How the ANC can save South Africa - (but maybe not itself)…. My column on the messy demise of liberation movements and the peril but also promise of the ANC’s shattering election result ft.com/content/a67241… via @ft

Tune in to Weekend BBC World Service w/ Luke Jones & Suzanne Lynch Alec Russell EU elections, what’s at stake Radek Sikorski Jana Puglierin 3 weeks in Sudan Declan Walsh Ivor Prickett ANC wants a national unity government, What might it look like? AI ‘future self’ chatbot

Up for debate all the big global stories from the future of the ANC, the European elections, the war in Sudan and the role of prophetic AI chatbots - to of course Taylor Swift! Thank you Luke Jones Suzanne Lynch

Trotsky’s favourite Balkan hotel in rather better shape than when I last saw it 30 years ago - now to see if the same can be said of Serbia’s politics…

“We were pretty shocked when Hay said it was dropping Baillie Gifford. We expected it to be a much longer-term campaign,” says a rep of Fossil Free Books. Shades of Brexit voters saying they did not expect to win Harriet Agnew Henry Mance on fire ft.com/content/f17a79… via @ft

How should the west manage its borders as the right ramps up anxiety over immigration? A range of outstanding perspectives - epic narrative history Jonathan Blitzer vital insight into policy Ian Goldin & agonising smuggler tales Jason De León ft.com/content/fe0159… via @ft

My first Belgrade dateline since the Bosnian war: the green light to an EU-backed lithium mine signals how much has changed for the better economically - but Serbian politics still seem depressingly mired in the past Marton Dunai ft.com/content/2bd0d7… via @ft

Serbia has been discreetly stepping up sales of ammunition to the west that ends up bolstering the defence of Ukraine — even though it is one of only two European countries not to join western sanctions against Russia, Alec Russell and Marton Dunai report. on.ft.com/45At3Ax

How Serbia's Александар Вучић is preparing for Trump - while courting China and not quite cutting loose Russia. My deep dive with Marton Dunai into the murky world of Serbian nationalism, great power games, business deals with Jared Kushner & more... ft.com/content/00f226… via @ft

“There is no ‘Russian soul’. There is just a void in it.” Ukrainian author Oleksandr Mykhed talks to me about Russian nationalism, its myths, the myopia of the west & the awful reality of life in war - + his searing book “The language of war” ft.com/content/9dbec3… via @ft

How to topple tyrants - and how they stay in power. I can’t think of someone better qualified to review these essential books by Anne Applebaum and Marcel Dirsus given how many tyrannies Tim Judah has seen rise and fall - and frequently survive

The world is an emptier and duller place. Edna O’ Brien seemed dauntless - and was such fun too. Her advice to any writer was “keep reading the five or 10 great books you have read… Be of the moment but don’t forget the past.” Yes indeed

South Africa's new cabinet "is arguably the least anti-Western since 1994". Fascinating conclusion by John McDermott after must-read interview with South Africa's new foreign minister Minister: International Relations and Cooperation

Love the illustration by the ever-brilliant James Ferguson with my column on how autocracies end - people power + a presidential chopper ft.com/content/1c0dbb… via @ft

Enjoying the ⁦Financial Times⁩ home page juxtaposition of Ukraine’s advance on Russia with my column on the end of autocrats - and hoping Putin or better still his siloviki have an FT sub …..

“Always write (and read) with the ear not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was read aloud or spoken.” The last word on how to write. My first editor told me to read aloud pieces before filing. It still helps.

Just a year ago this was an idea. It’s a remarkable testament to Kharkiv’s fortitude, resilience and adaptability- but also its terrible ordeal

Even Chinese cranes are now suspected of spying on America... Essential read on how national security concerns have eclipsed traditional free-market thinking & ushered in an age of economic nationalism. Superb: Sam Fleming (FT) Demetri Claire Jones ft.com/content/606831… via @ft

"If you want to see how the poor die, come see Grenfell Tower." Ben Okri said it all in this haunting poem for FT Weekend seven years before the Grenfell enquiry ft.com/video/b24dee4b…

Very sad news. Pravin Gordhan was one of the greats. One of the four most consequential figures in steering South Africa's public finances away from the shoals in the post-Mandela era. And a wonderful, wise, steely and decent public servant. ft.com/content/5b19ba… via @ft