Sharpen Your Axe

How to analyze news and current events critically, so you don't fall for influencers promoting unconventional opinions backed by conspiracy theories.

Local

English

Newsletter (Digital)

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

N/A

Country

N/A

Articles

Culture War Bridgers

1 week ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Rupert Cocke

By http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=5371490960, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41668112Diaspora is a 1997 science-fiction novel from Greg Egan that imagines what a post-human (and post-biological) future would look like. It is a dense read that will be rewarding for geeks, who will appreciate the level of detail and innovation in the world-building that sits behind the narrative.
Increasing Complexity

2 weeks ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Rupert Cocke

Frere, John: "Account of Flint Weapons Discovered at Hoxne in Suffolk", in Archeologia, vol. 13.- London, 1800.- Pp. 204-205, public domainHand axes, made from flint or other stones, are the longest-used tools in human history. They were used for around a million and a half years by Homo erectus and other early humans, although only rarely by Homo sapiens. Perhaps strangely, their design persisted largely unchanged over more than a million years.
Five Spanish Words We Need to Borrow in English

3 weeks ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Rupert Cocke

"English Dictionaries" by jovike is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.One of the funniest things about my day job as a Barcelona-based financial journalist specialising in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is the constant use of Spanglish among financiers. It is quite common to hear sentences like this: “El pipeline de transacciones tiene buena pinta.” Thanks for reading Sharpen Your Axe! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Asabiya: A Concept We Need to Revive in 2025

1 month ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Rupert Cocke

Bust of Ibn Khaldoun in the entrance of the Kasbah of Bejaia, Algeria. © Reda Kerbouche, CC-BY-SA, GNU Free Documentation License, Wikimedia CommonsIn 1952, Dwight Eisenhower, the former Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, entered the Presidential race of the United States (US) as a Republican. His mission was to stop Robert A. Taft, an isolationist Senator.
Is the Public Pensions System a Ponzi Scheme?

1 month ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Rupert Cocke

Charles Ponzi, by Boston Library (NYT); en.wikipedia.org - Boston Library (NYT); en.wikipedia.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31534797On 15th March, I published an essay challenging the hard right to find pro-natalist policies that want to work if its supporters want their anti-immigration narratives to be taken seriously.
What Went Wrong?

1 month ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Dan Davies |Rupert Cocke

Stafford Beer at der Universität St.Gallen (HSG). Media uploaded by HSG are released under CC-BY-SA 4.0.Populism - defined as anti-pluralism - has exploded throughout the West in recent years. Although populists often stand a fighting chance in one of the two major games of politics (winning elections), they tend to crash and burn at the second game (governing competently). Why do populist narratives begin to resonate with large sections of the voting public around the 2010s?
Can the Hard Right Find Pro-Natalist Policies that Work?

2 months ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Margaret Atwood |Darrell Bricker |John Ibbitson |Rupert Cocke

"No pushchairs" by LoopZilla is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.Europe is on the brink of a serious population crisis. There were 449m people in the European Union (EU) on 1 January 2023, according to Eurostat. The median age in the bloc is almost 45, while 21.3% of the population are above 65 and only 14.9% are below the age of 15. Thanks for reading Sharpen Your Axe! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Education, Pensions, Housing, Emergencies, Hedging

2 months ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Morgan Housel |Rupert Cocke

"Filthy Lucre" by .Larry Page is licensed under CC BY 2.0.This week’s email might be too long for inbox. If it is, please click on the headline and read it on Substack!When people I know socially find out that I earn a living as a financial journalist, some of them ask me about the stock market.
Trump and Peanuts

2 months ago | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Rupert Cocke

"Maní tostado / Roasted peanut." by Andres Bertens is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.Progressives around the world are trying to find attack lines that work on incoming US President Donald Trump. The matter is particularly urgent for Democrats in the US, who will fight in the mid-terms in a couple of years. Thanks for reading Sharpen Your Axe! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Defamation and Social Media

Feb 14, 2025 | sharpenyouraxe.substack.com | Philip K. Dick |Rupert Cocke

"Love all the children: Disarming our hearts after the shootings at Sandy Hook School" by AFSC Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.“Information wants to be free” - Stewart BrandIf you aren’t a journalist, you might not realise quite how seriously most mainstream media organisations take defamation. Over the course of my career as a financial journalist with international publications, spanning nearly three decades, I have attended regular in-house mandatory courses on media law.