge of Life. It's true to say that most people will have an operation in their lifetime, but few of us have a clue what really happens when you are put to sleep. This series goes through the theatre doors of the surgical unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, where 700 operations are carried out every week, across 42 theatres. This show focuses on some of the country's, indeed, the world’s top surgeons as they perform high-stakes surgery that simply wouldn't have been attempted a few years ago, pushing the boundaries of modern medicine to its very limits. In the first episode of series 1, specialist maxillofacial surgeons Tim Martin and Sat Parmar prepare for a marathon operation on 53-year-old Teresa. Four weeks previously, Teresa had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in her face, and she will die within weeks unless it is removed. The procedure involves radical surgery to the entire right-hand side of her face and means she will lose both her upper jaw and right eye. It is an enormous undertaking for Teresa, and for Tim and Sat, too, and via the magic of television, we are taken in to see the surgery play out. This is mind blowing television with the science, medicine, not to mention the skill of the surgeons literally under the microscope. It’s jaw-dropping to think of what’s at stake. It's oddly inspiring to watch, too, as you're reminded that these surgeons, despite the advances in technology, changing and saving lives with their bare hands and brains, aren't superheroes or machines. They get up, drink coffee, go into work every day like you and me. The technology helps them, sure, but they are fallible, skilful, and brave, in some ways, just like you and me. EJP
What we're listening to.
This week was also particularly exciting as a friend of mine had a live performance with their band Bakburner; a small indie rock band comprised of six rather talented musicians led by lead singer Isaac Ng. Hosted at Imperial College’s Union Bar, the event was coordinated using Ng’s very own mobile app, Amphere, a platform enabling fans at music events to easily engage with performers and discover their content. Whilst the platform is still in its early stages, the evening was a great opportunity to test the system and hear some great upcoming artists perform live. HS
A couple of months ago, we noticed that Bankless started an interesting series of podcasts called Layer 0, talking with the people who underpin the world of crypto. This week’s podcast is with none other than NFT artist Emily Yang, better known by her twitter handle @pplpleasr1. For those who don’t already know who she is, she was one illustrated the cover of Fortune magazine a couple of months back with all the avatars of prominent crypto twitter accounts. Her story was also documented in an interview with Fortune magazine as well as in this podcast, charting the path from initially finding herself without a job after Apple rescinded their contract for her as a Digital Artist to her breakthrough piece animating the x * y = k announcement for Uniswap v3. The rest, as they say, is history. We’ve always been of the view that in this content-driven creator economy, it is the creators that have the greatest potential for creating value. NFTs as a distributive mechanism have also changed the way artists and creators reach their audiences. And to be sure, this won’t be the last time we come across stories of transformed lives like this. EL