Summer reading list 2026

Summer reading list 2026

This week’s briefing provides a list of seven non-fiction articles – and one podcast – as an alternative to traditional summer holiday reading. These articles are free, although some websites may have restrictions on how many articles can be read without charge.

1. How's this Labour government different from those of the late 90s and early noughties? In this recent interview with political commentator Sam Freedman, former New Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn suggests that, over the last two years, the Labour government hasn't always demonstrated a clarity of strategy he saw in earlier New Labour administrations. From the growing influence of social media on speeches and policymaking to rising risk aversion in Whitehall and government, Mr Milburn reflects on how the world and, therefore, the art of politics has changed over the last quarter of a century.
    
2. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, parliament used its new-found powers to reorganise land rights and inheritance law, making sustained investments in infrastructure and agriculture possible for the first time across England. This, in turn, delivered faster growth and a prolonged improvement in living standards. In this Works in Progress essay, Kara Dimitruk and Ben Southwood discuss how parliament went about addressing the 'vetocracy' that had held back growth for centuries and what lessons we could draw from that experience today.
    
3. The Chinese economy saw a major real estate boom turn to bust in late 2021. Yet, it avoided a recession. In this article, economist Noah Smith explains how Chinese policymakers used a surge in lending to the industrial sector, to lean against the slowdown. Mr Smith argues that China may have used this unorthodox policy to successfully avoid three downturns since the Global Financial Crisis. While this may be an effective tool for macroeconomic stabilisation, the article questions its side effects – whether large amounts of unproductive lending may weigh on China's future growth prospects.
    
4. Food theft is big business. You may have read about the great maple syrup heist in 2012, when $18 million worth of maple syrup was stolen from a warehouse in Canada. 2023 saw the attempted theft of a trailer containing 200,000 Cadbury Creme eggs in Shropshire. And in March this year, 12 tons of chocolate KitKat bars were stolen in transit from Italy to Poland. These incidents might suggest that food thieves are usually after sweet treats. But the most stolen food in the world is cheese. This Longreads essay describes the theft of 22 tons of premium Hafod cheddar cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy, examining why organised criminals target artisanal dairy products across Europe.
    
5. Increasing proof of Gen AI's economic usefulness has coincided with growing concerns over its job-destroying potential. But many professions have survived the invention of technologies that threatened to destroy them. This essay by Adam Ozimek describes how musicians reacted to the inventions of the pianola and the phonograph in the 19th century. And why the desire for human engagement has led to a growing demand for live music since those inventions.
    
6. New research suggests that GLP-1 weight loss drugs could help women find jobs and also increase their household incomes. In this podcast from the FT, Harvard professor Rebecca Diamond, who conducted this study joins consumer editor Claer Barrett and columnist Soumaya Keynes for a fascinating discussion on how the drugs are changing consumer tastes and the wider economy.
    
7. Energy supply is often seen as a bottleneck in rapid buildouts of AI data centres. This Works in Progress article by Chris Gillett describes the energy requirements of AI data centres and argues that the planned AI infrastructure buildout in the US is limited not by the availability of energy but by pace of connections to the grid.
    
8. Why did it take more than a century to produce a useful steam engine when a working model – the aeolipile – was produced in antiquity? Why was wheeled luggage only 'invented' in the 1950s? In this essay, Brian Potter of Construction Physics uses a novel LLM-powered research method, to examine why inventions often follow several decades after the establishment of the fundamental scientific and technical principles underlying them.
    

Chart of the week

European gas prices have risen by more than 55% since the end of June. The price of gas is now above highs seen at the onset of the Iran war and more than double the level at the start of the year.

The recent price rise is partly due to greater demand from Europe. The heatwave in recent weeks has increased usage of air conditioning while reducing nuclear power output in France (to avoid discharging too much hot water into rivers that are already unusually warm). This has raised demand for gas-fired electricity, which is used to balance loads across Europe.

Asian countries, also reeling from an unusually hot summer, are competing for available gas shipments. This has driven up prices further. The Economist recently reported that Asian buyers are outbidding Europeans for liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, resulting in a record number of tankers being diverted from Europe to Asia.

With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries around 20% of global LNG, still disrupted, markets are increasingly worried about supply, especially as Europe prepares for the winter heating season. Currently, European gas storage facilities are only 47% full, a 15-year low for this time of year. Buyers are reportedly waiting as long as possible before replenishing stocks in the hope of lower prices. As well as disruption to shipping, the war has also impacted medium-term supplies. An Iranian strike in March on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas facility, the world’s largest LNG plant, has reduced production by 17% for the next few years.

Despite these recent rises, European gas prices remain around one-fifth of the peak reached after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But a prolonged conflict with Iran could exacerbate supply issues, intensifying price pressures as we head into the colder months.

What we're looking out for this week?

We’re looking out for the Ifo Institute’s Business Climate Index for Germany released today. The index, measuring corporate sentiment, is a widely followed bellwether for economic activity in Europe’s largest economy. German growth is expected to pick up this year, after years of subdued performance, as the government’s infrastructure investment and defence spending packages feed through to higher activity. However, uncertainty surrounding the war in Iran and its impact on energy prices has dented business confidence. The business climate index fell to its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic in April. It has risen over May and June, pointing to a limited improvement in sentiment. Economists expect a slight rise in July’s figure out today, but sentiment is far from recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

We’re also watching out for the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England’s interest rate decisions later in the week. Both central banks are expected to maintain interest rates at their current levels

And finally...

Parents in a small Lincolnshire town were issued with warnings after noise complaints for calling their children in for tea while they were playing in a communal area. The housing association warned that it may "arrange noise monitoring" in the future if the shouting persists - yells kitchen