Weekend Reading #369
This is the three-hundredth-and-sixty-ninth weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 20th June 2026.
To receive a copy each week directly into your inbox, sign up here.
*****
What we're thinking.
And up we go again! War or no war, nothing stops this market. SpaceX has roared since its IPO with once again retail dominating the so-called sophisticated valuation crowd (for now?). Positive momentum is a wonderful thing. We have been discussing all week long that there is a case to be made that SpaceX may be the most valuable company on earth. The argument goes like this. This is a new frontier, and SpaceX is the only company that can offer access. It has irreplaceable IP and most importantly people. And it has Elon. One could argue as a bull case it is the most important company in the world. As our friend The Shrub says the funniest outcome can sometimes be the likely one. What if SpaceX defies everything and, in this moment, goes straight to the top? It certainly would be the funniest outcome indeed!
The World Cup is another example of how badly many wish for Trump to fail. Every bit of coverage before the tournament focused on the high ticket prices and possible empty stadiums. So far, the crowds have been big and the tournament has been a fantastic festival of football.
What we're doing.
I spent the past week in Mauritius and then Cape Town, and while Mauritius is pretty much stable weather wise (with the odd cyclone, though none of that this time), Cape Town in southern hemisphere winter was quite the wonder. Apparently, I got lucky, because the forecast was for 100% rainy days and some gale force winds, and I got a grand total of 2 hours or so of rain and one very windy night over 5 days there. The rest of the time, 16 degrees plus sun made for infinite reasons to do walking meetings by the Atlantic seaboard – definitely caused a marked increase in step count towards 20k on some days, and probably also the reason why everyone seems to be so healthy. It was my third time in Cape Town, but the previous two times were around January time which I’m now told is peak tourist season. The good news is that Dave and family look extremely happy living there, and with the ocean (technically in some areas of the South African coast, up to 3 oceans meeting at one point) on permanent display and Table Mountain behind it, Cape Town also happens to tick huge boxes for fengshui!
But perhaps this time, having a more local touch to my week instead of being a tourist the last two visits, it was much clearer how South Africa as an economy is pretty much a coiled spring. It’s had some pretty bad times, but a handful of companies, mostly listed, own the majority of the country’s businesses: banks, consumer retail, F&B etc. The economy hasn’t been great – even load shedding doesn’t happen that much anymore because demand has tailed off so no load shedding is necessary – but I’m told that in certain areas, especially those run by the opposition DA, things are going relatively well, including in Cape Town. That isn’t to say it’s a paradise – homelessness is still visibly on the streets and while food and groceries were cheaper than in London, it’s not a high bar to beat. But there is hope – all it takes is the right governance and a good trigger (sustained commodities capex, maybe?) and things could get very interesting. EL
What we're reading.
Dark Age, the 5th book of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series, has trumped the lot. Theo story continues but this is epic on another level. At this stage it’s so good it’s competing with The Three Body Problem for best sci fi. And yes, for me Dune is a distant third. I didn’t want it to end. Good news is that there is a sixth book and the. Apparently a seventh and final one on the way. On another note, after adopting a Kindle for our travels I’m looking forward to reading the sixth book in the series in book form. Cape Town has excellent public libraries. And it’s free to join. I’m going to pick up the book from the main branch in the city itself. Looking forward to that.
On another note, this is a really sad piece written by a young footballer from the Ivory Coast. At 19 years old, Yan Diomande is the hottest property around. A brilliant and extremely rapid winger in demand at all the big clubs and already shining at the World Cup. He writes the letter to his recently deceased sister who was his motivator and biggest supporter. She passed away back home in The Ivory Coast from a spiked drink. A reminder that everyone has a story. This poor kid struggled hard to get where he is and even though a big move and payday sadly won't bring back his sister, he deserves every penny. A very poignant read. DC
Midjourney is probably best known as the AI image generating tool that came up in the first wave of AI tools, and in recent months had receded into the background, until now. As this article in The Verge puts it, Midjourney has gone from generating cat images to full-body ultrasound scans. Of course, this is still pretty preliminary, but the rough idea is as follows: using ultrasonic sensors and a pool of water carrying ultrasound waves, the AI model application uses the input to generate a 3D scan of internal tissue, currently taking about 20 mins with the prototype but targeted to take about 60 seconds, without radiation from MRIs. In a way, this is probably one of the most interesting applications of AI capabilities we’ve seen so far – not least because of how it pushes the boundary of what’s possible by a significant margin, both in terms of capability, risk and potentially cost. If these scans can be done at low cost and with little ongoing risk beyond getting wet, ongoing health monitoring can become affordable enough to detect and prevent disease before it becomes chronic, translating to much lower healthcare costs further down the road. More importantly, in this case AI does what AI does best – ingest huge amounts of data and process it at a speed no human can do. Importantly, that means no more simplification of things into a human-digestible heuristic (e.g. a subjective “scale” of 1-10), replaced by a straightforward result of what simply is. Not great news for everyone especially those who bill for interpreting a scale, but it certainly should be for the majority of people!
In other news, London Mayor Sadiq Khan appears to be doing a tour of Asia and has apparently showed up in Singapore, praising (rightly) the efficacy of Singapore’s public housing system and supposedly claiming the same can be done in London. The problem with claims like these is that they rely on that old, flawed economics concept of ceteris paribus – everything else equal. If you ask me, trying to pull off any Singaporean policy in London is close to impossible because the fundamental social contract is different. Even trying to list the policy prerequisites for replicating HDB’s success in housing will take an entire essay, not to mention the feasibility of having all the prerequisites in place. Without looking at the entirety of public policy and whether the same set up can happen in London, these claims are sadly pretty much rhetorical.
Finally, Tulsi Gabbard leaves on her last day as Director of National Intelligence with a parting gift – releasing an evidence trove that supposedly shows COVID was a US project gone awry, with subsequent cover-up attempts. As always, the question is “why are we reading this now?”, and that’s something for all of us to think about. My guess: a retraction of blame on China for the virus that ravaged the global economy and countless lives is a wonderful olive branch to offer, even easier to do if it conveniently albeit factually puts the blame on the previous administration. Along with everything else going on, something’s on the move. Rapprochement, perhaps? Nothing’s ever a coincidence, that much we know. EL
What we're watching.
This week along with Eugene, who is visiting, and some other friends I went to see Steven Spielberg’s much anticipated film, Disclosure Day. And it didn’t disappoint! All the consciousness and UAP stuff I so enjoy learning about came together for a really enjoyable film. Fortunately, I slept well after the film which sent a message loud and clear. ET is here but there is no reason to be afraid. All I can say is that if this is even a fraction true then I for sure won’t be able to sleep well!
I also watched JD Vance chatting to Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast. I was curious as to why he chose to go on this particular one. Diary of a CEO is very mainstream and popular and not generally a political podcast. It is a wide-ranging conversation covering his upbringing, his beliefs and even some questions on the Iran deal. Vance is going on a media blitz to become the face of the Iran deal. Politically it’s a clear move to own its success. He believes Iran will hold their end of it. I am less sure! But then again, I’m not vice president of America. Well worth a watch. DC