Jay Owens
@jayowens.bsky.social
I’m Head of Audience at @lrb.co.uk and I wrote a book, ‘Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles’ (2023). I post about media strategy and environmental politics.
🔗 https://JayOwens.me
🔗 https://JayOwens.me
But it’s such a case study in digital power and control:
What can governments do?
‘Europe needs greater sovereignty, especially in digital and banking matters. Without sovereignty – military, health, financial and digital – we can no longer guarantee the rule of law.’
What can governments do?
‘Europe needs greater sovereignty, especially in digital and banking matters. Without sovereignty – military, health, financial and digital – we can no longer guarantee the rule of law.’
November 22, 2025 at 11:13 AM
But it’s such a case study in digital power and control:
What can governments do?
‘Europe needs greater sovereignty, especially in digital and banking matters. Without sovereignty – military, health, financial and digital – we can no longer guarantee the rule of law.’
What can governments do?
‘Europe needs greater sovereignty, especially in digital and banking matters. Without sovereignty – military, health, financial and digital – we can no longer guarantee the rule of law.’
What can you do?
‘Continue administering justice with complete independence, even in difficult circumstances.’
Nicolas Guillou is a brave and principled guy.
archive.ph/2025.11.20-0...
‘Continue administering justice with complete independence, even in difficult circumstances.’
Nicolas Guillou is a brave and principled guy.
archive.ph/2025.11.20-0...
November 22, 2025 at 11:10 AM
What can you do?
‘Continue administering justice with complete independence, even in difficult circumstances.’
Nicolas Guillou is a brave and principled guy.
archive.ph/2025.11.20-0...
‘Continue administering justice with complete independence, even in difficult circumstances.’
Nicolas Guillou is a brave and principled guy.
archive.ph/2025.11.20-0...
‘American companies are actively involved in intimidating sanctioned individuals – in this case, the judges and prosecutors who serve justice in contemporary armed conflicts. Putting someone under sanctions creates a state of permanent anxiety and powerlessness, with the intent of discouragement.’
November 22, 2025 at 11:10 AM
‘American companies are actively involved in intimidating sanctioned individuals – in this case, the judges and prosecutors who serve justice in contemporary armed conflicts. Putting someone under sanctions creates a state of permanent anxiety and powerlessness, with the intent of discouragement.’
Really good article about a history I knew very little about.
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
November 17, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Really good article about a history I knew very little about.
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
But that’s not just me being ignorant.
As Dan put it (in DMs), ‘The Pact of Forgetting is a thing with capital letters and its own Wikipedia page.’
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of...
More precisely, one and only one ethical concern is high status in the Bay Area, namely ‘Oh no superintelligent AI will kill us all’ — except that’s actually a) marketing and b) fictional.
Caring about actually existing human beings? Nahhh
Caring about actually existing human beings? Nahhh
November 16, 2025 at 10:55 AM
More precisely, one and only one ethical concern is high status in the Bay Area, namely ‘Oh no superintelligent AI will kill us all’ — except that’s actually a) marketing and b) fictional.
Caring about actually existing human beings? Nahhh
Caring about actually existing human beings? Nahhh
Stephen Bush: ‘It has left Labour MPs wondering: is the issue that Downing Street’s most senior aides are paranoid incompetents, or that they are hatching plots of their own? Neither are questions that any half-competent Downing Street should be inviting upon itself.’
Gift link: on.ft.com/4p533FU
Gift link: on.ft.com/4p533FU
November 12, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Stephen Bush: ‘It has left Labour MPs wondering: is the issue that Downing Street’s most senior aides are paranoid incompetents, or that they are hatching plots of their own? Neither are questions that any half-competent Downing Street should be inviting upon itself.’
Gift link: on.ft.com/4p533FU
Gift link: on.ft.com/4p533FU
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Only one shop that does design research in Afghanistan, heh.
But for all she fled the industry (not Jan! the next agency), it turns out you can take the girl out of strategy but you cannot take strategy out of the girl.
But for all she fled the industry (not Jan! the next agency), it turns out you can take the girl out of strategy but you cannot take strategy out of the girl.
November 11, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Only one shop that does design research in Afghanistan, heh.
But for all she fled the industry (not Jan! the next agency), it turns out you can take the girl out of strategy but you cannot take strategy out of the girl.
But for all she fled the industry (not Jan! the next agency), it turns out you can take the girl out of strategy but you cannot take strategy out of the girl.
This country really lacks a tradition of freedom of enquiry. Sheffield H. blithely saying they shut down this professor’s research because insurance?
Not even a peep about academic freedoms.
Just ‘This couldn’t possibly be venal because we were too incompetent to get many Chinese students anyway.’
Not even a peep about academic freedoms.
Just ‘This couldn’t possibly be venal because we were too incompetent to get many Chinese students anyway.’
November 6, 2025 at 9:25 AM
This country really lacks a tradition of freedom of enquiry. Sheffield H. blithely saying they shut down this professor’s research because insurance?
Not even a peep about academic freedoms.
Just ‘This couldn’t possibly be venal because we were too incompetent to get many Chinese students anyway.’
Not even a peep about academic freedoms.
Just ‘This couldn’t possibly be venal because we were too incompetent to get many Chinese students anyway.’
In better news: new shape just dropped that can’t pass through itself without touching the sides.
It’s called a Noperthedron.
Is it useful for anything? Well, Sergey Yurkevich who co-discovered it has a 3D printed one holding pens on his desk?
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
It’s called a Noperthedron.
Is it useful for anything? Well, Sergey Yurkevich who co-discovered it has a 3D printed one holding pens on his desk?
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
October 30, 2025 at 2:09 AM
In better news: new shape just dropped that can’t pass through itself without touching the sides.
It’s called a Noperthedron.
Is it useful for anything? Well, Sergey Yurkevich who co-discovered it has a 3D printed one holding pens on his desk?
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
It’s called a Noperthedron.
Is it useful for anything? Well, Sergey Yurkevich who co-discovered it has a 3D printed one holding pens on his desk?
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
And also quite probably some of you are just itching to write me off as a liberal billionaire apologist.
Do as you will – actually ideally fuck off and unfollow me? Cheers ➡️🚪
But necessary disclaimer that OF COURSE I disagree with his tech-solutionism and belief that ‘innovation’ will do the trick
Do as you will – actually ideally fuck off and unfollow me? Cheers ➡️🚪
But necessary disclaimer that OF COURSE I disagree with his tech-solutionism and belief that ‘innovation’ will do the trick
October 30, 2025 at 1:41 AM
And also quite probably some of you are just itching to write me off as a liberal billionaire apologist.
Do as you will – actually ideally fuck off and unfollow me? Cheers ➡️🚪
But necessary disclaimer that OF COURSE I disagree with his tech-solutionism and belief that ‘innovation’ will do the trick
Do as you will – actually ideally fuck off and unfollow me? Cheers ➡️🚪
But necessary disclaimer that OF COURSE I disagree with his tech-solutionism and belief that ‘innovation’ will do the trick
A strong first issue for the new @equatormag.bsky.social.
Soyonbo Borjgin on a journalist’s life at 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺
Here’s the opening paragraph and it just pretty much keeps going like this
www.equator.org/articles/the...
Soyonbo Borjgin on a journalist’s life at 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺
Here’s the opening paragraph and it just pretty much keeps going like this
www.equator.org/articles/the...
October 29, 2025 at 9:43 PM
A strong first issue for the new @equatormag.bsky.social.
Soyonbo Borjgin on a journalist’s life at 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺
Here’s the opening paragraph and it just pretty much keeps going like this
www.equator.org/articles/the...
Soyonbo Borjgin on a journalist’s life at 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺
Here’s the opening paragraph and it just pretty much keeps going like this
www.equator.org/articles/the...
A review of Polly Barton’ s 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘯: 𝘈𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 - which Fishman finds fundamentally uncurious:
thepointmag.com/criticism/th...
thepointmag.com/criticism/th...
October 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM
A review of Polly Barton’ s 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘯: 𝘈𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 - which Fishman finds fundamentally uncurious:
thepointmag.com/criticism/th...
thepointmag.com/criticism/th...
I did a bunch of interviews on this in 2023 - spoke to most of the same people - but failed to do anything with it as it collided with book copyedit deadline hell.
Really glad to see this get coverage. Carlin Stiehl's photos really make the piece too
(The book: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/jay-o...)
Really glad to see this get coverage. Carlin Stiehl's photos really make the piece too
(The book: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/jay-o...)
October 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I did a bunch of interviews on this in 2023 - spoke to most of the same people - but failed to do anything with it as it collided with book copyedit deadline hell.
Really glad to see this get coverage. Carlin Stiehl's photos really make the piece too
(The book: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/jay-o...)
Really glad to see this get coverage. Carlin Stiehl's photos really make the piece too
(The book: www.hachette.co.uk/titles/jay-o...)
Ok now this is a bit more interesting than the way these things usually go:
‘After all of his effort to curate his image, he was afraid of her novelist’s tendency to rearrange facts to reflect her own truth.’
www.thecut.com/article/ange...
‘After all of his effort to curate his image, he was afraid of her novelist’s tendency to rearrange facts to reflect her own truth.’
www.thecut.com/article/ange...
October 21, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Ok now this is a bit more interesting than the way these things usually go:
‘After all of his effort to curate his image, he was afraid of her novelist’s tendency to rearrange facts to reflect her own truth.’
www.thecut.com/article/ange...
‘After all of his effort to curate his image, he was afraid of her novelist’s tendency to rearrange facts to reflect her own truth.’
www.thecut.com/article/ange...
More words than it perhaps requires, tbh.
October 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
More words than it perhaps requires, tbh.
MacKenzie Scott (reputedly): “I’d rather have a kid with nine fingers than a resourceless one.”
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
October 8, 2025 at 2:20 PM
MacKenzie Scott (reputedly): “I’d rather have a kid with nine fingers than a resourceless one.”
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
‘We produce more than ever before … but the things exist mostly in order to be captured in images again.’
www.ft.com/content/e637...
www.ft.com/content/e637...
October 4, 2025 at 1:23 PM
‘We produce more than ever before … but the things exist mostly in order to be captured in images again.’
www.ft.com/content/e637...
www.ft.com/content/e637...
Participants in China’s intense fan culture ‘know that real-life idols can disappoint’, Yun Sheng writes.
‘It’s safer to worship the dead or invented than the living. One tribute to circulate online lately was a Labubu doll placed in front of Marx’s tomb in London.’
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘It’s safer to worship the dead or invented than the living. One tribute to circulate online lately was a Labubu doll placed in front of Marx’s tomb in London.’
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
October 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Participants in China’s intense fan culture ‘know that real-life idols can disappoint’, Yun Sheng writes.
‘It’s safer to worship the dead or invented than the living. One tribute to circulate online lately was a Labubu doll placed in front of Marx’s tomb in London.’
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘It’s safer to worship the dead or invented than the living. One tribute to circulate online lately was a Labubu doll placed in front of Marx’s tomb in London.’
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
And today SS26 ‘Temple’ in shades of fawn, dust, milk, dinge - and of course black.
Stairs, shoulders, sculptural forms, and sclera-obscuring contacts. An iterative approach to fashion, each season building on the last, no ‘in’ or ‘out’ of style.
www.vogue.com/fashion-show...
Stairs, shoulders, sculptural forms, and sclera-obscuring contacts. An iterative approach to fashion, each season building on the last, no ‘in’ or ‘out’ of style.
www.vogue.com/fashion-show...
October 2, 2025 at 9:39 PM
And today SS26 ‘Temple’ in shades of fawn, dust, milk, dinge - and of course black.
Stairs, shoulders, sculptural forms, and sclera-obscuring contacts. An iterative approach to fashion, each season building on the last, no ‘in’ or ‘out’ of style.
www.vogue.com/fashion-show...
Stairs, shoulders, sculptural forms, and sclera-obscuring contacts. An iterative approach to fashion, each season building on the last, no ‘in’ or ‘out’ of style.
www.vogue.com/fashion-show...
September 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
The chap behind How The Light Gets In – a charmer named Hilary Lawson – previously tried to book Bashar al-Assad for an event.
www.the-fence.com/the-ideas-man/
www.the-fence.com/the-ideas-man/
August 21, 2025 at 10:46 PM
The chap behind How The Light Gets In – a charmer named Hilary Lawson – previously tried to book Bashar al-Assad for an event.
www.the-fence.com/the-ideas-man/
www.the-fence.com/the-ideas-man/
Truly we live in a glorious age for extremely cursed lecture events.
Which is worse:
Curtis Yarvin, Alain de Botton, some antivaxxers and a Rees-Mogg in a field, soundtracked by The Orb
or
Peter Thiel on being the Antichrist
Which is worse:
Curtis Yarvin, Alain de Botton, some antivaxxers and a Rees-Mogg in a field, soundtracked by The Orb
or
Peter Thiel on being the Antichrist
August 21, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Truly we live in a glorious age for extremely cursed lecture events.
Which is worse:
Curtis Yarvin, Alain de Botton, some antivaxxers and a Rees-Mogg in a field, soundtracked by The Orb
or
Peter Thiel on being the Antichrist
Which is worse:
Curtis Yarvin, Alain de Botton, some antivaxxers and a Rees-Mogg in a field, soundtracked by The Orb
or
Peter Thiel on being the Antichrist
August 20, 2025 at 5:21 PM
This was, ironically, the most healing experience of nature I’ve had – that rest and silence the point at which I finally recovered from some dragging-on covid fatigue.
I climbed a mountain and the air was filled with flying ants, what epiphany! Lol.
www.instagram.com/p/DAO796Poch...
I climbed a mountain and the air was filled with flying ants, what epiphany! Lol.
www.instagram.com/p/DAO796Poch...
August 2, 2025 at 1:03 PM
This was, ironically, the most healing experience of nature I’ve had – that rest and silence the point at which I finally recovered from some dragging-on covid fatigue.
I climbed a mountain and the air was filled with flying ants, what epiphany! Lol.
www.instagram.com/p/DAO796Poch...
I climbed a mountain and the air was filled with flying ants, what epiphany! Lol.
www.instagram.com/p/DAO796Poch...