Sam Wilkin

1 week ago | open.substack.com | Sam Wilkin

How long does it take to write a typical edition of The Leopard? It’s a question I’m often asked, so I timed it. The short answer is about three hours, in this case on a train from Madrid to San Sebastián. That at least is the bum-in-chair time, for writing and specific research. A more honest answer would include time spent reading books and articles, in conversation with friends, pondering life on my daily dog walks, and various other activities that encourage inspiration and contemplation.

3 weeks ago | theleopard.eu | Sam Wilkin

Last week a driver deliberately ploughed his car into a crowd of football fans in Liverpool. Footage of the attack shows people bouncing helplessly off the speeding vehicle and others going under the wheels. Miraculously nobody was killed, but dozens were injured, including several children. In Europe, where guns are rare, cars and trucks are the deadliest weapons in circulation.

1 month ago | open.substack.com | Sam Wilkin

Never before in history has such a successful civilisation generated such self-loathing as the modern West. There’s no evidence of the Abbasids agonising over the slave trade as they counted their gold, nor of Qin nobles sparing a thought for the brutalised corvee labourers who built their palaces. Late Roman thinkers blamed the erosion of Roman values for their empire’s decline, not the values themselves. Other cultures have had their share of internal critics, but for failure rather than success.

1 month ago | open.substack.com | Sam Wilkin

Once upon a time it was impossible to know what was truly happening in much of the world. Elites could send letters, and later on hub cities would have a telegram, but in both cases access was limited to a small number of people who would invariably spin things their way with no threat of being contradicted. Beyond the city walls the picture was fuzzier still. Information would filter in with traders and travellers, all with their own story to tell.

1 month ago | wtwco.com | Sam Wilkin

Unlock More The annual Political Risk Survey, carried out by Oxford Analytica on behalf of WTW, combines in-depth interviews with a broader survey. There were 66 respondents to the survey and 15 participants in the interview panel. The survey sample is representative of globalized businesses, across geographic regions, industries, and company size.