ITK Daily | October 22

Happy Saturday.

To be ITK, know this:

Political pantomime: On this episode of Brigadoon Radio, Gerald Ashley and I discuss:

+ PM Liz Truss

+ Politics of London

+ What happens next in the House of Commons

+ Masters of the universe and bond vigilantes

+ Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party

+ Japan and Australia's new security deal

+ First-ever Taiwan Expo USA held in Washington DC

+ What we are reading and watching

Watch here.

Bloomberg: Italy’s Meloni sworn in as first female prime minister

+ New Italian cabinet took oath on Saturday at Quirinale in Rome

+ Meloni government would be most right-wing since World War II

650: The number of members in the House of Commons.

Lettuce had a really good week: Possibly, it's best week ever in the history of planet Earth.

WP: Seething or celebrating? Prospect of Boris Johnson comeback divides UK

+ As he stood in Britain’s Houses of Parliament for the final time, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, signed off with a colorful line. “Hasta la vista, baby,” he said, borrowing from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic “Terminator 2” movie. “Mission largely accomplished,” he told lawmakers, with a long pause. “For now.”

Rishi Sunak poised to enter Tory leadership race as Boris Johnson seeks support: FT reports the number of MPs endorsing former chancellor tops threshold needed to make it on to ballot paper.

+ "No matter who wins, the next PM will inherit an economy damned for the immediate future by rising borrowing costs, crippling energy bills, high taxes, and no strategy about how to revive growth."

How tumultuous forces of Brexit divided UK’s Conservative Party: Some experts link Liz Truss’s downfall to the ripple effect of Britain’s departure from the European Union and the bitter, ideologically opposed factions it created in her party. NYT

+ Truss’s calamitous tenure, critics said, is the most extreme example of post-Brexit politics that have now brought the Conservatives to crisis. In the process, it has damaged Britain’s economic standing, its credibility in the markets, and its reputation with the public, which is watching a leadership contest that may return Johnson to the helm of a party that tossed him out only three months ago.

Not-so-great Britain’s Conservative crackup Maureen Dowd

+ "Liz squared. The longest-reigning monarch meets the shortest-serving prime minister. It was such a swift fall that Truss was anointed by a queen and resigned to a king."

Could the Tory turmoil get even worse? Truss’s catastrophic premiership may have hit support for free-market solutions, but the party is still riven with personal feuds. FT

+ Truss had subjected Britain to a high-borrowing, tax-cutting, libertarian experiment which fell apart on its first contact with reality. The markets recoiled, Tory poll ratings collapsed, and her government imploded.

+ Truss’ resignation marked a defining moment in the tumultuous era of post-Brexit British politics, the death of the dream held by the Conservative right of turning the country, freed from the bureaucratic grip of Brussels, into a free-market nirvana.

+ As her premiership fell apart, Truss tried to find new bogeymen who she insisted were derailing the post-Brexit revolution, blaming an “anti-growth coalition” that included people with podcasts, Scottish nationalists, and north London liberals.

+ Labour leads the Conservatives by 30 points in an average of the latest polls

+ Tory MPs will on Monday begin the task of choosing a new leader and Britain’s fifth prime minister since the Brexit vote of 2016

Hu Jintao: Ex-president escorted out of China party congress: BBC reports Chinese former leader Hu Jintao has been led out of the closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress. The frail-looking 79-year-old was sitting beside President Xi Jinping when he was escorted away by officials.

CNN: Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of room as Party Congress comes to a close

Former Chinese president unceremoniously led offstage at delegate gathering: WP reports the closing of the congress saw Xi Jinping at the peak of his power with his philosophy enshrined at the core of the party doctrine and his rivals sidelined.

What the hell just happened to Hu Jintao? Xi Jinping’s predecessor was forcibly led away from the Party Congress. James Palmer

"The escort heard 'round the world"

When it comes to propaganda and pageantry, nothing happens by accident with the CCP.

The stillness of the others while witnessing the escort of Hu Jintao from the stage is breathtaking, frankly.

So the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party: Opens with a man on a bridge protesting with the chant: "Go on strike at school and work, remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping" and close with Hu Jintao being escorted out.

Wild.

Australia-Japan relationship is not just business anymore: Albanese's hosting of Kishida in Perth highlights rising security ties. Gemma King

+ Fumio Kishida is due to arrive this week in Perth as the first Japanese prime minister to visit Australia in five years.

+ The (JPN-AUS) summit will recognize this with a wide-ranging and forward-looking agenda, spanning critical minerals, clean energy, and defense and regional cooperation.

+ It is no coincidence that Albanese chose to host Kishida in Western Australia. The state's multibillion-dollar mining industry accounts for 42% of Australia's total exports to Japan, a flow dominated by liquefied natural gas, coal, and iron ore.

Bloomberg: The world’s oil buyers are being crushed by a surging dollar

+ From Paris to Mumbai, exchange rates are keeping fuel costly

+ Oil is at record levels in Ghana, while Sri Lanka is shut out

Remote work changed their lives. They’re not going back to the office. Workers for companies including Airbnb , Spotify , and Block say their new remote policies led them to travel and connect with family — but with new challenges. WP

+ As of late September, 21.6 million people in the United States worked remotely for five days, while 32.3 million worked at the office at least one day, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

+ Remote workers say they enjoy connecting with nature, exploring the world and spending more time with family, noting that their outlook on work has changed forever.

+ But it’s not rosy all the time: Some say their new lifestyles have introduced complications like time-zone coordination, a different approach to connecting with colleagues, slow internet connectivity, the fear of missing out in-person, and sorting out international health care and travel restrictions.

36 hours in Milan NYT

Milan is my favorite European city.

Pickleball is expanding. Tennis is mad. From New York to Hawaii, weekend athletes and government officials are taking part in a battle that goes beyond the fight for court space. NYT

+ When officials in Asheville, NC, submitted plans to convert the three tennis courts in Murphy-Oakley Park into eight pickleball courts, tennis players rebelled.

+ In Arizona, there was so much bad blood between the two factions that a law firm provided guidance to homeowners’ associations on how to avoid lawsuits.

+ Tennis players in Hawaii complained that the organizers of the Pacific Rim Pickleball Cup had created a potential safety hazard on the courts because of the “gooey adhesive” they had left behind after they laid out pickleball lines with yellow tape.

TX F1: Austin is hosting a Formula One Grand Prix this weekend.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc

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