
Ed Conway
@EdConwaySky • 214,282 subscribers
New book ‘Trade World’ coming September 2026
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Most of the obituaries and tributes to David Hockney will, I imagine, focus primarily on his extraordinary craft and brilliance as an artist. Perhaps they might also mention his brilliance as a communicator (he was such a fine writer and speaker). But there was something else rather unique about him too. He was also strikingly honest about the tricks/techniques artists use and used to paint. His book Secret Knowledge is a rather wonderful detective work into how renaissance and Dutch golden age painters used glass and mirrors to help them master perspective. It's a pretty compelling case (see this video clip from a BBC doc he made alongside the book👇) though I'm sure some art historians will raise their eyebrows. Many will be aghast at the notion that greats like Vermeer might have been using lenses and camera obscuras to help them draw and paint. As if it were in some way "cheating". But Hockney was so self-evidently brilliant he was one of the few people who could document this without anyone gainsaying his own talent. There are very few artists, living or dead, who have this degree of self-confidence. Not just to know their craft, but to be bracingly honest about how it works. One other who comes to mind is Paul Simon: not just an extraordinary musician but is also an extraordinary communicator about the tricks and techniques of how to write and perform music. For many great artists, the temptation is to cloak their crafts in mystery, like a member of the magic circle. Hockney wasn't having any of it. So yes, he was a legend in all the obvious ways. But also in a few other less obvious ways as well. RIP.
Ed Conway141,940 Aufrufe • vor 7 Tagen

📽️ From Donald Trump to Britain's wind power trade body, there's a growing coalition calling for more drilling in the North Sea. Raising the question: if we DID encourage more exploration, how much oil & gas could we actually get? Our MEGA primer on the North Sea👇 Ps it's longer than usual, but it turns out this topic has SO MANY misconceptions. Time to put some of them right. Let me know what you think
Ed Conway923,214 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten

📽️THE TANKER There's an extraordinary race underway on the high seas, as nations vie to secure increasingly scarce shipments of fuel. In our latest on the economics of this conflict we track one such ship & ask: why is Britain so exposed? The answer is not v reassuring. Watch👇
Ed Conway624,575 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

📽️I realise it's a bit odd to mark the launch of a podcast with a 13m deep dive screen. But, well, maybe I'm just a bit odd. Anyway here's the story of how LEDs saved the world. And why, paradoxically, they might NOT save the world. Mind-blowing data on light, energy & more!👇
Ed Conway36,804 Aufrufe • vor 4 Tagen

🎥WHO PLACED THE BET? Someone just made a killing with an extraordinarily well-timed bet on financial markets, minutes before Donald Trump's announcement of war talks yesterday. Was it luck, or inside information? Either way... someone just got rich. Four min primer👇
Ed Conway598,293 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

📽️ There have been many scary, unnerving days in this latest Gulf war. But the past 24 hours was particularly bad. Why? Because both sides are now causing lasting damage to the world economy's life support system. Our latest primer on the econ consequences of this war👇
Ed Conway457,510 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten

A big moment in Britain's industrial story happened today. The coke ovens at the Port Talbot steelworks were closed. This was where they baked the coal used to make millions of tonnes of steel. What you're looking at here is the last coke ever made in the UK. Pix: Tata Steel UK
Ed Conway2,102,860 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren

📽️ WHY are diesel prices rising so fast? Well, partly because this is the worst oil supply shock in modern history. And partly because of an obscure decision taken by politicians decades ago. My latest mega primer on the economic consequences of war in the Gulf👇
Ed Conway191,093 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

🎥IRAN WAR PRIMER Six days on from the start of this war, what have we learnt about the economic consequences? Here's our latest primer, covering: 1. Why gas prices are up so much more than oil 2. The ticking timebomb facing Gulf oil producers 3. It's not just oil/gas - we need to talk about helium & sulphuric acid! 4. What does this mean for the 21st century economic model for Gulf states? All that and much more in 10 mins. Longer than usual. But a lot to cover in this one 👇
Ed Conway221,158 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten

🎥Did Britain just loosen sanctions on Russia? Or did it (as ministers claim) tighten them?🤔 And what does this all have to do with Indian oil refineries? My 10m primer on jet fuel, summer holidays, and how the economic war on Russia is colliding with war in the Persian Gulf👇
Ed Conway57,300 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat

There's been a lot of nonsense spouted about Labour's £28bn green investment plans. And doubtless there'll be lots more nonsense spouted in the coming months. With that in mind, here's my primer on the plan - and its affordability. No nonsense. But maybe one or two charts...
Ed Conway1,283,054 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren

