View online

1 November, 2023

Egypt has opened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for the first time since the 7 October attacks on Israel. It is thought that 88 injured Palestinians and around 500 foreign nationals will be allowed to leave the territory, which has had its phone and internet services completely cut off for the second time in five days. Boris Johnson believed Covid was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the inquiry into the pandemic heard yesterday. Dominic Cummings denied that he had contributed to a toxic atmosphere in government, despite the publication of WhatsApp messages in which he called ministers “useless f***pigs”, “morons” and “c***s”. Sketches thought to have been drawn by Michelangelo when he was hiding from the Medici family are going on show for the first time. From 15 November, the public will be able to visit the so-called “Secret Room”, which is tucked under the dynasty’s chapels in Florence and covered in charcoal drawings of figures and body parts.

King Abdul Aziz with FDR (right) in 1945. Hulton Archive/Getty

A Saudi-Israel peace deal is still on the cards

When King Abdul Aziz first met Franklin D Roosevelt to establish US-Saudi relations in 1945, says Karen Elliott House in The Wall Street Journal, he never showed anyone the memorandum of their discussions. He believed their friendship depended on “goodwill and good faith, not a scrap of paper”. It was only later that the translator revealed the king had advised FDR about the European survivors of the Nazi genocide: “Give them the choicest lands and homes of the Germans who oppressed them.” Instead, in 1948, FDR’s successor Harry Truman recognised the new Jewish state in Palestine. The Saudis never did the same, but under a new prospective agreement between Riyadh and Washington, “that would change”.

The deal would involve the US helping Saudi Arabia with trade, security and nuclear enrichment, in exchange for the Arab state setting up “overt peaceful relations” with Israel. The war in Gaza obviously complicates matters. But a sign that calm heads are prevailing in Riyadh came when Hamas falsely claimed Israel had bombed a hospital. Unlike much of the West, “Saudi Arabia remained quiet”. Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, has set clear parameters for his country’s response to the conflict: condemning the targeting of civilians, calling for the creation of a Palestinian state, and “ignoring Hamas to support the rival Palestinian Authority”. What’s clear above all is that Saudi Arabia, “having flirted with China and Russia”, recognises that the US is “its best – its only – security option”. And if Israel is part of the deal, so be it.

Martin Scorsese’s daughter is helping him find a new audience on TikTok, says The New York Times. Francesca, 23, has posted various videos of the 80-year-old director, which have racked up millions of views. In one, he holds an audition for her miniature schnauzer (“Oscar, show me fear. Oscar, show me sadness.”) In another, she tests his knowledge of slang, finding that he knows the meaning of “tea” (“tell all”) and “ick” (“thoroughly repulsed”), but not “sneaky link” (in Francesca’s words, “it’s like a booty call”).

The devastating Israel-Hamas conflict isn’t all bad news, says Jacobin – not for investors in America’s arms industry, at least. Firms including RTX (formerly known as Raytheon) and General Dynamics have seen a 10% share price boost since Hamas’s attack last month. On a recent earnings call, the chief financial officer of General Dynamics mentioned the “terrible” situation in the Middle East, before continuing: “But I think if you look at the incremental demand potential coming out of that, the biggest one to highlight and that really sticks out is probably on the artillery side.”

Enjoying The Knowledge? Click below to share

Getty

The Aruba Tourism Authority wants visitors to go home from their next Caribbean getaway with “something a little more lasting than a shell necklace”, says Thrillist. The island is offering tourists a free “Aruba-themed” tattoo by a local artist. “When our visitors leave, they take some of the island’s abundant happiness with them,” says local tourism boss Ronella Croes. “What better way to celebrate this lasting feeling than to give away permanent souvenirs?” Apply for the “tattoovenir” programme, which runs from 1 January to 30 June next year, here.

Leonardo DiCaprio splashing the cash in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

We should welcome the end of “cheap everything”

“The era of cheap is over,” says Rana Foroohar in The Washington Post. For a decade and a half of “go-go speculation”, our economy was driven by “cheap everything”: cheap money, cheap energy, cheap labour. Over the past five years, which have featured a pandemic and a European war, that’s all gone “kaput”. And it’s a good thing. The end of cheap money – interest rates are hitting highs not seen for more than a decade – will create an economy that’s “more rational and hardheaded”. Investors won’t just back any old tech company or “meme stock”; they’ll pile into areas like manufacturing, which is set to boom in the US.

It’s a similar story with the end of cheap energy. One outcome of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the realisation, especially in Europe, “that getting crucial commodities from autocrats is never a good idea”. America, Europe and China are all speeding up the transition to a green economy by building wind and solar farms, electric cars, and the supply chains needed to sustain them. Finally, there’s the end of cheap labour. After “decades of wage stagnation amid record corporate profits”, salaries are rising and companies are trying to hang on to staff in a tight labour market. Overall, the end of cheap will mean “a more balanced and resilient economy”, and more power for Main Street rather than Wall Street. Because cheap is never really cheap: it just means kicking troubles down the road.

💰😇 The end of cheap money will also have a massive effect on Westminster, says Andrew Neil in the Daily Mail. Politicians from both sides will no longer be able to “promise the moon”, because the bond markets won’t let them. As Liz Truss found, investors can simply refuse to buy government debt, sending the price of borrowing through the roof. You never know, we could be about to enter “a new period of honesty in British politics”.

From left: Ellie Goulding, Adele and Stormzy. Getty

Cockney and received pronunciation have all but disappeared among young adults, says The Daily Telegraph. Researchers at Essex University have found that the two “overtly class-based” accents have effectively been replaced by three new voices: the “standard southern British English” spoken by the likes of Ellie Goulding; “estuary English”, as articulated by Adele; and “multicultural London English”, as voiced by Stormzy. 

Saudi Arabia is set to host the football World Cup in 2034, says Jawad Iqbal in The Spectator, having received a big helping hand from Fifa. Last month the organisation unexpectedly brought the bidding process forward by three years, giving potential host nations just a few weeks to express interest, and made it clear that the hosts had to come from Oceania or the Asian Football Federation, “to which Saudi Arabia just happens to belong”. The Saudis confirmed they would be bidding “within minutes” of the announcement – and the likes of Australia, which had been considering a bid, sensibly realised that Fifa “has eyes only for the Saudis”.

It’s supermodel Heidi Klum, who donned a peacock costume for her annual Halloween party last night. The iridescent outfit was complemented by a supporting cast of Cirque du Soleil acrobats to represent her plumage – and by her husband, musician Tom Kaulitz, dressed up as a giant egg.

“Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.”

George Eliot

That’s it. You’re done.

To find out about advertising and commercial partnerships, click here

Been forwarded this newsletter?

Sign up for free to receive it every day

Unsubscribe from the newsletter