The Third Slip: Issue 66 - We're all plastic, but we're not banned yet!
Good evening, residents of Slipperdom! How's your preferred team doing in the World Cup? (It's ok, you can tell us that you support someone apart from India. This is a safe space). Welcome to Issue 66 of the greatest Chembur-Goregaon newsletter (that we know of). This week, one half of the authoring duo was traveling, so you might notice a substantial dip (or rise) in quality. So let's get into things before you go off and watch (or play in) the World Cup, shall we?
At home
Cash(mir)ing Out: BJP broke up with J&K’s PDP party, saying “It’s not you, it’s worsening law & order.”. Now, both parties are free to do what they do best (nothing, really).
Up and AAP: Kejru wanted to discuss some serious issues but was blocked by the BJP. Later, four non-BJP parties came out in support of AAP, while the dunderheaded Congress was conspicuously missing, probably trying to teach Rahul Gandhi a new word so he could send a clever tweet.
And some other things here and there
In Bakelite-hearted news Mumbai goes plastic free!
India can also be like the West ok: The Chief Economic Advisor had enough, and quit.
An extremely fair analysis of the good, bad and ugly of the BJP by a former member.
Trumpland - The Reality Show Nobody Asked For
In the latest episode, Donnie realises that saying “I hate immigrants so much, I’ll separate families at the border” is a faux pax, so he reverses his own decision, making him a sort of hero, in much the same way your housemaid is awesome, for cleaning up the the kitchen floor after first spreading it with pureed tomatoes.Then, Melania wore a jacket while on a border visit that had “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” on it - while not being clear about whether she alluded to the crisis, fake media (as Trump said), or… Trump himself.
Also, nobody wants to date the poor Trump staffers :(
On next week’s show: Trump tries to eradicate the Dept of Education, ostensibly so more people vote for him. Trump also pulls out of UN Human Rights Council, wishing some Trumps a few generations back also pulled out in time.
Also!
TL;DR of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world: Iran is backing someone who is fighting someone who Saudi backs, because Iran & Saudi hate each other. Saudi also have UAE & US on their side. Yemen is not a great place to be right now.
And now, this: John Oliver made fun of (and criticized) Xi. So now his name is banned in China.
Colombia has a new President, who won on the back of promising to end the cocaine trade, and revive the economy. He has a tough task ahead.
30 people were killed by the Taliban in an attack which was planned during a 3-day ceasefire. We live in an age where allowing terrorists a ceasefire is actually more dangerous.
One more reason to move to Canada. Or… 420.
Macedonia changed its name. Whatever.
Another week, another…
Top Trump aide resigns | Unarmed black kid murdered by US cops | Set of tariffs | Amit Shah controversy | Amit Shah controversy being silenced | Series of rape in India (jai hind!) | GO TO PAKISTAN
World Cup
In what was surely a leaf taken from India’s book, Russia might make it illegal for people to criticize their football team. One of the host cities - Sochi - fell into disrepute for being the center of doping during those Winter Olympics. Its testing lab is now a pub! And in the week’s Most Whatsappable WC Forward, a mini earthquake was caused in Mexico thanks fans celebrating the win over Germany. Burger King Russia did… this. And before we go, a tribute to Paul. Not Scholes or Pogba, but the Octopus :D
Business
More crossovers are coming: Fox Entertainment accepted Disney’s bid. So now, The Simpsons, X-Men, Pixar, and Marvel belong in one family.
Everyone’s scared of a trade war and that’s slowing the global economy.
ntel Inside the wrong place: Its CEO had to resign after it broke that he had a consensual relationship with an employee, which is against company rules (er, even if it’s consensual?)
Cannesnotableto: The world’s biggest ad wankfest happened, and marketers fell over themselves trying to show how gender-equality-friendly they all are.
Wait, Myntra is building wearables?
Tech
In case your client hasn’t asked for what your strategy on it is yet, Instagram has launched IGTV and it looks yum.
Google finally built a podcast app (but if you’re a power user, stick to Pocketcasts).
If you’re a YouTube content creator with 10k+ subs, you’ll soon be able to sell merch, memberships and stuff directly from the site.
Fight Photoshop with Photoshop: Adobe is using machine learning to spot fake images.
LinkedOut
Millennials rejoice! You’re now officially old enough to not be blamed for everything. And that’s Gen Z’s headache now.
In the coolest thing to happen this week, a meteorite flew over the stage when Foo Fighters’ drummer
Taylor Hawkins stopped a roll, and exploded the second he resumed. Delightful!
If you’d like to get a little spooked, here’s a realistic scenario of how global warming could swallow up coastal cities.
ffs, let the damn pandas die already.
And finally, end with Belgian footballer Romelu Lukaku’s incredible story.
So there we have it, the end of another week's roundup of news and other random happenings that the authors thought would be interesting to shove your way. Liked what you saw here? Good on you - now make someone else happy by passing this on to them. If you hated it and think it's rubbish, then dispose of it properly in a Maharashtra plastic ban-friendly manner. Saw this in your feed and want to subscribe? Here. Want to tell us how awesome / crappy we are? Tweet to us! (Chuck | Tony). Till next week, may you always wake up to cold water in the fridge, and find a place to sit on in Mumbai local trains.
Cheerio, Slippers!