Monthly Archives: July 2023

Where Is Kate Chastain From ‘Below Deck’ Now? – We Got This Covered

Posted: July 19, 2023 at 1:14 pm

From the very moment Kate Chastain came aboard Bravos hit seriesBelow Deck, the star left a lasting impression on fans and cast members alike due to her work ethic.

For context,Below Deckfollows yacht employees during the charting season as they worked and lived on a luxurious boat. Chastain whoseyachting career dates back to 2007 became a chief stewardess after many years in the field, a position she kept when she joinedBelow Decksseason twocast in 2014.

Chastain successfully chartered numerous boats during her time there and instantly became a fan favorite for her managerial skills, sense of humor, and facial expressions. Despite the accomplishments, the former reality star appeared ready for a new chapter in her life and career as she expressed displeasure in her chief stewardess responsibilities. Chastain remained on the show until 2020 when she shockingly announced to Captain Lee Rosbach that she was leavingBelow Deck after season seven to pursue other endeavors on land.

In addition to breaking the departure news to Captain Lee Rosbach, Chastain took to her official Instagram to reveal the main reason behind her exit: financial independence. Following the revelation, Chastain claimed that the decision to leave Below Deck wasnt an easy one, in fact, it took months of reflection and internal discussions. She wrote,

After many months of reflection and internal discussions, I have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new land based role. I intend to step back as a senior member of the Below Deck Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support His Majesty Andy Cohen

So what happened to Kate Chastain after leavingBelow Deck and what has she been up to lately?

Shortly after Chastains departure, she moved to New York to start a radio show withSirius XMnamedUnapologetically Kate Chastain.According to the 2020 press release, Chastains radio show featured her unfiltered opinion on pop culture, social commentary, etc.

Along with the radio show, Chastain reportedlybegan a production company titled Remotely Possible Productions. Although Chastain revealed little details regarding the company, the star disclosed the sole reason behind its creation at the height of the pandemic in an Instagram post. She wrote,

At this point Im ready to start my own pandemic proof production studio.calling it Remotely Possible Productions; where good enough is safe enough.

To date, it is unclear if Chastain is still working at Sirius XM, however, since leavingBelow Deck, her business relationship with Bravo Network continued. The star briefly appeared onBravos Chat Roomand aBelow DeckspinoffGallery Talk, a serieswhere cast members bond and review the latest episode ofBelow Deck. Most recently, Chastain participated in the competition seriesThe Traitorson Peacock.

Most recently, Chastain participated in the competition seriesThe Traitorson Peacock. As for her humanitarian efforts, Chastain createdGenesis Boutique. Genesis Boutique is a Florida resale store that raises funds for their organization, providing shelter for homeless women and children.

In order news, Chastain became a mother for the first time in May 2023 after she welcomed her son Sullivan Cay. Although the identity of Cays father has yet to be revealed to the public, many fans assumed that it was Chastains former co-worker Chef Ben Robinson due to the pairs striking resemblance. Still, both parties have denied the allegations, and Chastain has since revealed that she is raising her son alone in Florida.

Despite the fact that Chastain left Below Deck three years ago, the star did possibly tease in a previous interview with Entertainment Tonight that the only way she would come back to show is if she was demoted to level three stewardess because of the lack of responsibilities, or if the network agreed to pay her more money.

Idjust be down there with my music saying, Hey, guys You get to be part of it with zero responsibility. When youre third stew, you dont realize how wonderful life is.

But after the birth of her son Sullivan Cay earlier this year, it is unlikely that Chastain will return to the popular series.

All seasons of Below Deck are available on various streaming services for a small fee including Peacock, Vudu, Hulu, and many others.

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Program To Attract Tech Workers From the US Hits Capacity On … – Slashdot

Posted: at 1:14 pm

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC.ca: A government program meant to attract highly skilled tech workers from the U.S. closed for applications the day after it launched when it hit its maximum number of applicants. Last month, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced a new work permit for H-1B visa holders in the U.S. -- part of a larger federal government strategy to poach talent from abroad. H-1B visas allow foreign nationals to work temporarily in the U.S. in certain specialized occupations, including some in the technology sector. Tech companies went on a hiring binge during the pandemic but have since starting laying people off in large numbers. That has left a lot of H-1B visa holders scrambling to find new jobs before they're forced to leave the U.S.

Applications for the work permits opened on Sunday. By Monday the program had reached capacity, with 10,000 applicants bidding for a permit. "This temporary policy will last for 1 year or until we get 10,000 applications (whichever comes first)," the program's website says. The program is a response to massive layoffs in the U.S. tech industry. Since last summer, hundreds of thousands of workers have been laid off from such major firms as Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Fraser said he was watching the situation in the U.S. and saw it as an "opportunity" for Canada when he first announced the program.

Nick Schiavo, director of federal affairs for the Council of Canadian Innovators, said he's not surprised that applications filled up so quickly. He said the government should now consider expanding the program to more applicants. "The more that we can pull from these highly qualified individuals that we know have the work experience, the skill set the better," Schiavo said. "As this program develops, it would be great to see it expanded."

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British consul gets taste of Waco and Dr Pepper on Texas road … – Waco Tribune-Herald

Posted: at 1:12 pm

British Consul General Richard Hyde had an item to cross off his bucket list as he made the rounds with local officials Tuesday during an economic development tour of Texas.

Hyde, who represents the United Kingdom from his office in Houston,stopped by the Dr Pepper Museum in downtown Waco for a quick tour of the former bottling plant and a dose of his favorite soft drink.

British Consul General Richard Hyde gets a drink at the Dr Pepper Museum during a stop in Waco on a Texas road trip.

Hyde said he learned only recently that Dr Pepper was invented in Waco. He said the drink tastes better in the U.S. than in the United Kingdom, where it is not as common.

"I love it," he said, with a plastic cup of Diet Dr Pepper in his hand. "Growing up in England we never had Dr Pepper. We were introduced to it only through fountain drinks. It was only when I came here that I realized actually ... this is by far the best diet drink."

Hyde and senior staff from the consulate began their 1,600-mile tour last week in Grand Prairie, traveling northwest toward Lubbock then to Amarillo before making the trip back southeast. Hyde said the road trip will help the staff get a better understanding of the Lone Star State, helping to inform trade discussions and opportunities.

Hyde said hes been doing the Texas trips for four years, traveling the first time to Midland, Odessa and El Paso before making his way down the border to Boca Chica. In September 2022 he embarked on a second trip to Texarkana, Kilgore, Nacogdoches and Wichita Falls, but the trip was cut short when Queen Elizabeth II passed away that month.

We were determined to find an opportunity to come out and finish the job and go to the Panhandle and visit all those kind of much more remote areas of Texas for us, he said. Now, Waco doesnt really fit into that because Waco is somewhere thats much, much closer to home, but its a town that we too often just go through because were flitting backwards and forwards to Dallas, to Austin.

British Consul General Richard Hyde made a stop Tuesday at the Dr Pepper Museum during a tour of Texas.

The road trips focus on cities outside of the Houston, Dallas and Austin the Texas Trianglespending time in more rural areas to better understand the full picture of Texas economic opportunities for U.K. investors.

We spent a lot of time shuttling between the big cities and thats great, I mean, theyre hugely important, massive cities, Hyde said. But we actually think theres a lot more across Texas that we need to understand in order to help companies who are looking to establish in Texas to have a full kind of range of options.

By getting their boots dirty, he said he hopes to show Texans that the U.K. population is young and dynamic, while also reversing Texas stereotypes in the U.K. to tell a more accurate tale and in turn better facilitate relationships.

The U.K.-U.S. relationship is so important, and what we spend a lot of time doing really is trying to paint a picture of Texas that reflects the modernity, the diversity, the economic opportunity, he said.

Christina Luhn, senior trade policy adviser from the U.S., said her job is to help her British counterparts understand the cultural signposts and iconic symbols in Texas. Hyde credited Luhn for encouraging the tour, as "youve got to get to every bit of the state to understand the state.

British Consul General Richard Hyde (left) and Deputy Consul General Tim Cork take a look at ingredients at the Dr Pepper Museum during their stop in Waco. Senior staff from the British Consulate in Houston are taking a tour around Texas to better understand the state in pursuit of economic opportunities.

Many of the cities the group has visited along the way are smaller, more rural cities that arent growing in population, but Waco doesnt fit that mold, Hyde said. Even though Waco is surrounded by big magnet cities, it is growing significantly and there are some big companies finding a home here, he said.

You know, we were asking what were the big sectors? he said. We were quite surprised to hear theres quite a big service-based industry here as well, and that really surprised me a little bit because the U.K. is very much a service-based economy, financial services, legal services, professional services, and so were always looking for opportunities to kind of promote that.

Hyde said hes also interested in looking at how to foster better academic collaborations between U.K. and Texas universities, naming Baylor and Texas Tech University along his route.

Through conversations with farmers hes learned about cattle, dairy and crop industries and the hardships they face, and he said hell take what hes gained on his trip back to his Houston office to find the best opportunities for both Texas and the U.K. Though they may reside in rural areas, those farmers at the heart of the global market are using highly advanced technology and trading globally, Deputy Consul General Tim Cork said.

Its really big economically, but its also really big culturally as well, Hyde said. So you know, Texans associate closely with kind of rural, rugged individualism so being able to talk to farmers gives you a real flavor of whats going on."

British Consul General Richard Hyde made a stop by the Dr Pepper Museum on Tuesday during a tour of Texas.

On Hydes visit Tuesday he met with Mayor Dillon Meek and the Waco economic development team, the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Farm Bureau, engaging in conversations about what makes Texans tick.

Hyde and Cork shared connections theyve noticed between the U.K. and Texas on their trip, like when they were given a recommendation for a steak restaurant in Amarillo and found out it was British-owned, or when they found out that Dean Sandeep Mazumder of Baylors Hankamer School of Business is also British.

Theres always a British link, Cork said.

At the Dr Pepper Museum, Cork, Luhn and Hyde swapped memories about their first experiences with the Waco-born beverage.

Luhn, the American adviser, shared stories of being a young kid and bottling her own fresh Dr Pepper on an old-school bottling machine.

The three went back and forth trying to decide who is a "pepper," defined by the Dr Pepper Company as a person who loved Dr Pepper. Theyre positive, self-confident, bold, and willing to try something new. Peppers are proud. And Peppers are popular, according to a plaque on the wall of the museum.

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Elon Musk Reportedly Tapped Tesla Funds to Build Himself a … – House Beautiful

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Elon Muskwho famously tweeted in 2020 that, after selling off his California estate, he would "own no house"may be putting down roots after all. The Tesla executive has reportedly been in the process of building an all-glass home through a secret company project near Austin, Texas, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Plans for the construction of what is apparently known as "Project 42" have evolved since they were first drawn up last year. One concept featured a building shaped like a twisted hexagon, with waterfront views and Tesla's factory nearby. Other renderings highlighted a big glass box "with a residential area that appeared to include bedrooms, bathrooms, and a kitchen," the newspaper stated.

Some Tesla employees were reportedly concerned after an order was placed for millions of dollars of large-format glass panels, which allegedly resulted in an internal investigation by Tesla lawyers and board members into the potential misuse of company resources. But, according to the WSJ, both the outcome of Tesla's investigation and the status of the project are unknown.

Musk has long been vocal about his lack of desire for a permanent residence, noting that he's slept at the offices of his companies and in friends' spare bedrooms. In 2021, he revealed that he rents a $50,000 prefab tiny house in Boca Chica, Texas, from his company SpaceX.

Should Musk go through with the whole glass house concept, the billionaire would draw even more resemblances to his fictional counterpart in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery who lives in a glass structure. (Is this a case of life imitating art that imitates life?) And while a glass home certainly gives off a futuristic vibe that feels on brand for Musk, living in a glass structure can certainly have its drawbacks. Apart from the lack of privacy, glass doesn't offer any insulationmeaning the material can lead to uncomfortable temperatures during extreme weather. Plus, the lack of curtains or shades can expose furniture and fabrics to the sun's rays, potentially causing fading and discoloration. Not to mention, a see-through structure makes it harder to fend off burglars. Finally, of course, you know what they say about people who live in glass houses: They shouldn't throw stones.

You love beautiful homes. So do we. Lets obsess over them together.

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Associate Editor

Kelly Allen is the current Associate Editor at House Beautiful, where she covers design, pop culture, and travel for digital and the print magazine. Shes been with the team for nearly three years, attending industry events and covering a range of topics. When shes not watching every new TV show and movie, shes browsing vintage home stores, admiring hotel interiors, and wandering around New York City. She previously worked for Delish and Cosmopolitan. Follow her on Instagram.

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Cyberpunk 2077 finally has ‘very positive’ rating on Steam, 2 years later – GAMINGbible

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Its taken some time, but it finally happened. More than two years after its initial release, Cyberpunk 2077 has finally earned a very positive overall review rating on Steam. Who'd have seen that coming in December 2020?

Cyberpunk 2077 has gone down in history for having one of the worst video game releases of all time. Gamers overwhelming hype for CD Projekt Reds open-world RPG set them up for disappointment - the bugs, glitches and performance issues (especially on Xbox One and PS4) were horrendous. Since then though, numerous updates and patches have been rolled out to transform Cyberpunk 2077 into the title it always should have been, and even though its taken a while, gamers now truly recognise it for what it is - a genuinely great game.

Take a look at the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077s DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, right here.

CD Projekt Reds global community director, Marcin Momot, responded to the news, and tweeted: Cyberpunk 2077 Steam reviews are now sitting at Very Positive with 80% of all scores being favourable. Thank you all for acknowledging all the hard work the team has put in over the years since the release!

As PC Gamer reports, it should be noted that this very positive rating only shows on Steam if your settings exclude off-topic reviews. Basically, Valve labels some ratings, which it deems to be the result of review-bombing, to be off-topic. If you discount those (which Steam automatically does on the store page if youre not logged in) then the very positive rating is what youll see. Otherwise, it still shows as mostly positive.

The release of Cyberpunk 2077s one and only DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, is right around the corner. Its set to launch exclusively on PC and new-gen consoles (sorry, PS4 and Xbox One folks) on 26 September.

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Why Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Being the Only DLC is For the Best – GameRant

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Over the past two years, one game has made a prominent mark with many gamers, be it for good reasons or bad. Cyberpunk 2077 is still rather important with fans to this day, and many are looking forward to the upcoming Phantom Liberty DLC expansion. As it takes the protagonist V into a new espionage-based storyline, there's lots to excite players from the potential for more action-packed sequences, important choices, and even a new ending for the base Cyberpunk 2077 game that can only be earned through playing the DLC in full.

However, even though Phantom Liberty has earned its place among one of 2023's most anticipated titles despite only being an expansion pack to a game that was released in 2020, the spy-thriller adventure is the only one of its kind for CD Projekt Red's open-world RPG. It begs the question as to why this is, as things are looking up for Cyberpunk 2077 as of late after an incredible rough start. However, the state of the game at launch is most likely exactly why CD Projekt Red chose to look ahead instead of looking back.

RELATED: Future Cyberpunk, Witcher Games May Have Multiplayer Elements

Truthfully, a big reason why Cyberpunk has remained a topic among gamers ever since it was released is due to how it was one of the most highly anticipated games in 2020 that ended up launching in an abysmal state. There were so many bugs and glitches that were both game-breaking and antithetical to the game, like the unlimited money glitches Cyberpunk 2077 fans quickly found, that analysts believe that the poor final product led to CD Projekt Red losing a little under 500,000 sales in refunds like those issued through the PS Store.

Ever since CP 2077 was launched, CD Projekt Red focused on damage control, developing patches, updates, and even smaller DLC packs that gave players something to enjoy while the studio focused on fixing the game's overall performance. Now, two and a half years after Cyberpunk 2077 first launched, many believe the RPG to be in a better state to where it's worth picking up, which plays into why the Phantom Liberty DLC is so hotly anticipated. However, 2077 is still far from perfect, and having Phantom Liberty be its swansong is ultimately beneficial.

There's only so much CD Projekt Red can do for Cyberpunk after its main development cycle has finished. While what has been done is impressive, there are still some issues that will always linger as they require more time and effort to fix. As a result, it's better overall to move on from an improved Cyberpunk 2077 and take what mistakes were made into consideration for the Cyberpunk sequel currently in development. The only way to do that is to let go of CP 2077 with a proper send-off that will get fans, and the developers, excited for what's to come next.

Phantom Liberty is likely being made with this as one of its specific purposes. When attendees go to try out Phantom Liberty at Summer Game Fest's Play Days event, some thought that the DLC managed to finally hit what Cyberpunk 2077 dreamed of being back when it first launched. Requested changes such as a complete overhaul of the police system in the game will be added as well. If the Cyberpunk 2077 DLC manages to stick the landing with all of its promises and live up to its hype with players, then it would be the finishing touches that the RPG needs before both fans and developers are able to move on to different things.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty launches on September 26, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Every Celeb Character Confirmed for Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC So Far

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Cyberpunk 2077: Things You Never Knew About Johnny Silverhand – GameRant

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Johnny Silverhand, the cybernetic rocker bad boy played by Keanu Reeves won the hearts of Cyberpunk fanbase with his charisma and sorted past. While his first appearance in Cyberpunk 2077 is hostile and antagonistic, he eventually warms himself to the main character V as well as the player.

Related: Best Cyberpunk Games

As the two characters work together on missions and confront the Corpo overlords of Night City the players learn more about Silverhands motivations and beliefs but not all the interesting information is well-known to the fans. Johnny Silverhands origins are only briefly discussed in Cyberpunks main story. Of course, fans can find shards of information that go into the lore more in-depth, but most fans dont know much about where Silverhand comes from or how he became the legendary rebel rocker boy of 2077.

In the aftermath of the war, many American soldiers deserted or rebelled against the corruption of the American government, Johnny being one of them. After his desertion, he fled to Night City where founded his band Samurai, and left the name Robert John Lindre behind to become the infamous Johnny Silverhand.

It is this chapter of his life that he reflects on with V in the run-down motel during the main quest line. Johnny talks about his time in the army briefly and tells the story of how he lost his best friend in the war as well as his arm. Johnny then gives V the dog tags of this supposed best friend as proof of his loyalty to V going forward. Most players will have found this to be an honest and connecting moment between the two characters as Silverhand seemingly lays everything out on the table. This is not the case however and probably goes by most players unnoticed as the tags Silverhand gives to V are actually his own. They have the name of Robert John Lindre, of course, both the players and V are unaware of this.

Throughout the main storyline, the player is confronted with Johnny Silverhands past as he and Vs memories are intertwined due to their shared consciousness. There are two flashback missions that put the player in the role of Johnny Silverhand, the first being in 2023 and the second being in 2013. Most players will take these missions at face value and that it is a verbatim retelling of the actual events. However, this is not the case and on further inspection, the players can discover that these events are far from the truth of what actually happened.

Related: Cyberpunk 2077s Phantom Liberty DLC Will Be at Summer Game Fest

The first flashback in Cyberpunk as well as Johnnys introduction into the story is the more inaccurate of the two and is actually almost completely false. While yes Johnny Silverhand was indeed a part of the assault team on Arasaka in 2023, but he was never the leader. The role that Silverhand plays in the mission was actually Morgan Blackhands, another Night City legend that is frequently mentioned throughout the game and who is completely omitted from Johnnys flashback.

Perhaps the largest lie the players are told is Johnny Silverhands death. In reality Johnny never made it back to the rooftop to have a showdown with Adam Smasher, he actually died on their first encounter. This rivalry between Smasher and Silverhand is also played up by the retelling but in actuality they had little to no interaction before this event.

It's here as well that Johnny replaces Morgan Blackhand in the real events. Blackhand and Smasher had been rivals for years, and it was these two that actually had the showdown on the rooftop. In truth Smasher thought very little of Johnny in 2023 and actually killed the rocker boy quite easily before he was able to escape to the rooftop.

The second flashback in 2013 of Johnny going on a mission to save Alt Cunningham with Rogue and Thompson is mostly true. However, there is a scene at the end of the mission where a grief-stricken Johnny Silverhand beats Thompson in a fit of rage over the loss of Alt. Silverhand claims to V that this incident soured their relationship and that they never worked together again. This is a lie however as his voice can be heard on the comms during the 2023 flashback as well.

The main reason for these changes in Johnnys memories could be due to Arasaka's meddling. Silverhands engram had been in Corpo control for fifty years and was most likely tampered with. Arasaka is a shady and manipulative organization after all and would have reasons to suppress knowledge and hide certain information. The other reason for these changes is revealed by Alt Cunningham later in the story. She points out that what the players witness is a retelling of Johnnys subjective point of view and not the actual truth. Johnny, like all people, omits certain details and lies about past actions. He lies to V as he does to himself.

While Johnny Silverhand is an amazing character that grows an epic bond with V throughout the story of Cyberpunk, most fans are unaware of his true past. While he is a great companion and gives advice to V and the players, he still occasionally lies or at least has the wrong information. In any case, these are things that most people did not know about the legendary rocker boy.

More: The Best Open World Crime Games

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Bringing A Baofeng Into The Cyberpunk 2077 Universe – Hackaday

Posted: at 1:12 pm

Youve got to love the aesthetics of dystopian cyberpunk video games, where all the technology looks like its cobbled together from cast-off bits of the old worlds remains. Kudos go to those who attempt to recreate these virtual props and bring them into the real world, but our highest praise goes to those who not only make a game-realistic version of a prop, but make it actually work.

Take the Nokota Manufacturing radio from Cyberpunk 2077, for instance. [Taylor] took one look at that and knew it would be the perfect vessel for a Baofeng UV-5R, the dual-band transceiver that amateur radio operators love to hate. The idea is to strip the PCB out of a Baofeng no worries, the things cost like $25 and install it in a game-accurate 3D printed case. But this is far from just a case mod, since [Taylor]s goal is to replace the radios original controls with something closer to whats in the game.

To that end, [Taylor] is spinning up an interface to the stock radios keypad using some 7400-series bilateral analog switches. Hooked to the keypad contacts and controlled by a Mini MEGA 2560 microcontroller, the interface is able to send macros that imitate the keypresses necessary to change frequencies and control the radios settings, plus display the results on the yellow OLED screen that seems a dead-ringer for the in-game display. The video below shows some early testing of the interface.

While very much still a work in progress, weve been following [Taylor]s project for a week or so and hes really gaining some ground. Weve encouraged him to enter this one in the Cyberdeck Challenge weve got going on now; it might not have much deck going for it, but it sure does have a lot of cyber.

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Populism has given the elites more power than ever – Financial Times

Posted: at 1:12 pm

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To judge by the trailer, Ridley Scotts biopic of Napoleon will entertain, inspire and extravagantly miss the point. But then so did the paintings of the same subject by Jacques-Louis David. Napoleon wasnt, or wasnt just, a conqueror. He was, over and above all else, historys greatest bureaucrat.

What survives of him isnt the French empire (which he left smaller than he found it) but the Banque de France, standardised education, prefects who keep French regions in line with Parisian diktat and a Civil Code that still influences jurisdictions around the world. To this day, the adjective Napoleonic describes something centralised and perhaps officious, not something martial.

Prepare for a Napoleonic world, then. The most important governmental trend today is the rise of protectionism. In the US, Europe, China and India, the state is turning from open trade to the cultivation of domestic industries. One justification is strategic: dont count on frail or hostile regimes for essential goods. Another is progressive: give skilled manual labour a break for once. Both trace back to the election-winning arguments of Donald Trump in 2016.

And so we have something of an irony to chew on. Populism, which sets itself against the elite, against the deep state, is going to leave it more powerful, not less. The technocrat, vilified so recently, will be the string-pulling figure of our age, dispensing subsidies, guiding this economic sector, shunning that one. Corporate leaders will have an ever tighter and more collusive relationship with government, not as a corrupt byproduct of the system but as a central feature of it. Populism was meant to take the governing class down a peg or two. Its main legacy will be something close to the opposite.

When would you rather be a politician or civil servant: now, when you might shape a whole industry, or in pre-populist times? When would you rather be a lobbyist in the swamp: during the laissez-faire age, when government and business were at least nominally distinct, or the protectionist one, when no sector wants to miss out on public largesse? (If chipmaking is strategic, why not agriculture?)

The elites are going to be stronger and more incestuous as a result of populism, a movement dedicated to their downfall. Perhaps we should have seen the paradox coming. Populists have a rebellious style but a paternalist agenda. They hate the so-called blob, but want it to shape much of the private sector. They resent elites, but more often for abdicating power over markets, over national borders than for hoarding it. They have a thing for direct democracy but also for Singapore. This is a movement that was always in two minds on the question of faceless authority.

The contradiction is most obvious on the US right. Trump apparatchiks dream of taming the deep state if their man gets to govern again. So-called Schedule F appointments would make it easier to fire civil servants. In an executive branch version of what the right has done to the judiciary over several decades, partisan cadres are being groomed for bureaucratic posts throughout Washington.

At the same time, the Trump world demands more industrial strategy. Is there a record of it being done well, anywhere on Earth, without a permanent, independent bureaucracy, licensed to plan and invest regardless of the churn of elected administrations?

At some point, demagogues will have to choose which they hate more: free trade or the blob. Curbing the one tends to empower the other. Notice that, though Trump started the move to industrial protection, it has achieved real substance under a centre-left government. The right could never follow its antitrade logic to its natural conclusion, which is the aggrandisement of officialdom. Trump managed to fall out with the national security state, of all things. The idea that he could abide a US version of Japans former, and lordly, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, is fanciful. Yet that kind of technocratic power is what, via the hand of his successor Joe Biden, populism has inadvertently created.

I fear, though cannot know, that we are living through the biggest wrong turn in government policy of my lifetime. A decade into this protectionist age, we might regret the waste, the pork, the higher consumer prices (do workers not pay those?) and the fragmentation of the west into squabbling trade zones. But the wrongness of this trend is another column. For now, what stands out is the improbable winner of it. Imagine being told in 2016 that elites would have more clout, not less, and owe it to their own tormentors.

janan.ganesh@ft.com

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More Brits than ever say Brexit was wrong choice: YouGov survey – Reuters UK

Posted: at 1:12 pm

  1. More Brits than ever say Brexit was wrong choice: YouGov survey  Reuters UK
  2. More Brits than ever say Brexit was wrong choice: YouGov survey  EURACTIV
  3. Brexit was wrong, say 57% of British voters  The Economist

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