Lo spread tra Btp italiani e Bund tedeschi è rimasto sostanzialmente stabile rispetto all’apertura di ieri, a 116 punti base. I rendimenti sono leggermente cresciuti, arrivando al 4,54%. I mercati sono incerti per via delle elezioni in Israele, che non hanno restituito un chiaro vincitore e che fanno quindi temere per una nuova escalation con l’Iran.

Nella giornata di ieri si è conclusa la prima delle aste di fine mese dei titoli di Stato, con i Btp Short e i Btp€i che hanno raccolto 3,5 miliardi di euro.

Spread stabile ma rendimenti in aumento per “colpa” delle elezioni in Israele

La normalizzazione dei mercati obbligazionari statali europei ha subito un rallentamento dopo i progressi di ieri, per via dei risultati delle elezioni in Israele.

Con più del 60% dei voti conteggiati il partito del premier uscente Benjamin Netanyahu è il più votato, ma ha perso un quinto dei suoi seggi in Parlamento. Soprattutto, né la sua coalizione, né quella dell’opposizione hanno la maggioranza, a causa dell’ottimo risultato dei partiti arabi, che hanno quasi raddoppiato i loro seggi.

Perché il petrolio e i rendimenti sono in crescita

La conseguenza di questi risultati è stato un aumento del prezzo del petrolio. I mercati temono un ritorno alle ostilità con l’Iran in un momento di instabilità per Israele, che avrebbe come conseguenza nuove difficoltà nelle esportazioni di petrolio dal Golfo Persico. Per questa ragione i rendimenti dei titoli di Stato sono tornati ad aumentare, al 4,54% per i Btp decennali italiani. Lo spread è però rimasto stabile a 116 punti base.

Anche nel resto d’Europa lo spread è fermo

Anche in Spagna lo spread è rimasto fermo ai livelli di ieri. I Bonos distano 64 punti base dai Bund, con rendimenti solo leggermente superiori rispetto a quelli di ieri, al 4,02%.

Stabile anche la situazione in Francia. Una novità per gli Oat, che nelle ultime settimane hanno subito fortissimi rialzi a causa della speculazione. I rendimenti sono rimasti lontani dalla soglia del 5%, con lo spread di fatto stabile a 158 punti base.

Oggi le aste dei Bot, concluse con successo quelle dei Btp Short

Ieri si sono concluse le aste dei Btp Short Term e dei Btp€i:

• i Btp Short Term a 2 anni con scadenza a ottobre 2028 hanno raggiunto un rendimento del 3,55%;
• i Btp€i in scadenza nel 2032 hanno raggiunto un rendimento dell’1,69%;
• i Btp€i in scadenza nel 2035 hanno raggiunto un rendimento del 2,10%.

Oggi si terranno invece le aste dei Bot, i titoli di Stato a più breve termine. Saranno emessi:

• un Bot con 4 mesi di vita residua (ISIN IT0005699340);
• un Bot con 1 mese di vita residua (ISIN IT0005684888).

L’ultima asta, quella dei titoli a medio e lungo termine, si terrà invece domani 29 ottobre e comprenderà:

• un Btp in scadenza a febbraio 2031 con cedola annua lorda del 3,50%;
• un Btp in scadenza a febbraio 2032 con cedola annua lorda del 3,95%;
• un Btp in scadenza a ottobre 2036 con cedola annua lorda del 4,00%.

The Scottish government has confirmed that around 800 public sector workers are being paid despite having no jobs. One National Health Service employee has received a full salary and benefits for 17 years despite not having an actual job. Under Scotland's policy against "compulsory redundancy," any workers whose jobs become obsolete are kept on "redeployment" lists and allowed to remain on the payroll while waiting for suitable positions. The estimated cost of paying people to do nothing is £27 million ($36 million) per year, but the actual cost to taxpayers is likely far higher, because several public bodies have refused to disclose salary information for hundreds of these workers.

The post Brickbat: Money for Nothing appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Lunedì 26 ottobre, al London Palladium, viene assegnato il Pallone d’Oro 2026, il premio individuale più prestigioso del calcio, giunto alla sua 70ª edizione. Il trofeo ha un peso simbolico molto importante, ma il suo valore materiale è decisamente minore.

Il pallone dorato, realizzato a Parigi dalla Maison Mellerio fin dalla prima edizione del 1956, non è d’oro massiccio e non dà diritto ad alcun premio in denaro. Ciò non ha però impedito una valutazione stratosferica nel corso di un’asta divenuta ormai storica. In quel caso, infatti, il valore finale è salito di centinaia di volte rispetto al costo di realizzazione.

Di cosa è fatto il Pallone d’Oro

Il cuore del trofeo è in ottone pieno, modellato a mano dagli artigiani di Mellerio. Questa storica maison orafa di origine italiana, attiva in Francia dal 1515, firma anche altri trofei sportivi, tra cui quelli del Roland Garros dal 1981. Sopra l’ottone viene poi applicato un sottile strato d’oro. Ecco, quindi, come il pallone ottiene il suo colore caratteristico.

Quanto vale il trofeo

Secondo svariate stime, l’effettivo valore del trofeo, considerando materiali e lavorazione, si aggira intorno ai 3.000 euro. Spiccioli, se si pensa agli stipendi dei calciatori destinati a portare l’oggetto a casa. La cifra può variare con il prezzo dell’oro, ovviamente, ma resta contenuta proprio perché il metallo prezioso è presente solo in superficie.

France Football, che dal 2024 organizza la cerimonia insieme alla Uefa, non riconosce al vincitore alcuna somma in denaro. Il vero ritorno economico arriva dopo, tra bonus contrattuali, sponsorizzazioni e potere negoziale. Voci che pesano sugli ingaggi molto più del trofeo e che spiegano quanto guadagnano i calciatori di vertice.

Il Pallone d’Oro si può vendere?

A differenza di altri premi, il Pallone d’Oro resta di proprietà del vincitore, che può decidere di cederlo. I casi documentati sono però pochissimi e il più noto riguarda Cristiano Ronaldo.

Nel 2017 il portoghese ha ceduto il Pallone d’Oro vinto nel 2013 al miliardario israeliano Idan Ofer per circa 600.000 euro. Una somma in seguito interamente devoluti alla fondazione Make-A-Wish, che sostiene bambini con gravi malattie. La vicenda è però emersa solo nel 2023, grazie al Mirror. Le ricostruzioni in merito non coincidono, con alcune testate che ritengono sia stata venduta una replica del trofeo, mentre altre ribadiscono come la copia sia in realtà quella esposta nel museo di Madeira. Considerando la cifra record, il trofeo è stato pagato circa 200 volte il suo valore materiale.

Pallone d’Oro e Oscar a confronto

Il Pallone d’Oro è da molti considerando, a buona ragione, “l’Oscar del calcio”. È dunque interessante fare un confronto tra i due ambiti trofei. L’Oscar, prodotto dalla fonderia Polich Tallix nello Stato di New York, è in bronzo pieno placcato in oro a 24 carati. È alto 34,3 centimetri e pesa circa 3,85 chili. Il costo di produzione è stimato tra 400 e 1.000 dollari, a seconda del prezzo dell’oro.

La differenza più grande riguarda proprio la rivendita. Dal 1950 chi vince un Oscar deve offrire la statuetta all’Academy per 1 dollaro prima di poterla cedere. Una regola che di fatto annulla il potenziale mercato. Possono circolare liberamente solo le statuette assegnate prima di quella data.

Ed è su quei pezzi che si concentrano le cifre più alte. Nel 1999 Michael Jackson acquistò l’Oscar per il miglior film assegnato a Via col vento per circa 1,5 milioni di dollari, mentre nel 2011 quello vinto da Orson Welles per la sceneggiatura di Quarto potere è stato venduto per circa 860.000 dollari. Valori ben superiori a quelli noti per il Pallone d’Oro.

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• As a personal stylist for corporate clients, I've noticed more industries embracing jeans at work.
• I recommend selecting a dark-wash, wide-leg pair that closely resembles trousers.
• To elevate denim even further, I love pairing it with a pointed-toe heel and a simple belt.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the workplace has changed a lot, and so has what we wear to the office. As a personal stylist who works with corporate clients, I've noticed that many industries — though not all — have become more casual, with some embracing jeans as workwear.

Still, there's a fine line between looking casually professional and overly relaxed, even when jeans are part of the dress code.

Here are five easy ways to wear denim at work while still looking polished.

Choose a dark wash with a wide leg that closely resembles trousers.

When it comes to wearing jeans at a 9-to-5, I think a darker wash is always the best place to start, since it closely matches the color of a classic pair of dark trousers. Although black jeans can look professional, I prefer a dark-blue shade, as it still clearly reads as denim.

As for the fit, I love a wide-leg pair rather than a slimmer one because it gives the illusion of trousers while still maintaining a casual feel. This way, the look is still laid-back and comfortable, but the shape and color are more polished and professional.

Regarding the waist, I think individuals with shorter torsos should opt for a mid-to-low-rise jean, whereas those with longer torsos should reach for a higher-waisted alternative.

A textured top instantly elevates jeans.

I love a cozy sweater, but pairing one with jeans can make an entire outfit feel too casual.

To avoid this, I like to pair denim with a top that has some interest. Think texture, beautiful buttons, an interesting collar, or an actual blouse.

If you really want to wear a sweater, I recommend layering it with a cardigan in the same color. Having those two distinct elements instantly makes the denim feel more put-together and gives the outfit more intention.

When it comes to wearing jeans in the workplace, a belt is crucial.

One of the easiest ways to instantly make jeans feel more polished for the office is to add a belt.

I like to think of a belt as the jewelry for your pants. Similar to how a necklace, earrings, or a bracelet can complete an outfit, a belt adds the extra detail that shows careful thought went into the look.

Whether it's a classic leather version with a simple buckle or something with a little more personality, a belt is a great addition that can immediately transform a casual look into corporate attire.

Subtle texture adds a twist to classic denim.

Not all denim worn in the workplace needs to be a traditional solid wash. For example, I think jeans with painted designs, tonal patterns, and interesting finishes and textures — like stitching — add so much more interest to the look.

However, be careful with the styling of textured denim. I recommend keeping the rest of the outfit simple and letting the patterned jeans serve as the focal point.

Footwear can make or break the whole look.

When it comes to selecting the right shoes to wear with jeans, there's a careful balance between looking professional and too casual.

I always recommend wearing a ballet flat, a pointed-toe heel, or a bootie.

If you do want to wear a sneaker, I suggest a low-profile, less bulky option — so it still looks put together with the denim.

Lo spread tra Btp e Bund ha aperto in leggero calo il 26 ottobre. Non è però sceso sotto la soglia dei 120 punti base, rimanendo a 122, soltanto un punto sotto la chiusura di venerdì. A scendere sensibilmente sono i rendimenti, calati sotto quota 4,60%, dopo i picchi della scorsa settimana.

Dopo la conclusione dell’emissione dei Btp Valore e dei Btp Valore insieme, domani riprenderanno le aste regolari, con quella dei Btp Short Term e dei Btp€i.

Lo spread non cala ma i rendimenti sì

L’apertura dei mercati obbligazionari ha portato a un calo dei rendimenti dei titoli di Stato italiani ma a una sostanziale stabilità dello spread, la differenza di rendimento tra Btp e Bund tedeschi. Si tratta di un classico segnale di allentamento delle tensioni, almeno parziale, sui mercati delle obbligazioni in generale.

I rendimenti di Bund e Btp stanno calando con lo stesso ritmo, mantenendo quindi grosso modo costante il differenziale. Il dato importante è però proprio la riduzione dei rendimenti, sia per via dei preoccupanti picchi della scorsa settimana, sia per l’avvicinamento delle aste di fine mese.

Il prezzo del petrolio aiuta lo spread

Il calo dei rendimenti è contestuale a una riduzione del prezzo del petrolio. Il Wti ha aperto la settimana poco sopra i 101 dollari al Barile, mentre il Brent poco sopra i 112. Valori in senso assoluto alti, ma in riduzione rispetto alla chiusura della scorsa settimana e quindi visti come positivi dai mercati.

Cala la pressione anche sui titoli europei

Anche gli altri Paesi europei stanno beneficiando della riduzione della tensione sui mercati obbligazionari internazionali. La Spagna ha visto il suo spread calare sotto 70 punti base.

La Francia, che in questo momento è il Paese con i titoli di Stato maggiormente sotto pressione, è riuscita a riportare gli Oat sotto il 5% di rendimento dopo i record della scorsa settimana.

Le prossime aste dei titoli di Stato

Nella giornata di domani si terrà la prima asta dei titoli di Stato tra quelle che concluderanno il mese di ottobre. Si tratta di un asta di Btp Short Term e di Btp€i, che proporrà diversi prodotti:

• un Btp Short Term a 2 anni con cedola annuale del 3%;
• un Btp€i a 15 anni con cedola annuale all’1,25%;
• un Btp€i a 30 anni con cedola annuale all’2,35%.

Le aste successive si terranno:

• mercoledì 28 ottobre l’asta dei Bot;
• giovedì 29 ottobre l’asta dei titoli a medio e lungo termine.

Um guindaste móvel portuário versátil e de alto desempenho

O Terminal Portuário da SAPEC, no Porto de Setúbal, recebeu uma nova grua portuária móvel Liebherr LHM 280, um investimento que permitirá reforçar a capacidade operacional e a eficiência na movimentação de mercadorias.

De acordo com informação do Porto de Setúbal, a grua tem uma capacidade máxima de elevação de 84 toneladas e um alcance de 40 metros, pelo que o novo equipamento apresenta características que permitem a movimentação de vários tipos de carga, proporcionando maior versatilidade às operações portuárias em contentores, carga geral, granéis e cargas pesadas.

Importa referir que esta aquisição “integra os investimentos associados à prorrogação da concessão do Terminal de Granéis Sólidos da SAPEC e constitui um passo importante na modernização desta infraestrutura”, ao mesmo tempo que contribui para a melhoria das condições operacionais do Porto e para a criação de novas oportunidades de negócio.

The Portuguese government is moving ahead with plans to better protect Faro from flooding while launching a new study into how the Algarve should deal with the enormous amount of

The post Government moves on Faro floods and Algarve’s mounting waste problem appeared first on Portugal Resident.

Britain’s gold-plated public sector pensions bill is on course to hit a record £60bn next year, yet is almost entirely ignored in favour of calls to cut the state pension on which many low income retired people depend.

The post Public Sector Pensions Bill to Hit Record £60 Billion appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

The European Union has moved to reduce the administrative burden imposed on smaller businesses by its packaging legislation, agreeing a negotiating position that would relax requirements for companies selling limited quantities of packaged goods in other member states.

The Council adopted its position on 21st October, proposing an exemption from the obligation to appoint an authorised representative in another EU country when the amount of packaging placed on that country’s market remains below one tonne per calendar year.

The measure addresses complaints from small and medium-sized enterprises that the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which became applicable on 12th August 2026, creates unnecessary expenses for companies engaged in relatively modest volumes of cross-border commerce.

The proposal forms part of the EU’s eighth legislative simplification package and will now be negotiated with the European Parliament.

Cross-border compliance costs under scrutiny

Under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, businesses placing packaging or packaged products on the European market are subject to obligations concerning waste management and extended producer responsibility.

The extended producer responsibility system requires producers to contribute to the management of waste generated by products and packaging placed on the market.

For businesses operating across borders, the framework also includes requirements concerning authorised representatives in member states where producers are not established.

These representatives perform specified compliance functions and provide a point of contact for national authorities.

The system can create substantial administrative obligations for businesses trading in several countries, particularly when the quantity of packaging supplied to individual markets is limited.

A small Belgian retailer, for example, may sell products to customers in Germany, France and the Netherlands without maintaining physical operations in those countries.

The requirement to arrange representation separately across different markets can add compliance costs regardless of whether the volume of trade justifies them.

Under the Council’s proposal, eligible EU-based producers placing less than one tonne of packaging annually on another member state’s market could be exempted from appointing a representative there.

The threshold would be assessed by reference to the quantity placed on the market of the member state concerned.

However, the proposed exemption would not abolish the wider principle of extended producer responsibility or automatically release businesses from their other environmental obligations.

Packaging reform follows early implementation problems

The regulatory changes come only two months after the EU’s revised packaging framework began applying across the single market.

The legislation, Regulation (EU) 2025/40, is intended to reduce packaging waste, improve recyclability and establish more consistent requirements for products and packaging materials.

It covers an extensive range of commercial activities, including manufacturing, retail, food distribution, transport packaging and online sales.

As EU Today reported when the regulation began applying in August, the legislation introduces new requirements affecting packaging design, materials and waste prevention.

However, the practical implications for smaller firms have generated pressure for modifications.

In September, EU Today examined the emerging campaign for simplification, as business organisations questioned whether the compliance system adequately reflected the circumstances of smaller producers.

The Council’s latest agreement represents a further legislative step, replacing general calls for administrative relief with a specific negotiating position.

The Commission also issued detailed implementation guidance in June 2026 after receiving numerous questions from member states and businesses about how the regulation should be interpreted.

Safeguards and temporary exemption

The proposed exemption would not apply without conditions.

The Council’s negotiating mandate includes a safeguard allowing the relevant authorities to respond when a producer fails to comply with extended producer responsibility obligations.

It also provides for the European Commission to review the duration of the temporary suspension by 31st December 2030, ahead of its scheduled expiry in 2032.

The timetable reflects the possibility that broader reform of producer responsibility arrangements could replace the temporary measure.

The Commission is preparing a Circular Economy Act intended to address additional problems affecting Europe’s recycling and secondary raw materials markets.

That initiative could provide a more comprehensive framework for the administration of producer responsibility systems across member states.

For now, the Council has opted for a narrower intervention designed to reduce the immediate burden on smaller companies without reopening the entire packaging regulation.

Single market objectives and environmental obligations

The proposal also reflects a broader problem with European regulatory integration.

Although companies can sell goods throughout the single market, compliance requirements often remain administered through national systems, requiring businesses to deal with separate authorities and procedures.

For multinational corporations, such costs can be distributed across substantial commercial operations. For smaller exporters and online retailers, similar administrative requirements can consume a much greater proportion of turnover.

The Council argues that removing unnecessary representation requirements would support cross-border trade while preserving the objectives of European environmental legislation.

The Irish presidency will now seek agreement with the European Parliament on the proposed amendment.

Until that legislation is adopted and becomes applicable, businesses must continue to comply with the existing rules, including relevant national producer responsibility requirements.

Sadiq Khan's Culture Team has blocked Charlotte Gill on X after she flagged their bonkers £500,000 woke grants – funding queer birding, doll workshops and a solarpunk festival. Your money at work.

The post Why Was I Blocked on X by the Mayor of London’s Culture Team? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

As the Trump administration's short-lived Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project implemented its plan to downsize the federal workforce, there was much wailing from the liberal institutions in Washington, D.C.

Federal employee unions filed lawsuits to block the effort. NPR ran profiles of federal workers who, for the first time, faced the prospect of potentially not having absolute job security forever. The Brookings Institution wondered how many jobs the federal government could shed before it crashes.

The answer: plenty. The Trump administration has cut more than 10 percent of the federal workforce, and the government hasn't crashed. Indeed, it hasn't even shrunk—if you're counting by dollars spent instead of people employed.

In a new article for City Journal, Manhattan Institute senior fellow Judge Glock highlights the tremendous gap between the dire predictions about DOGE's cuts and the reality that has emerged, more than a year after DOGE was shut down. Despite having only a modest impact on spending, Glock writes, DOGE "had a massive impact on the federal civil service."

This is true—to a point, more on that in a moment—and notable. Aside from a modest downsizing in the 1990s, the number of people employed by the federal government has been steadily growing for decades. Reversing that trend is one of the few genuinely libertarian accomplishments by the Trump administration.

The cuts to the federal workforce prove that "DOGE worked," argues Glock.

Well, hold on.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (who departed the DOGE project before Trump's inauguration and is now running for governor of Ohio) set some very ambitious goals after being appointed DOGE co-chairs in late 2024. In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in November 2024 where they promised "we won't just write reports or cut ribbons. We'll cut costs."

Musk repeatedly attached some rather absurd numbers to that promise. He said DOGE would cut $1 trillion or even $2 trillion in federal spending. In the end, it didn't come close. By DOGE's own (questionable) accounting, it cut $170 billion. Meanwhile, overall federal spending has increased in each of Trump's first two years in office, and the budget deficit has widened as well.

Yes, Musk and Ramaswamy also said they would reduce the federal workforce. But that was presented as a natural consequence of cutting spending, not as the primary goal.

Think about it like this. If I spent months promising my friends and family that I would lose 50 pounds on a new diet, and then didn't lose any weight, would it be fair to say the diet worked?

What if I reduced the number of donuts I eat every day, but still didn't lose any weight? Sure, that might be good for my health in some way—just like reducing unnecessary workers in the federal government is good for America's fiscal health—but it certainly wouldn't mean I had achieved the goal of losing weight.

Finally, even the claim that DOGE cut the federal workforce requires an asterisk. As Glock also notes in his report, the decline in federal workers has been offset by an increase in federal contractors.

It's not a one-for-one trade, of course. The new contractors are overwhelmingly concentrated in places like the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon, while the cuts mostly targeted other areas, like the Department of Health and Human Services.

"Most of that increase came from the buildup in homeland-security and defense contracting, including purchases such as surveillance aircraft and tanks, rather than substitutes for government workers," Glock writes. "DOGE achieved real contract savings, but these were more than offset by higher spending elsewhere, reflecting a shift in priorities rather than an overall reduction in contracting."

So, the government is eating fewer donuts but more pizza.

There might be libertarian reasons to prefer contractors over government employees. They are less likely to hold those jobs for life, for one. But there's nothing inherently good about a government policy that cuts jobs in some areas just to create more room in the budget for poorly trained immigration enforcement agents and defense contractors. That may even be a negative outcome for liberty.

In the end, the DOGE project looks less like a meaningful attempt at cutting government spending or employment levels and more like a way to purge parts of the federal workforce likely to get in Trump's way during his second term. "As long as [Trump's] larger commitment is to extending his power rather than rolling back power itself, you shouldn't expect the government to stop growing," as Reason's Jesse Walker wrote last year in comparing DOGE to President Richard Nixon's attempted purge of the civil service.

Did DOGE work? Only if you grade it on a pretty dramatic curve.

Yes, it proved that a president can slash bureaucratic jobs—particularly the bloated managerial and administrative types—without doing much damage to the government's core responsibilities. That's a lesson future administrations should remember.

Maybe, someday, a president will try applying the same logic to government spending too.

The post DOGE Worked? Only If You Grade on a Curve. appeared first on Reason Magazine.

British taxpayers have already paid for nearly 1,000 free hijabs for Channel migrants this year, with the total likely to hit 1,500.

The post UK Hands Out More Than 1,000 Free Hijabs to Channel Migrants at Taxpayer Expense appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Five more charities in receipt of three quarters of a million pounds of public funds have been added to Charlotte Gill's list of taxpayer-funded asylum charities which are assisting illegal migration to the UK.

The post Five Examples of Taxpayer-Funded Asylum and Migration Charities appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Jake Edmiston, a business reporter for the Toronto Star, thinks highly of his mustard chicken recipe. So when one batch goes over like a lead balloon, he checks his namesake ingredients and finds that his usual glass pot of Maille Dijon Originale is extraordinarily spicy—a fact he confirms, good reporter that he is, by conducting a blind test with a professional taster. In no time, Edmiston is on the floor of one of Canada’s largest mustard mills, trying to stay dry and avoid mustard dust burns(!), and peppering Unilever, Maille’s owner, with questions. This isn’t exactly a case for Benoit Blanc, but Edmiston’s investigation takes a few surprising turns and drops some serious knowledge on glucosinolates on the way. Every ingredient is in harmony here.

“Do a little dollop,” she said, then turned her back so I could do my work in secret.

I spooned the mustard from my jar onto a plate, and some from another jar of Maille I found in the grocery store that morning. She tried the sample from my jar first and sputtered a little. 

“It’s quite spicy,” she said.

I asked her how much spicier it was than the control jar. 

“Like, 10 times,” she said.

“Taste is a new core skill,” OpenAI President Greg Brockman declared earlier this year—one voice in a growing chorus of pronouncements about the centrality of judgment and preference in an economy built on artificial intelligence. And yet taste itself is largely undefined by many of its loudest proponents. Celine Nguyen considers the historic relationship between automation and taste; the “seemingly irrelevant, unimportant” inputs that shape our critical perceptions; and the perils of wielding taste like a cudgel. A striking, insightful blend of criticism and personal essay.

Today’s frontier models are trained on enormous quantities of data. One takeaway from Anthropic’s 2025 settlement with a group of authors, in which the company agreed to pay $1.5 billion (or an estimated $3,000 per book) for scraping copyrighted books from shadow libraries like LibGen, is that its models have “read” at least 482,460 books. But even Claude Opus 4.8 hasn’t written a short story that I enjoy more than those by Lydia Davis or Jessi Jezewska Stevens — both of whom, despite being prodigiously well-read, have almost certainly read fewer books.

In this edition: in a pickle; gut feeling; king of pain; life (or something like it); for those about to rock.

Linni Kral has always been preoccupied with her bowels, but as a food writer, it hasn’t usually been that end she’s focused on in her writing. Now, as the internet explodes with “scat chat,” Kral is ready to investigate whether obsessing over our bowel movements has any merit. The result is a giggle fest—though you’ll need the stomach for some serious poo talk.

One day, it seems, the internet woke up and chose BMs, and suddenly the hottest girl you know is posting about scat. Now you have to go out of your way to not eat fiber—prebiotic supplements are in our soda, our candy bars, our cold foam. The beverage case is dominated by the likes of Olipop and Poppi and Culture Pop, all offering varying degrees of digestive assistance. The other day, I saw a smoothie blend in the freezer aisle called “Fiber Supremacy,” and earlier this year, Frito-Lay launched a fiber-packed version of both SunChips and Smartfood popcorn. Kraft is making a purgative macaroni and cheese that boasts six grams of fiber per serving (or 15 grams if you eat the whole box—which is, let’s be honest, how most people consume Easy Mac). Outside the retail space, home cooks are finding ways to fit chia and flax into not just their breakfasts but their meat loaf. They’re pureeing beans into sauces and veggies into puddings and cakes. Literal doctors are posting their #fibermaxxing menus to TikTok. And while this may sound like just another wave on the ocean of content we surf daily, it gets…weirder.