The power of scarcity was known back in the 18th century. After farmers rejected Frederick the Great’s proposal to grow more potatoes, he planted a royal field with potato plants and ordered his guards to protect them. Before long, peasants started stealing these ‘royal potatoes’ and growing them in secret.
All Threads
Most people don’t think of Singapore as particularly free: laws are draconian, spitting is a fineable offence, and drug smugglers are executed. But to many locals, the strict laws are exactly what make it free. “Freedom is being able to walk on the streets unmolested in the wee hours in the morning. Freedom is fresh air and clean streets, because nothing is more inimical to our liberty of movement than being trapped at home because of suffocating smog.”
France has over twice as many companies with 49 staff as with 50. Why? At 50, companies must abide by a range of regulations including mandatory works councils and more stringent dismissal procedures.
Gail’s’ distribution is focused on neighbourhood spots with above average income. As co-founder Tom Molnar says, “we’re not in places like Oxford Street as we’re not trying to get people through the till really fast.” In fact this focus on affluence has been so successful that the Lib Dems used it as a tool in their 2024 election strategy; aggressively targeting towns outside London with a Gail’s, and winning a record 72 seats as a result.
Almost half of UK adults gamble in a given month, but the occasional players are not the ones the industry cares about: 86% of online betting profits come from just 5% of (very obsessive) customers.
The term ‘gaslighting’ comes from the 1938 British play Gas Light, which was adapted into a film in 1944. It tells the story of a husband who manipulates his wife into thinking she is insane; dimming and brightening the gas lights in their home when she is alone.
If you want to reduce it, target the superusers. The top 10 percent of US motorists drive 30,000 miles or more a year and use an estimated 32 percent of all gasoline – more than the bottom 60 percent of US drivers combined.
Half the world’s GDP comes from 4% of its land mass.
GDP has always excluded parent childcare, volunteering and other unpaid work from its calculation. More recently, it has failed to properly account for much of the digital economy. For instance, Facebook is only counted by its advertising revenue ($40 per user per year) but our willingness to pay for the service is much higher at $600 a year. These and other omissions explain why, to quote John F Kennedy, “GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile”.
It’s not new to say generations are misleading, but voting behaviour makes it clear to see: in the 2024 US election, Kamala Harris’s winning margin declined by 23 points among 18-24 year olds but only 3 points among 25-29 year olds. Technically, these age groups are both part of Gen Z.
In 2017 George Clooney sold his tequila brand Casamigos for $1 billion, and it became the fastest growing spirit brand of 2022. There’s no doubt it tastes good, but there’s also no doubt his fame contributed to its success. Clooney is one of several celebrities to create a successful alcohol brand; David Beckham & Haig Club, Ryan Reynolds & Aviation, Kendall Jenner & Gin 818 Tequila.
If you think kebabs are for nights out, then think again: only 4% of GDK’s business is done post 11pm – this has been helped by a diversified product range, including healthier options like rice bowls, and an ad campaign designed to showcase its relevance at every meal time.
Gin has become increasingly fashionable in the UK, but we’ve been here before: during the ‘gin craze’ of the 1700s the average person was drinking 10 litres of gin each year (vs 2 today), and consumption became so rife that Parliament passed several laws to reduce it.
Anyone who has tried to get Glastonbury tickets knows the chaos involved – manically refreshing the landing page to secure a spot in the queue. Yet fans complained when the festival introduced instead a new system in 2024, which randomly assigned everyone to a place in the queue as shown by green tabs. Yes it was easier and fairer, but it removed the fun of the process that had become an institution in its own right.
Every governing party facing election in a developed country lost vote share in 2024, the first time this has ever happened.