«When everyone talks like me, I make the mistake of believing that everyone is like me.» Interesting essay on how social media has streamlined language and how this means we’re losing markers of identity where we most need them, in written communication on the web.

Thought-provoking podcast episode on how how games can help us safely explore our current reality and shape new realities. I couldn’t help but marvel at this definition: «to play a game is to voluntarily take on unnecessary obstacles to create the possibility of struggling to overcome them.»

This came as a surprise to me, and got me thinking: In a survey of people in 142 countries, most report that they feel good, with negative emotions falling for the first time since 2014. Younger people tend to be even happier than the average. How can that be, given…gestures broadly at everything? There’s an interesting clue in the methodology. Unlike the World Happiness Report, which usually has all Scandinavian countries at the top, this report doesn’t ask for people’s general happiness, but specifically about how they felt yesterday. This tends to elicit more raw reactions, less tied to social status. Another interesting finding that merits further reflection: «People are reporting that they’re personally doing fine. It’s everything else that’s terrible. The prevailing mood looks something like: “I’m fine, but humanity is doomed.”»

On the surface, the election outcomes couldn’t be more different. A sharp turn to the radical right in France, in the UK a decisive win for Labour, the first since Tony Blair. Look closer and you’ll find in both countries «a tidal wave of discontent against governments led by smartly dressed forty-something men overwhelmingly perceived as toxic and out of touch.»

«Unless Trump loses, America ends.», Timothy Snyder wrote this week. He knows a thing or two about tyranny. These past seven days have increased the odds of the worst case scenario, and further raised the stakes: An abysmal debate performance by the only person currently standing between Trump and a second term, and the Supreme Court granting Trump immunity for past and future crimes. What to make of these two major developments? I found the 538’s Politics podcast helpful.

On a heating planet, within the next decades, many major cities will no longer be in the same climate zone as they are today. There’s something about the simplicity of city names moving around in these coloured columns that makes this visualisation so effective.

There is no doubt about which party will win the upcoming elections in UK. However, as this data analysis shows, Labour is on course to win about 70 percent of all seats in parliament with about 40 percent of the vote. That is, even by British standards, an extreme distortion of voters’ intent and could well further deepen people’s distrust in democracy.

An excellent new podcast series that I guarantee you will benefit from. We all communicate all the time, and doing it well allows you to shape what comes next. In this series, Ros Atkins, BBC journalist and a master in the art of explanation, speaks to communication experts, from comedians to doctors to an Olympic champion, to distill advice we can all use. True to his own advice that communication is best when no unnecessary words are used, each episode is short and crips. The series is a great gateway to his book (which I’ve recommended in issue #459 as one of the best I’ve read in recent years), or a great complement if you’ve already read the book.

«Nevertheless, the bike progressed, then finally it was done, and from that moment on I knew I was hooked.»

No, the answer isn’t shrinkflation (when producers earn more by giving you less for the same price). This is the story of how Coca Cola learned from Latin America and started an explosion of different sizes from the same products, for every target group and every occasion. Welcome to the wonderful world of «price pack architecture». Characteristically insightful Planet Money episode.