Happy New Year!

This dog-size lizard is spreading through the southeastern U.S. National Geographic

News Feature: To understand the plight of insects, entomologists look to the past PNAS

Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA World Economic Forum

The tiny forests designed by feng shui BBC (DL).

Without Clearing Any New Farmland, We Could Feed Two Earths’ Worth of People Bloomberg

Commentary: The rising tide of alternative meat is here and we are the better for it Channel News Asia

SPACtacular: Blank-check firms hit the jackpot in 2020 Reuters

U.S. Homebuyers Face Worst Affordability Squeeze in 12 Years Bloomberg

US to tax fuselage, wings, tail imported for Airbus’ Mobile A320 assembly line Leeham News and Analysis

#COVID19

The Mutated Virus Is a Ticking Time Bomb Zeynep Tufecki, The Atlantic. Expontial growth (though the text is much more nuanced than the headine).

As a doctor in the Covid-19 era, I’ve learned that judging patients’ decisions comes easier than it should STAT

Some healthcare workers refuse to take COVID-19 vaccine, even with priority access LA Times (mv).

Ohio Gov: 60 percent of nursing home staff elected not to take COVID-19 vaccine The Hill

“Those of Us Who Don’t Die Are Going to Quit”: A Crush of Patients, Dwindling Supplies and the Nurse Who Lost Hope ProPublica (mv). The VA.

Authorities arrest Wisconsin pharmacist accused of intentionally spoiling coronavirus vaccine The Hill

Fatigue, loss of smell, organ damage: A range of symptoms plague many Marylanders long after COVID-19 infection Baltimore Sun. A good wrap-up. Many anecdotes, studies are starting up.

China?

The Three Big Mistakes China Made in 2020 Bloomberg

China’s rich face million dollar question: stay and risk losing assets, or face the coronavirus abroad? South China Morning Post

Study from China’s CDC suggests Wuhan may have had 10 times as many COVID-19 cases as reported The Hill

Rising Seas Threaten China’s Long, Low, and Crowded Coast Sixth Tone

How tiny Timor-Leste kept the coronavirus at bay Al Jazeera

Delays and missteps: how Duterte’s Philippines struggled against the coronavirus South China Morning Post

Vietnam’s Communists Sort Out Leadership Asia Sentinel

America’s Asian Allies Need Their Own Nukes Foreign Policy

India

Three Lessons From the World’s Biggest Worker Uprising Hampton Institute. Oddly not covered in Western media.

Indian farmers’ agitation enters second month WSWS

Farmers’ Protest HIGHLIGHTS: Sixth round of talks with farmers ends; Tomar says consensus on 2 out of 4 issues The Indian Express

Syraqistan

Possible Mine Found on the Hull of Tanker Anchored in Iraqi Waters Maritime Executive

EU/UK

Ever Closer Union? Perry Anderson, LRB. Break out the espresso machine, it’s Perry Anderson! That said, this post is well worth a read. The discussion of the origins and evolution of the European Court of Justice is extremely illuminating.

Making Sense Of Europe’s Strategic Cacophony The American Conservative

Exclusive: the unpublished document Labour is ‘disgracefully’ misusing as grounds to suspend members, denying it exists – confirmed genuine The Skawkbox

Brexit

Exit from single market closes a chapter UK did so much to write FT

Brexit: Gibraltar gets UK-Spain deal to keep open border BBC

Bewildered and angry, Northern Ireland unionists fret over place in UK Reuters

Brexit Britain is warned it will not get a US trade deal until ‘at least 2022’ because Democrat president-elect Joe Biden plans to rebuild ties with the EU Daily Mail

Boris Johnson’s father seeks French citizenship as Brexit ends free movement France24 (nvl).

Biden Transition

McConnell calls Jan. 6 certification his “most consequential vote” Axios

Josh Hawley’s heedless ambition is a threat to the republic Michael Gerson, WaPo

Read the room:

With just over 20 days until Inauguration Day, there’s never been a better time to stock up on @BidenInaugural gear. Head to https://t.co/j1ZK7kyMj6 to find everything you need.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 30, 2020

2020

Perdue quarantines after exposure to COVID-19 in final days of tight runoff race Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Trump Transition

Trump budget chief refuses to direct staff to help with Biden spending plans CNBC

Secret Service to make changes to presidential detail to bring on agents who worked with Biden WaPo

Trump’s Focus as the Pandemic Raged: What Would It Mean for Him? NYT

Monopoly Versus Democracy (no paywall) Zephyr Teachout, Foreign Affairs

Class Warfare

Words Matter: How Tech Media Helped Write Gig Companies into Existence Sam Harnett, SSRN

Platform Capitalism’s Hidden Abode: Producing Data Assets in the Gig Economy Niels van Doorn and Adam Badger, Antipode

*ssholes Eschaton. “They prefer the prospect of the cannibal hordes to the off chance a poor might get a chance to smile for one day.”

Gig workers bear the brunt of US labour market slowdown FT

Year in Review

Pretty thin on the gound this year.

2020: the year the elites failed upwards Unherd

2020 was an economic lesson about insurance Fresh Economic Thinking

Episode 179: Party’s Over (podcast) Trillbilly Worker’s Party. “A recap of the year 2020, in historical narrative form.”

The pleasure of the crowd will survive the pandemic FT

Antidote du jour (via):

Bonus antidote:

When I talk about how it’s so much better to watch wildlife documentaries with your kids vs going to the zoo, this is a perfect example.

Your kids could NEVER learn about this dynamic in a zoo.

It’s so fascinating to watch these rascal macaque monkeys trick the squirrels. pic.twitter.com/hFg5f3GKAP

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 27, 2020

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here