#Wokeism, #Illiberalism and the #China model: How the West has lost its way @nfergus

Niall Ferguson on the cultural despair in American institutions [as they] "increasingly succumb to the plague of 'wokeism' — an illiberal ideology that originated on elite campuses but is now prevalent everywhere from Californian public schools to the Central Intelligence Agency."

He continues, "I am not so gloomy, because I believe that woke ideas are profoundly unpopular with the electorate as a whole and that the Democrats' adoption of slogans such as 'anti-racism' and 'diversity, equity and inclusion' will ultimately backfire when it becomes clear to more people what they mean in practice."

"There is a kind of low-level totalitarianism detectable in many institutions today — from elite universities to newspapers, publishers and technology companies — which reveals that practices such as informing, denunciation and defamation can all flourish even in the absence of a one-party dictatorship."

The China model: why is the West imitating Beijing?

Niall Ferguson

“I've mortally offended #Putin by surviving”: why Alexei #Navalny keeps fighting

"Violence quickly grows old," Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote. "After only a few years it loses confidence in itself, and in order to maintain a respectable face it summons falsehood as its ally – since violence can conceal itself with nothing except lies, and the lies can be maintained only by violence."

It's an idea that still resonates. Putin's regime continues to rest on the twin pillars of fear and lies. Navalny has staked his life on pulling down that edifice.

“In Russia, speaking the truth has always been a political act.”

Excellent piece from the Economist's Russia correspondent on Navalny.

Q1 2021 saw all-time global high for early-stage #VC funding with $39 BILLION invested in #startups

Q1 saw a marked increase in early-stage funding, with $39 billion invested in nascent startups, up from $25 billion in the fourth quarter and $22 billion in the first quarter of 2020. The Q1 figure marks an all-time global high for early-stage funding, per Crunchbase data.

Is Early-Stage Venture Becoming A Growth Investor's Game?

Global venture funding hit an all-time high in the first quarter of 2021, per Crunchbase data. That sort of increase in venture funding is typically attributable to growth in late-stage funding. 

But, along with a surge in late-stage funding, we also saw a marked increase in early-stage funding last quarter, with $39 billion invested in nascent startups, up from $25 billion in the fourth quarter and $22 billion in the first quarter of 2021. 

The Q1 figure marks an all-time global high for early-stage funding.

Growth equity leads early stage

The most active investor leading at the Series A and B stages was, surprisingly enough, a growth-stage investor: Insight Partners, which led six Series A fundings.