posted: 8 April, 2019

Welcome to the sixth edition of Dispatches, our hand-picked round-up of the most interesting ideas, innovations, and insight from the global retail, fashion, and tech industry news.

This week’s admittedly tardy edition, dear reader, includes a fascinating cultural and architectural arms race in the Gulf, why keeping as open as possible to as many knowledge flows as possible is advantageous (warning: may contain high levels of Brexit), and an exploration of the issues overshadowing Dubai’s property market fuelled business model.

• Why soft power is in style in Qatar
  Hundreds of influential faces in global politics, art, fashion and design descended on this tiny desert kingdom last week.
  [NY Times Fashion]

• The United Kingdom has gone mad
  The problem with holding out for a perfect Brexit plan is that you can’t fix stupid.
  [NY Times]

• Dubai fears the end of its ‘build it and they will come’ model
  But can an economy fuelled by the vagaries of the property market reform itself?
  [Financial Times]

• Amazon (sub)prime – Part II (read Part I here)
  But can an economy fuelled by the vagaries of the property market reform itself?
  [Financial Times Alphaville]

• ‘They thought it was black magic’: an oral history of TiVo
  How the original DVR paved the way for Netflix and the cord-cutter movement.
  [Medium]

• Behold the Beef-less ‘Impossible Whopper’
  Burger King is introducing a Whopper made with a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods. The deal is a big step toward the mainstream for start-ups trying to mimic and replace meat.
  [NY Times]

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