The Situation

27 January 2025 - There was no article last week. I was in Rome and broke my laptop, so took a forced break; the world did not fall off its axis.

No way around it: America's troubling (for many) political situation dominated the chats. We're up to nearly 1,000 participants in more than a dozen chats, so there's really no way to summarize. Instead, an item or two from each that jumped out for me.

For those following the chats in real time, feel free to add others I've missed in the comments.

General discussion

• 2025 PR Playbook. RedNote's PR situation, changing media landscape and what to do about it, and crisis comms. Thanks Gearóid Carroll
• Prisoner's dilemma. From Jenny Nicholson : "Came across this essay from 2016 and it is INCREDIBLY interesting. Really helped me understand the moment. Pay special attention to the two versions of the Prisoners Dilemma it outlines. All the info you need to understand why we’re here and the playbook for resistance is legit in this essay. The connections it makes between Trump’s rise and our cultural obsession with attention as a key KPI is pretty eye-opening." Moosbrugger For President
• New corporate responsibility. An appeal from Bennett Freeman .
• Insurance policy. ‘Cancel culture’ insurance offers respite to panicking celebrities, from Mark Borkowski. Thanks Rebecca Zeitlin.
• Soft power. Why the financial crisis at the British Council matters as UK pushes soft power. Thanks Steph Bailey .

Artificial intelligence

• Consultants beware. AI is coming for your job. Thanks Stuart Bruce .
• Flip flop. Sam Altman does a U-turn on Trump. Thanks Andrew Bruce Smith .
• DeepSeek. Is everyone freaking out? Thanks Nigel Sarbutts for the link.
• Stuart Bruce had a chat with it (DeepSeek): "I'm currently chatting to it about the meaning of the word "current" as in current events and why it won't answer questions about the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It's trying to encourage me to ask questions about logic instead. So I'm going to try asking about the Uyghurs". More from Stuart here.
• And a view from Catherine Arrow : "It’s all information gatekeeping at a level we’ve never experienced before - you can know everything and nothing at the same time. Google’s AI Overview/SGE is yet another example of knowledge barricades. History of web - begins with chaos of a wild garden where you are surprised, delighted and a little overwhelmed at every turn by what you discover. Then the gardeners arrive, put up a wall, lay paths to direct you to their favourite beds - you can still wander off the path but it takes a while to find the wildflowers again. Then the garden gates went up and you could look in if you paid a fee (and could afford to do so). Today, if you’re lucky, the garden robot will hold up only the flowers the gardeners want you to see - depending on who is paying for the manure to nourish the soil. They’ll also tell you your favourite flowers never existed. Knowledge and connection end up overgrown and buried under someone else’s weeds. In the end, it’s the intent of the gardener that controls our view."
• An Updated Opinionated Guide. What AI to use, by Ethan Mollick via Andrew Bruce Smith .

Arts & Culture

• She Said. From Anthony Madigan : "Hoping to see more culture chat here as we warm up to what this subgroup is about. Caught up with She Said over Christmas, the story of the New York Times expose of Harvey Weinstein. Always a sucker for a slow burn journalistic take-down, I liked it a lot."
• A Real Pain. I can recommend this, too.

Climate & Sustainability

• Free webinar. How to set and review climate targets: SBTi briefing. Thanks Michelle Goodall .
• Getting personal. Clean Creatives are going after CEOs now.

Corporate Communications and Capital Markets

• Oreo backtrack. Oreo-maker Mondelez’s apparent backtrack on Russia prompts transparency concern.
• Stargate. Julio Romo and the $500 billion project for American AI supremacy.

Creativity

• Brick me. Kinda cool.
• Chinese New Year. A collection curated by Gearóid Carroll .

Crisis, Risk & Resilience

• Silo breaking. How communication systems collide in emergencies. By Philippe Borremans .
• Vibe shift. Alison Taylor has a view.
• Under Pressure. Newsletter recommendation from me, by Amanda Coleman .

Davos Pop-Up

• Edelman Trust Barometer. PR giant Edelman sounds alarm over ‘descent into grievance’ in Davos – but whose fault is that? Thanks Philippe Borremans .
• Vibe shift. Davos is giving different energy these days. And a take from Alison Taylor .

Digital & Techology

• Dark TikTok. From Julio Romo .
• X debt. Wall Street banks prepare to sell up to $3 billion in X loans next week. Also from Julio Romo .

Education & Research

• European Communications Monitor. ICYMI.
• Call for papers. Meaningful Metrics for Research, Pedagogy, and Life from MBAA/ISM.

ESG & DEI

• Free webinar. Leading through disruption: Building an inclusive culture in challenging times. With Advita Patel on 31 January.
• Snitching. US government workers told to report DEI efforts or face 'consequences'. Thanks Frank Dias .
• Standing tall. These companies are standing by their DEI policies amid backlash.
• But not Target. Thanks Zena Martin .
• Time travel. Trump goes back to the LBJ administration. Thanks Frank Dias .

Mis/Disinformation

• Z To X. How Russian information warfare primed the world for Trump and Musk. Thanks Jamie Klingler .
• Perscipacity. From Mark: "I’m getting a lot out of Richard Nield’s regular newsletters. This recent one in his Media & Disinformation series, but he also writes on Conflict & Human Rights and Sustainability."
• Fact checking. ICCO calls for greater collaboration on fact-checking and fighting misinformation. Thanks Massimo Moriconi .
• Conspiracy theory. And facts. Thanks Tessa Barrera .

NGO / Not For Profit

• Stop work. A US State Department memo puts a pause on new foreign aid spending, as well as a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts. Thanks Jenny Caven .

Library

• History lessons. A thread from Adrian Monck on Bluesky. "Some people asked what can we learn from the German resistance to Hitler? Hans Mommsen’s ‘Alternatives to Hitler’ reveals some hard truths about missed opportunities, strategic errors, and the high cost of inaction."

Policy & Politics

• Crypto corruption. Trump’s meme coin debacle reveals a president ushering in a new era of institutionalised grift. By Matthew Gallagher .
• The Bunker. Podcast recommendation from Dan Baxter .
• United Nations. Is it broken? Another podcast recommendation, this one from Natasha Plowman .

Report from my day job

• 21 new expert advisors. An impressive lot, if I may say so. Thanks Maja Pawinska Sims for this write-up and this one from Evie Barrett .

• And for regular updates and views from us, check here or here.

And about the cover image

I mentioned on the various Meta platforms that I would be moving (most) of my political contemplations over to a more secure space, like Bluesky (here's me there). And a conversation there on how to cope led to this.

Thanks to contributors, followers and sharers!