Today, Caitlin Flanagan regrets Tom Cruise’s America-hating new film.
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Flanagan → regret → film
Aaron MacLean explains why you need to read a biography of Xi Jinping’s father.
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you → explain → father
Kat Rosenfield is still reeling from the bizarre Elizabeth Holmes documentary.
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Rosenfield → reel → documentary
But first: Why would you leave America to live in England?
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you → leave → England
Look, I’m not going to pretend your country’s not great.
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country → look → ?
I spend a lot of time in the Free Press office in New York, and whenever I look out the window at the skyline, the majestic Succession theme starts playing in my head.
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theme → spend → head
Speeding across the Brooklyn Bridge in a yellow cab is the ultimate manifestation of the phrase “I’ve made it.”
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I → speed → it
Your houses are so big, your appliances so very modern, and even your domestic flights have live TV!
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flights → have → TV
England, where I live, is not like that.
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I → live → that
Our prime ministers are always resigning.
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ministers → resign → ?
In London, my perfectly nice apartment—or, as we say, flat—does not have a dishwasher. Or a tumble dryer.
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we → say → dishwasher
I’ve had my phone stolen not once, not twice, but three times.
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phone → have → ?
But, I’m sorry, no matter how much Americans try to persuade me—and believe me, Bari will not let me hear the end of it—I’m not going to move to America.
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me → ’m → America
Our contributing writer Freya India, a fellow Brit, made a different decision.
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writer → contribute → decision
Last summer, she moved to Washington, D.C., for work, then spent a year “trying to talk myself out of my homesickness; trying not to think about what I was giving up, all that time with my parents and grandparents; trying to think of the GDP!”
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I → move → GDP
But a few weeks ago, she packed up and came home to London.
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she → pack → London
“Many people think this is a mistake,” she writes in her essay today.
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she → think → essay
Brits remind her of the money to be made in the U.S.
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Brits → remind → U.S.
Americans worry she’ll get arrested for her posts on X.
More powerful than her belief that England has problems, Freya writes, was “this sense of betrayal, like I had left somewhere I was obligated to.”
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I → worry → betrayal
She was investigating what makes 20somethings unhappy, and gradually concluding that it’s because they’re afraid “to put down foundations, to bind ourselves to places and people.”
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they → investigate → places
It’s not that England is better.
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England → ’ → ?
It’s not that America is worse.
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America → ’ → ?
This week, when I saw the BBC headline “Tiny Rare Frogs Bred for First Time at London Zoo,” I said to a colleague who was also born here, “We live in a silly little country.”
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We → see → country
We don’t deny it.
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We → deny → it
But it’s home.
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it → ’ → ?
This week, Daniel Cox wrote about the young men without college degrees who are losing the dating game; River Page reported on a male teacher’s worst nightmare; and Suzy Weiss weighed in on the curiosity shop that is furious with Kelly Clarkson.
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that → write → Clarkson
Knock Knock, It’s Cupid!
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It → knock → ?
If you’d like to take a chance at Free Press love, write a paragraph that defines you, including your age, where you live, and what you’re looking for, and send it over to Cupid@TheFP.com.
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you → like → Cupid@TheFP.com
How should you spend the rest of your weekend?
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you → spend → weekend
We asked our columnist Aaron MacLean for his recommendations.
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We → ask → recommendations
Joseph Torigian’s The Party’s Interests Come First, which recently came out in paperback.
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which → come → paperback
Technically a biography of Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping’s father, this elegant and insightful book doubles as a fantastic introduction to the history of the Chinese Communist Party in the 20th century—and the claustrophobic madness of working at its pinnacle.
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book → double → pinnacle
An intimate of Mao Zedong, Xi Zhongxun had a leading role in government during some of the CCP’s most consequential and deadly years, only to be purged himself in the 1960s.
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Zhongxun → have → 1960s
His daughter, Xi Jinping’s half-sister, committed suicide, and Xi Jinping himself was sent to live in the countryside, where he slept in a cave.
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he → commit → cave
Ultimately, he responded to the party’s betrayal of his family by becoming even more committed to its totalitarian goals.
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he → respond → goals
Torigian explores this irony, among other themes, as he narrates many of the last century’s deadliest tragedies from the point of view of a father and son at the center of it all.
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he → explore → it
(You can also listen to Torigian discuss the book on my podcast School of War.
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Torigian → listen → War
California’s contributions to the American project have been mixed, but we can put this beverage firmly in the “pro” category, along with movies and surfing—both of which it accompanies nicely.
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it → mix → which
I developed a taste for it when I spent a summer in California during the Marine Corps, and now it’s my go-to.
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it → develop → Corps
It’s got more character than a Budweiser but isn’t so froufrou that you sound intolerably pretentious for saying you like it.
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you → get → it
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
