Simon Kuper
@simonkuper.bsky.social
Financial Times columnist, football podcaster at Heroes and Humans, and author of books including Chums, Good Chaps, Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century, Soccernomics etc. British and now French, lives in Paris with wife and kids.
2. Last point on flattery: I say that a common industry technique for flattering rich people is to offer them exclusive access (e.g. VIP openings at art fairs). Well, Jeffrey Epstein's network was a classic exclusive-access scheme for rich men - with the twist that access was to underage girls
November 27, 2025 at 1:01 PM
2. Last point on flattery: I say that a common industry technique for flattering rich people is to offer them exclusive access (e.g. VIP openings at art fairs). Well, Jeffrey Epstein's network was a classic exclusive-access scheme for rich men - with the twist that access was to underage girls
Witkoff was worried that Russian elite wouldn't understand the flattery etiquette that is so familiar to elite Americans. He needn't have worried; they have it too
November 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Witkoff was worried that Russian elite wouldn't understand the flattery etiquette that is so familiar to elite Americans. He needn't have worried; they have it too
Two points that didn't make the column: 1. Steve Witkoff's leaked conversation with Russian aide Ushakov on how to pitch peace deal to Trump is classic coaching in flattery etiquette: "reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement...that you respect that he is a man of peace" etc
November 27, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Two points that didn't make the column: 1. Steve Witkoff's leaked conversation with Russian aide Ushakov on how to pitch peace deal to Trump is classic coaching in flattery etiquette: "reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement...that you respect that he is a man of peace" etc