Substack on Substacks: what you should read

No-one has any spare time, of course, but these are all very worthwhile and will make you, if not wiser, then at least better informed, and are enjoyable reads

Regular readers will know that I’m prone to what we might call a blogging version of mission creep. You know how it goes: I have an idea, I want to write about it, a couple of thousand words will make a chunky and insightful analysis. Oh, but this raises another question which needs a bit of background… and then there’s this anecdote, which is amusing but also sheds some light on the issue… and if I say that, it doesn’t make much sense unless I also say this…

And so it goes. I don’t claim any unique or even special status here, but I read a lot of stuff, from books and hard-copy magazines to blogs and individual articles aggregated through various websites. I happen to have quite a good memory, so a lot of this sticks in my head, which—again, I’m not seeking praise here, it’s just an observation—allows me to compare one situation with another, to provide context, to broaden debates. But I’m always left with more than I can read and absorb, which is frustrating.

Substack is, I think, a great platform. It has given a common format to very diverse writers and thinkers, and I’ve found it hugely useful and rewarding; and I’m discovering new things and new people every day. So, briefly, here are five blogs I think you should read.

1) Futura Doctrina: Mick Ryan was a senior officer in the Australian Army, retiring as a major-general after four years running the Australian Defence College. Before that he had been director general training and doctrine (DG TRADOC), so he’s steeped in ideas, training and teaching, and he’s been writing a lot of really fascinating stuff about the war in Ukraine. The clue is in the title of his blog, but he’s especially interested in how war and militaries evolve in the future, and last year, quirkily but understandably, he applied all of this to a novel, White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan, which imagines how a grab by the People’s Republic of China for Taiwan might play out. Thoughtful, experienced, and, in a way that the best Australians have, cheerily provocative.

2) The Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything: it may just be that Jonn Elledge, who writes for The New Statesman and CapX among others, happens to be on the saem wavelength as me in terms of interests. It should be alarming how often I see his latest essay and think “I’ve wondered about that…” or sometimes “Why haven’t I wondered about that?” His 2021 book, The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything, is the best kind of miscellany, and his forthcoming volume, A History of the World in 47 Borders, promises to be a fascinating perspective on the past. As the title of his blog suggests, he covers a lot of different subjects, but if you’re interested in politics, history, world affairs and items on that spectrum, you’ll always find something to entertain you.

3) Thomas P.M. Barnett’s Global Throughlines: I make no apologies for cheerleading repeatedly for Tom Barnett. Ever since I stumbled across his 2008 TED Talk “Rethinking America’s military strategy”, I’ve absolutely loved his combination of massive experience, breadth of thinking and creativity, all delivered with a dry-ish wit (his description of a potential Chinese assault on Taiwan as “the Million-Man Swim” seemed apposite). His current book, America’s New Map: Restoring our global leadership in an era of climate change and demographic collapse, is fascinating because it tackles the geopolitical and strategic consequences of climate change but also deliberately targets a younger audience and rather than complain about “young people today” accepts at face value the fact that they’re different from their elders, in terms of how they want information presented. Tom is thinking very seriously, very realistically but also very innovatively about challenges which are coming whether we like them or not. Always good value.

4) Tox Report: there’s something about the way Sarah Ditum writes and thinks that I just find really appealing. I have no idea whether she’d appreciate my approbation or not—I suspect we are different on a lot of things—but all I can say is that I find her blogs very comfortable, in the best sense, as well as interesting and thought-provoking. Her recent (positive) analysis of Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley was absorbing, and not everyone can pull off a blog entitled “Snake pervert party”. Cultural commentary is tough, because there are the twin dangers of disposability and sententiousness, and I think Ditum gets it right in a very entertaining way.

5) ZEITGEIST: I’ve lauded Katja Hoyer before, and she’s worth every word of praise: a brilliant and insightful historian of Germany who has a brilliant knack of translating the history of her homeland for the audience of her adopted country. Blood and Iron is a superb and compact account of the German Empire from its creation at Versailles in 1871 to the abdication of the Kaiser in 1918, and it’s a story which is weirdly under-studied in Britain, given how close to Germany we are and how intertwined our pasts are. I have a great affection for her too because she was one of the first interviewees in CulturAll, the digital arts and culture journal I help run with Alex Matchett and Mariana Holguín, when I talked to her about the book. Beyond the Wall: East Germany 1949-1990 is an eye-opening and refreshing examination of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the Communist state which was on the front line of the Cold War and part of the Eastern bloc, yet in many ways subtly different from its Warsaw Pact allies. Katja’s blog is a perfect encapsulation of an endlessly curious and very perceptive observer.

And that’s that. Not even 1,000 words. Take that, gods of loquacity! I knew I could do it.