Westminster Turns Into Westeros

Reed Hastings says that Netflix’s biggest competitors aren’t HBO, Amazon, or YouTube but sleep. The biggest tech companies all want your attention but their best proxy is time. The average Facebook user spends more time on the site than they do reading, exercising, or at social events. Are we sure we aren’t living in the Wall-E world already? Netflix might have also included dating or cuddling as one of its competitors, but probably decided not to because it’s possible to Netflix and chill.

Westminster Turns Into Westeros: In a move that rivals the intrigue of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has called for a snap election. Her decision was a shock, given that she has said numerous times (and as recently as March) that she would not seek an election. Having inherited her post from former Conservative PM David Cameron, May is seeking to win a mandate of her own and increase her party’s numbers in Parliament, where she now has a very slim majority. Two-thirds of the House of Commons must approve a snap election, but opposition parties said they would not stand in her way. So the UK will go to the polls on June 8, making it three years in a row that Brits have voted in a national election. (To our American readers: And you thought you had election fatigue!)

Polls from several newspapers show that May’s Conservative party is some 17 to 21 percentage points ahead of Labour, meaning that May could secure a three-figure majority in the House of Commons. A victory for May in June would signal that the British people have confidence in how she will carry out Brexit negotiations and let her neighbors across the Channel know–in case they were hoping otherwise–that she is going nowhere.

Polls Close in Election for Jakarta’s Governor: Polls have closed in a run-off election for the post of Jakarta’s governor, described by many as a key test for Indonesia’s secular identity. The contest between incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, and Anies Rasyid Baswedan, a Muslim, have heightened religious and racial tensions in the country. Purnama was accused of insulting the Koran during a campaign speech; he is now on trial for blasphemy, which he denies. Observers say these developments have turned the election into a choice between “secularism and a growing hardline Islamist movement in Indonesia.” Exit polls show Baswedan taking the lead but final results will be only be announced in early May. 

It’s A “Capitalist Conspiracy”: That is what Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela and loyalist to the late Hugo Chavez, thinks about his country’s economic crisis and calls for his removal. Mass protests across the country are expected on Wednesday, and opposition parties are calling for a referendum on his leadership. Venezuela, at one time one of South America’s fastest growing economies, is experiencing massive food shortages and protests have been taking place all month. Six people have been killed amid the unrest, including a 13-year-old boy.

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More Reads:

We think the first two articles are absolute must reads if one is curious about the future of work and learning. And yes, we got a bit carried away with today’s More Reads. ?

• An Oxford study says half of American jobs are at risk of being automated. This is a fascinating article on the future of (non) work, utopian fantasies, and basic income (WeForum)
• What happens when there is absolutely no return to experience and if the wisdom that comes with age no longer pays off? (The New Yorker)
• If you aren’t worried about the future after reading those two pieces, then this one should make you pause and wonder what the US will do with retirees who don’t have enough money saved for retirement (The Economist)
• Turkey is sliding into dictatorship, according to The Economist and the New Yorker. CNN had an exclusive interview with President Erdogan on Tuesday, his first since the vote on Sunday
• North Korea is a bad situation with no good options, says the NYT. The Atlantic says the US can’t do much, while Vox quickly summarizes the craziness of the region
• In the unlikely case you haven’t had your daily dose of Trump news: National Review, a conservative publication, says Trump is the-deceiver-in-chief who is a Democrat through and through. Democrats, for the most part, still don’t approve of him, and Vox says that’s because he’s an ignoramus
• You’d prefer a dose of Hillary Clinton instead? Many papers have been discussing how Clinton’s campaign shattered, based on a new book that interviewed her campaign staff (The Guardian)
• How late-night comedy fueled the rise of Trump. The Atlantic writes, “Sneering hosts have alienated conservatives and made liberals smug”
• Expect traffic jams, climbers on the verge of death, and treacherous conditions on Mt.  Everest as 400 climbers congregate at the world’s tallest peak

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