America is voting today, and the US has just struck an Iranian island. Hackers have turned Europe’s supermarket freezers into ovens. A man from Hull has finished walking home, 28 years after he set off. And court documents show Meta once considered a whisper strategy against its biggest critic. Four stories this Tuesday, and what our guests have told me about each one.
America votes, and Iran gets hit
Americans are voting in the midterms today. Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot, but he’s been telling people to pretend he is: “Pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.” The BBC says voters’ biggest worry is the cost of living.
And overnight, the US struck Iran’s Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz. A US official called it “a defensive measure”. At the same time, JD Vance is talking up a negotiated settlement.
Natalie Brunell warned me about this road a year ago: “I think that it’s going to be a tumultuous road to the midterms… a lot of people feel that the promises of the administration and in the votes that they cast have not been delivered on, especially when it comes to government efficiency, when it comes to government transparency, and when it comes to affordability.”
▶ Watch Natalie Brunell from 58:28
Whatever the result, the worry going into that booth is the one she named: what things cost.
Hackers turn Europe’s freezers into ovens
Supermarket freezers in seven European countries have been hit by a cyber-attack, including Belgium, Sweden and Ireland. Units were pushed as high as 50 degrees Celsius. One Delhaize store in Hoeilaart, Belgium, lost a hundred thousand euros of food.
The UK was hit too. The National Cyber Security Centre says there were “a couple of instances”, and that it’s too early to say who did it.
Marc Goodman told me this was coming, back in 2015: “We can’t even protect the laptops and servers and smartphones that we have online today. So for me, the internet of things is just going to be the internet of things to hack. It’s just more targets for people to go after, much of which will be automated.”
▶ Watch Marc Goodman from 36:37
That was eleven years ago. This week, the target was your frozen peas.
Karl Bushby walks home
In November 1998, Karl Bushby set off on foot from Punta Arenas in Chile. He was 29. He has now finished, at 57, about 31,000 miles later, at his mum’s home in Hull. Her first words? “Where have you been?”
Colin O’Brady, who crossed Antarctica alone, told me what a finish line really gives you: “It wasn’t actually about the destination, but we can be so focused on the destination to not realize that the actual growth and the beauty of it is the process.”
▶ Watch Colin O’Brady from 30:12
Twenty-eight years, and it ends with a mum asking where he’s been. I love that.
Meta’s whisper plan
Court documents show Meta once considered a whisper strategy against Jonathan Haidt, the man warning the world about kids and smartphones. The notes, from March 2023, talk about turning other academics against him. It’s not clear Meta went through with it, and Meta didn’t respond to Gizmodo.
Here’s the kind of thing Haidt was saying when he sat down with me: “So in many ways, social media is harder on girls than it is on boys.”
▶ Watch Jonathan Haidt from 14:09
Meta’s idea was quiet. What happened to us wasn’t: “LinkedIn had deleted me. Twitter had blocked our website. Facebook and Instagram made us impossible to find.” That’s from our film, We Will Not Be Silenced, and it’s free on London Real.
▶ Watch We Will Not Be Silenced from 41:21
So much tonight is out of your hands: prices, freezers, platforms. Karl Bushby just kept walking.
Which of these stories are you watching? Tell me on X at @brianbrose.
P.S. Every week, the founder of a private AI company pitches live to the members of our AI Investment Club. We question the team, the traction and the terms. We see many and back few. And in Dubai, true ultra-luxury villas are in short supply, because so few operators can build them. That’s the gap our Luxury Property Investment Circle is built around: buy dated villas in prime enclaves, rebuild them, sell them finished.
P.P.S. Reckon you can name the guest from a single quote? Try the Superfan Quiz: 100 real quotes from the show and a live leaderboard.
This is commentary, not financial advice. Do your own research.
