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Matthew Brooker

@mbrooker.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.5K following 1.1K posts

Columnist for Bloomberg Opinion in London. CFA holder, from Slough, 25 years in Hong Kong, 5 in Shanghai. Opinions are my own.

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · Dec 18

It’s four years since I wrote my love letter-cum-elegy to Hong Kong, after almost three decades in this extraordinary city, and two years before leaving permanently. Looking back, I still pretty much like the look of it.

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

A Farewell to the Hong Kong I Loved

The end of a city like no other.

www.bloomberg.com

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 20h

If China isn’t a threat to national security then no country is 🤯

on.ft.com/3IxutVG Spying case collapsed after UK refused to label China a ‘threat’, prosecutors say

Spying case collapsed after UK refused to label China a ‘threat’, prosecutors say

Crown Prosecution Service had charged two Britons with espionage offences

on.ft.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 1d

Jenrick is beyond revolting. A disgrace and an embarrassment to himself, his party and basic human decency.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Labour accuses Robert Jenrick of ‘personal attack’ on attorney general

Party source says shadow justice secretary’s comments are attempt to disguise his own poor grip of the law

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 1d

Din Tai Fung is America’s top-earning restaurant chain and having taken out a small mortgage for half a basket of xiao long bao in London yesterday, I believe it

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

How Din Tai Fung Became America’s Top-Earning Restaurant Chain

The dumpling restaurant was started in Taiwan half a century ago. Now there are 17 always-packed locations in the US, including one in Disneyland.

www.bloomberg.com

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 1d

“a very serious, relevant response to the US’s secretive ruling class and its insidiously normalised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) roundups: the toxic new Vichyite Trump enthusiasm.”

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...

One Battle After Another review – Paul Thomas Anderson’s thrillingly helter-skelter counterculture caper

Anderson updates Thomas Pynchon for the era of Ice roundups, pitting shaggy revolutionary Leonardo DiCaprio against cartoonish forces of reaction

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 1d

Really enjoyed One Battle After Another. Weird film, befitting the grotesque fascism of our times

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 1d

“So much of the fertile ground that Reform thrives in now was tilled by the Tories. The pugnaciousness and jingoism that arose in the wake of Brexit normalised politics-by-separatism and a kind of permanent contempt for the people who didn’t vote for you”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Don’t despair, Tories: look upon Reform and see your rightful and fitting legacy | Nesrine Malik

If Kemi Badenoch wonders why her party conference looks and feels like a sideshow, perhaps she should reflect on the Conservatives’ 14 years in power, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 2d

Just in case you needed another reason to love her

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 2d

💯

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 2d

Again this is so reminiscent of post-2019 Hong Kong. All resistance is terrorism. What to make of that I don’t know

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

He’s foaming at the mouth to go full Gestapo.

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 5d

‘Build, baby, build’ - but not too fast, or too much. Labour’s new towns program is overhyped, but welcome all the same

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

‘Build, Baby, Build’ Oversells Labour’s New Towns

Britain intends to build its first new towns in more than half a century, reviving a landmark program that played a key role in the country’s postwar reconstruction. MAGA-style hats proclaiming “build...

www.bloomberg.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 6d

The plot thickens

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

China’s fifth-ranking official was suspect in dropped Westminster spy case

Person who was thought to have received intelligence is understood to be Cai Qi, de facto chief of staff to Xi Jinping

www.theguardian.com

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 6d

The row over indefinite leave to remain shows how Britain’s fractious immigration debate has shifted from issues of culture and integration toward an economic battleground

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

UK Immigration Policy Is Dancing to a Dutch Economic Tune

A University of Amsterdam research paper has made the question of migrants a financial issue.

www.bloomberg.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 7d

More of this please

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 7d

“It’s not racist to be worried about immigration” is the mantra of Farage and his cohort. Fair enough… But that doesn’t mean anything goes”.

Moral clarity from Bloomberg Opinion’s Rosa Prince

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Keir Starmer Is Right to Call Out Reform’s Racism

Is it fair to describe people who are concerned about immigration racist? How about those who march against asylum seekers? Or support the mass deportation of foreign nationals? Or who are hostile to ...

www.bloomberg.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 7d

They’re going to start courses on how to deal with extortion threats

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 8d

Horrific.

A court in China has sentenced 11 people to death for their alleged roles in a family-run crime syndicate accused of running illegal gambling and scam operations worth more than $1.4bn, and for the deaths of workers who disobeyed them.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

China court sentences 11 people to death over alleged role in family-run Myanmar scam operations

Another five people given suspended death sentences over alleged role in gang that operated scam centres and illegal gambling worth $1.4bn

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 9d

They’re eating the swans, they’re eating the pets… 1541 menu from the time of Henry VIII, Hampton Court. Not vegan friendly

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 9d

Spineless and unsurprising.

on.ft.com/48C1QB0 Pro-democracy activist Nathan Law is denied entry to Singapore

Pro-democracy activist Nathan Law is denied entry to Singapore

Hong Kong has issued a bounty for the arrest of former student leader of the Umbrella Movement protest group

on.ft.com

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 10d

“a gloopy word soup of missions, steps, milestones and foundations”

on.ft.com/48nmVzl ‘We need some vision’: Starmer’s search for clearer words

‘We need some vision’: Starmer’s search for clearer words

FT analysis suggests British prime minister often delivers a word soup of political jargon

on.ft.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 12d

Nigel Farage’s use of a discredited number to support his anti-immigration message is a test of the UK’s willingness to head down the path of post-truth Trumpian politics

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Farage Is Riding the Boris Wave on Immigration

The Reform leader’s claims about how much mass deportation will save rest on dubious numbers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 13d

My only problem with the Alien finale is that Elon didn’t get eaten by the extraterrestrial octopus eye

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 13d

Thanks for flagging!

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 13d

Four alleged survivors of sexual abuse by Andrew Tate have complained to the press regulator about an interview with the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer and his brother in the Spectator magazine.

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...

Women allegedly abused by Andrew Tate decry ‘misleading’ Spectator article

Complaint sent to Ipso over interview with ‘misogynist influencer’ and brother in Michael Gove-edited magazine

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 14d

Farewell, Dickie. Lovely obituary

www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/s...

www.theguardian.com

Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 14d

Did someone switch him on and off again?

www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

Trump says Ukraine could regain all territory lost to Russia since 2022 invasion after meeting Zelenskyy at UN – live

US president’s social media post is one of strongest shows of support for Kyiv yet

www.theguardian.com

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