ITK Daily | August 7

Happy Sunday.

To be ITK, know this:

Democracy never rests.

@kentnish: Big Vote-a-rama energy with @SenSanders on the steps of the Senate, as the Senate enters hour 13.

Yahoo: Roger Waters calls Biden a “war criminal,” defends Russia and China in CNN interview

Following the release of this stellar interview, Qin Gang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, dropped this Tweet:

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters: "Taiwan is part of China and that's been absolutely accepted by the whole of the int'l community since 1948, and if you don't know that, you're not reading enough. Go and read about it."

Wild: We have come a long way from Another Brick in the Wall.

We don't need no education

We don't need no thought control

Mark the tape: I suspect, during the 2024 GOP presidential primary, at least one candidate will make a campaign promise that if elected POTUS, they will visit Taiwan during their first term.

Aspirational is not the same as Operational.

Read this: China talks tough on Taiwan, but an invasion would be harder than it looks Ian Williams

+ "An attack would require President Xi to mobilize two million troops, and the waters between mainland and island are treacherous"

+ "Taipei celebrates diversity, while Xi sees diversity as a threat to be crushed. Taiwan embraces a civic nationalism, underpinned by pride in what it has achieved, while under Xi the CCP has become a party of resentful and aggressive ethnic nationalism with echoes of 1930s Germany"

+ "Because Taiwan is a democracy, the Taiwanese people would need to agree to any political arrangement with China, something that seems lost on Xi"

+ "As with Hong Kong, he takes the view that the future of the island has nothing to do with the people who live there"

+ "Xi is increasingly boxed in. He has made the “recovery” of Taiwan a key part of his “Chinese Dream” of national rejuvenation. To try and to fail would almost certainly lead to his downfall and possibly that of the CCP"

+ "Perhaps Taiwan’s most important allies are its geography and the climate of the Strait. There are only 14 beaches regarded as suitable for an amphibious landing"

+ "This year Tom Tugendhat is expected to lead a group of MPs from the Commons foreign affairs committee on a delayed visit to Taiwan, in what will be seen as an important show of solidarity"

+ "There will no doubt be further CCP tantrums. Like the defunct One China policy, strategic ambiguity has had its day. World affairs are being increasingly redrawn as democracy v autocracy, and Taiwan is on the front line"

+ The Fire of the Dragon: China’s New Cold War, by Ian Williams , was published by Birlinn last week

Follow Ian Williams on Twitter here: @ianwill

Read this: Inside the Tory hustings — where it’s all still to play for The Times

+ The polls say Liz Truss is miles ahead, but Conservative members who turn out to meet the candidates have yet to make up their minds over who will be PM

Channeling Fred Thompson at the Iowa State Fair: “With Rishi, the optics are not good. I don’t know who advises him but turning up in those [Prada] shoes and a ￡3,000 suit? I’ve got nothing against wealth, good for him, but it’s an open goal for the opposition.”

"As you know, the marketing industry loves to pretend that it is data driven. It is anything but. It is obsession driven. It only uses data to support its obsessions." -- Bob Hoffman

Dave Trott : My wife (art director) was telling me David Abbott used to sit in the studio with her and adjust letters until midnight, like every ad was the crown jewels. Now that'd be stupid, every ad is another piece of shit, crank it out and get home. Wonder why ads aren't so good?

Rory Sutherland : In the 1970s, Italian singer Adriano Celentano believed any song would become popular if it just sounded American. So he wrote gibberish lyrics that sounded like English to Italian ears. The song went to number 5 in the charts.

I subscribed to Joe Fattorini's Substack. You can too here.?

Pod alert: Recorded in February 2022, a Brigadoon Monthly Call with Joe Fattorini. Joe is Managing Director + Behavioural Science Lead @ PixWine and known worldwide as "Obi Wine Kenobi", the expert presenter on The Wine Show. Watch here.

NYP: Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: 'What have you reduced your life to?'

Once again, look to Seinfeld for life's big answers.

Jerry: “Again with the sweatpants?”

George: “What? I'm comfortable.”

Jerry: “You know the message you're sending out to the world with these sweatpants? You're telling the world: ‘I give up. I can't compete in normal society. I'm miserable, so I might as well be comfortable.’"

Welcome to The Premier League : Erling Haaland scored both goals for Manchester City in a 2-0 opening weekend victory over West Ham.

Haaland is an absoltue beast.

Great album: Entering Heaven Alive by Jack White.

Read this: How ‘Boomerang,’ the best rom-com ever, ruined me Damon Young

@rorysutherland: Doner kebabs and curry are often denigrated because drunk men like them. But surely the foods we crave when drunk are the greatest of all foods, since they are what our brains, free of all pretension, really want to eat. No one ever said "I could kill for a canapé right now."

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc?

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