Andrew Martin
@andrewmartin.bsky.social
Founder and CEO @firetail.bsky.social working on #strategy, #futures, #impact
Strategy consultant | Occasional angel | Optimist | London
Strategy consultant | Occasional angel | Optimist | London
FIFA are awarding a made-up “Peace Prize” at a televised ceremony for a draw for a tournament held next year.
Pure simulation. The Baudrillard Peace Prize for the Hyperreal.
#worldcupdraw
Pure simulation. The Baudrillard Peace Prize for the Hyperreal.
#worldcupdraw
December 5, 2025 at 6:39 PM
FIFA are awarding a made-up “Peace Prize” at a televised ceremony for a draw for a tournament held next year.
Pure simulation. The Baudrillard Peace Prize for the Hyperreal.
#worldcupdraw
Pure simulation. The Baudrillard Peace Prize for the Hyperreal.
#worldcupdraw
MBS as Cesare Borgia is a great analogy (from Giuliano da Empoli)
December 4, 2025 at 10:07 PM
MBS as Cesare Borgia is a great analogy (from Giuliano da Empoli)
Often there isn’t a “different paradigm”; it’s just someone very confident about their new way to be wrong.
December 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Often there isn’t a “different paradigm”; it’s just someone very confident about their new way to be wrong.
When i was young, I thought "this time it's different" might meant that this time it's different.
Now I'm old, I know it means "this is nearly the top".
Now I'm old, I know it means "this is nearly the top".
Every day I look at my screen and think "that's it, that's the quote that sums up this mad era." And then the next day there's another one.
www.axios.com/2025/11/06/o...
www.axios.com/2025/11/06/o...
December 1, 2025 at 3:00 PM
When i was young, I thought "this time it's different" might meant that this time it's different.
Now I'm old, I know it means "this is nearly the top".
Now I'm old, I know it means "this is nearly the top".
It is fascinating that people screenshot and quote posts they find abhorrent, thinking they are doing anything other than amplifying those views.
November 26, 2025 at 9:22 PM
It is fascinating that people screenshot and quote posts they find abhorrent, thinking they are doing anything other than amplifying those views.
Reposted by Andrew Martin
<stops dead>
<gawps>
I mean it feels like a thing I should basically know on reflection but still....
<gawps>
I mean it feels like a thing I should basically know on reflection but still....
When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the UK economy was bigger than China and India combined.
November 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
<stops dead>
<gawps>
I mean it feels like a thing I should basically know on reflection but still....
<gawps>
I mean it feels like a thing I should basically know on reflection but still....
When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the UK economy was bigger than China and India combined.
November 24, 2025 at 4:07 PM
When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the UK economy was bigger than China and India combined.
Provocations for yield and rage for profit that generates real anger in its audience 👇
It produces a performative ecosystem. Actors aren’t communicating; they’re staging provocations for yield. The result is disordered discourse: signals detached from truth, identity shaped by escalation, and a feedback loop where the performance eclipses reality itself.
November 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Provocations for yield and rage for profit that generates real anger in its audience 👇
Switching coal off was one of the most impressive cross-party policy achievements of the last decade. No drama, genuine leadership, and no-one talks about it. Change is possible when we work out what to do and get on with it.
November 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Switching coal off was one of the most impressive cross-party policy achievements of the last decade. No drama, genuine leadership, and no-one talks about it. Change is possible when we work out what to do and get on with it.
Reposted by Andrew Martin
One of the most interesting thought experiments I’ve read recently, arguing a positive future needs doers as well as narrators, and (that China especially) needs a "machinery of care" alongside the production of abundance. Curious what others make of it.
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
The Republic of Letters: Divergent Crossings
Narrators vs. Doers
thecuttingfloor.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:13 AM
One of the most interesting thought experiments I’ve read recently, arguing a positive future needs doers as well as narrators, and (that China especially) needs a "machinery of care" alongside the production of abundance. Curious what others make of it.
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
One of the most interesting thought experiments I’ve read recently, arguing a positive future needs doers as well as narrators, and (that China especially) needs a "machinery of care" alongside the production of abundance. Curious what others make of it.
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
The Republic of Letters: Divergent Crossings
Narrators vs. Doers
thecuttingfloor.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:13 AM
One of the most interesting thought experiments I’ve read recently, arguing a positive future needs doers as well as narrators, and (that China especially) needs a "machinery of care" alongside the production of abundance. Curious what others make of it.
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
thecuttingfloor.substack.com/p/the-republ...
It will probably be the warmest November on record, until next November.
November 18, 2025 at 2:26 PM
It will probably be the warmest November on record, until next November.
You cannot lead if you make your opponent’s grievances your priority. You won’t satisfy them, you lose your own people, and you can’t fix it.
November 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM
You cannot lead if you make your opponent’s grievances your priority. You won’t satisfy them, you lose your own people, and you can’t fix it.
The Attention Economy is exhausting, and no-one enjoys it.
November 16, 2025 at 2:17 PM
The Attention Economy is exhausting, and no-one enjoys it.
I think this question is deliberate
November 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
I think this question is deliberate
Excellent from Martha Lane Fox:
"We cling to a model that makes public life feel like a punishing, precarious calling that only a few can endure."
martha6j5h2.substack.com/p/this-is-pu...
"We cling to a model that makes public life feel like a punishing, precarious calling that only a few can endure."
martha6j5h2.substack.com/p/this-is-pu...
This is public life in 2025, who would volunteer?
Why the BBC crisis is not just a reflection of some bad editorial decisions and why it matters
martha6j5h2.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Excellent from Martha Lane Fox:
"We cling to a model that makes public life feel like a punishing, precarious calling that only a few can endure."
martha6j5h2.substack.com/p/this-is-pu...
"We cling to a model that makes public life feel like a punishing, precarious calling that only a few can endure."
martha6j5h2.substack.com/p/this-is-pu...
Reposted by Andrew Martin
The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.
Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.
Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.
Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.
Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.
Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.
Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.
October 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.
Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.
Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.
Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.
Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.
Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.
Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.
Reposted by Andrew Martin
Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
a man with a mustache says there be whales here in a dark room
Alt: Scotty from Star Trek Original Series (played by Jimmy Doohan) says there be whales here in a Klingon vessel's cargo hold.
media.tenor.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Reposted by Andrew Martin
I have written some stuff about BBC/Public Service broadcasting which I'll start putting out soon. I don't think there's enough public policy debate - when I was doing broadcasting/Charter Review in the regulator and Government there was an industry around it. Now everyone has moved on to "tech".
November 9, 2025 at 10:14 PM
I have written some stuff about BBC/Public Service broadcasting which I'll start putting out soon. I don't think there's enough public policy debate - when I was doing broadcasting/Charter Review in the regulator and Government there was an industry around it. Now everyone has moved on to "tech".
It’s November 9. If you don’t want KPop Demon Hunters to dominate your Spotify Wrapped, there’s still time but you need to take action now.
November 9, 2025 at 11:14 AM
It’s November 9. If you don’t want KPop Demon Hunters to dominate your Spotify Wrapped, there’s still time but you need to take action now.
Really surprised how little coverage this got
👀
“we are no longer confident in our understanding of the US policy environment for foreign funders of US NGOs”
ciff.org/news/update-...
“we are no longer confident in our understanding of the US policy environment for foreign funders of US NGOs”
ciff.org/news/update-...
Update for our partners - CIFF
ciff.org
November 8, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Really surprised how little coverage this got
It's not new news to say that UK isn’t good at turning great research into big companies. But this sets out how a fragile university sector, shallow capital markets, tough visa rules for talent and a lack of policy direction just makes everything harder.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...
publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...
House of Lords - Bleeding to death: the science and technology growth emergency - Science and Technology Committee
publications.parliament.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:29 PM
It's not new news to say that UK isn’t good at turning great research into big companies. But this sets out how a fragile university sector, shallow capital markets, tough visa rules for talent and a lack of policy direction just makes everything harder.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...
publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...
Reposted by Andrew Martin
Excellent to see @juliaunwin.bsky.social named as the government’s preferred candidate for Charity Commission chair — thoughtful, experienced, and exactly what the sector needs.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Government announces preferred candidate for the Charity Commission for England and Wales Chair
Dame Julia Unwin is the Government’s preferred candidate for the Charity Commission for England and Wales Chair, the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced today.
www.gov.uk
November 3, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Excellent to see @juliaunwin.bsky.social named as the government’s preferred candidate for Charity Commission chair — thoughtful, experienced, and exactly what the sector needs.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
www.gov.uk/government/n...