World
RIP Maricarmen Abascal
Europe’s autumn of unrest
It’s been a rough few weeks to be a European government. From Spain to France to Italy to Albania, people have been taking to the streets over the same underlying complaint, dressed up differently in each country: life has gotten too expensive, and the people in charge aren’t fixing it fast enough. Are things that bad? Yes. At least according to them.
Spain: where it started
Spain’s version of this is about rent, not groceries — and it’s the one that kicked the whole thing off. The spark was Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman evicted from the Madrid apartment she’d lived in for 70 years, after a fund bought the building and demanded a 230% rent increase. Her case went viral, and thousands marched through Barcelona on October 5th demanding affordable housing, after parliament rejected emergency measures meant to ease the crisis. Unions have since called for a general strike over housing, though no date has been set yet. The pressure helped push PM Pedro Sánchez to call a snap general election for November 29th.
France: the big one
Over the weekend of October 17th, protests coordinated since September over the cost of living, gas prices, and school conditions brought somewhere between 550,000 (government count) and 800,000 people (organizers’ count) into the streets nationwide — France’s largest unrest in years.
The school conditions piece is genuinely shocking. Students filmed collapsing ceilings and rats at a high school in Saint-Denis, and not enough chairs or desks for students at a school in Sevran. At a middle school in Bagnolet, every tap was running murky water containing fecal matter — the school was only told about the test results four months after they came back. It’s not hard to see why the movement, which started with a handful of blockades in September, exploded into a nationwide “social explosion,” as one outlet put it.
Most of it was peaceful: teachers, farmers, laborers, and students marching together. But “black-clad agitators” clashed with police, looted and damaged around 1,500 shops, and set fires in multiple cities. Around 1,800 people were arrested, and more than 500 police and firefighters were injured.
Italy: the one you might not have heard about
In Milan, a cost-of-living march that started peacefully ended with masked protesters throwing stones and other objects at riot police. But that’s not even the biggest story — it’s just the one that got covered.
For weeks, truckers and farmers across southern Italy have been blocking roads over the end of a fixed diesel discount, which pushed pump prices to around €2.30 a liter. It started in Calabria and Puglia in early October, then spread to Sicily, Basilicata, and Campania. Sicilian truckers have said they’ll strike indefinitely if the government doesn’t respond by their scheduled meeting on October 27th.
Here’s the thing: none of this was covered nationally until it had already been going on for weeks — mostly local papers, with the rest spreading through social media. Italy’s main TV channels are government-aligned, and from what I’ve seen, the coverage they do give protests leans hard into talking about immigration instead of the actual causes behind them. If you don’t follow this on social media, or read something like Tanamesa, there’s a real chance you don’t know any of this is happening.
Albania: students vs. the prime minister
The most volatile of the four. What started as student-led protests for education reform has merged into a broader movement — against a coastal development project tied to Jared Kushner, alongside allegations of government corruption. Protesters are now calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation outright.
The EU delegation in Albania called for a proportionate response while also flagging organizers’ allegations of excessive force against protesters and journalists.
The common thread: Different grievances, same temperature: cost of living, housing, broken trust in institutions — and governments that, so far, are mostly reacting instead of getting ahead of it.
What else is on
Japan: The country just crossed 100,000 centenarians for the first time ever, the most of any nation in the world (88% of them women). (Read)
China: Beijing tightened exit controls on its tech talent, giving authorities new power to block citizens tied to “strategic” sectors like AI from leaving the country. (Read)
Holland: The Dutch government wants to cut 25,000 civil service jobs, betting that AI can pick up the slack. The plan is framed as an efficiency play, with officials projecting $3.9 billion in annual savings. (Read)
Canada: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a brand-new “associate member” status for Canada — the first of its kind — giving it deeper access to EU trade, defense, and critical minerals policy without full membership or a seat in Parliament. It’s Canada’s clearest hedge yet against its souring relationship with the US. (Read)
Brazil: Lula was re-elected president on October 25, overturning a first-round deficit to beat Flávio Bolsonaro — the first time since Brazil’s redemocratization that a candidate has flipped a runoff after trailing in round one. Flávio says he won’t recognize the result and plans to challenge it in court, objecting to a Supreme Court order that extended voting hours at polling places still open past 5pm. (Read)
Economy & Business
i have to finish succession
Family Business Are Falling Behing
A new PwC survey found that only 25% of family-owned businesses worldwide posted double-digit sales growth last year — down sharply from 43% just two years ago.
That matters more than it might sound. According to the UN, family businesses generate roughly two-thirds of global GDP and account for 60% of jobs on the planet. When this group slows down, it shows up in the broader economy.
Playing it safe
Part of the explanation is strategic: family businesses are pulling back from high-growth, high-risk bets in favor of steadier, more conservative operations.
Only 22% of those surveyed said their companies actively innovate or rethink management strategy — and with less investment going in, growth has followed it down.
The trust tax
There’s a second, quieter problem. Trust has traditionally been one of family businesses’ biggest edges over their non-family competitors — the sense that they play a longer game, answer to more than just shareholders. That edge just shrank: their trust advantage over non-family companies fell by 8 points in the past year.
Put together, it’s a tricky spot. The instinct to play it safe is rational — these are, after all, often multi-generational bets, not quarterly ones. But caution has a cost too, and right now it’s showing up on both sides of the ledger: slower growth, and less of what used to set them apart.
What else is on:
Hair loss: After the Ozempic boom, Wall Street’s eyeing its next pharma gold rush — baldness treatments. Shares of companies developing them have jumped as much as 500% this year, with Absci Corp. more than doubling in value, as investors bet on a category that hasn’t seen a new approved drug since the late ’90s. (Read)
Thrifting, but make it luxury: H&M, Banana Republic, and Reformation (which now resells Prada) are all leaning into secondhand clothing. The resale market is projected to hit $78 billion and grow 9% a year through 2030 — twice as fast as new clothing — as France and California roll out rules pushing brands to deal with textile waste. (Read)
Culture & Life
somethings are better when they are worse
Gen Z wants to text at the speed of a pigeon
You know screen fatigue has hit a new low when people start begging for slower technology — on purpose.
Two new apps, Carrier Pidge and Roost, are letting users send messages via virtual carrier pigeons instead of, you know, actually fast ones. And they’re taking off.
Carrier Pidge sends digital pigeons that fly up to 110 mph (with a 0.2% chance your message gets lost or “dies” along the way — very on brand for 2026). The app’s own developer once waited nine hours for his first message to travel from New York to Chicago.
Roost goes even further: it offers 1,000 different “animals” to deliver your texts, including a snail that moves your “u up?” at a glacial 1 mph.
Both apps launched in April. Roost just hit 650,000 downloads, and Carrier Pidge crossed 75,000 users — not bad for apps whose entire pitch is making you wait.
This isn’t actually new. A pen-pal app called Slowly has quietly been doing the slow-messaging thing since 2017 and now counts 10+ million users worldwide. What’s new is the Tamagotchi-style nostalgia wrapped around it — you’re not just sending a message, you’re raising a pigeon.
Why it’s working: in a world of nonstop notifications, friction has become the feature. One Carrier Pidge user told the New York Times: “Some things are better when they’re worse.” It’s the same logic behind the rise of dumb phones and social-blocking gadgets like Brick — sociologists are calling 2026 the year of “friction-maxxing.” Love that.
What else is on:
Self Exercising Muscle: Chinese researchers grew a self-contracting muscle implant that works 24/7 without any movement from the host — tested under mice's skin as a potential alternative to exercise for bedridden patients, frail elderly people, and those with Alzheimer's. The tissue pumps more beneficial compounds into the bloodstream than an hour of real exercise, since it never stops contracting. Human trials are still needed, but ICU patients are reportedly first in line. (Read)
Share Tanamesa with your friends, family, sponsors, whoever needs more good stories in their life. Refer 3 people and get an honorable mention in the next edition — refer 10 and you get a full, dedicated shoutout.
Music
It's too easy to make 'em mad when all I do is win
Popstar album cover, Tinashe
Estrus album cover, Tove Lo
I’ll be honest: my recommendations list has been overwhelming lately — there’s a real glut of great albums out right now, and I just don’t know where to look or what to recommend anymore. But two in particular felt like they belonged together: Tinashe’s Popstar and Tove Lo’s Estrus. Both are mature artists delivering some of the best work of their careers, and both made cohesive albums meant to be listened to front to back, so let’s start with them:
Popstar by Tinashe: Pitchfork called it flat out: “Tinashe’s eighth album is her best and bravest yet: more ambitious, more focused, and effortlessly in touch with the zeitgeist. It’s the best pop album of the year.” Beats Per Minute (75%) and Ratings Game Music (4/5 stars) landed in similar territory — so clearly I had to see what the fuss was about.
What makes this one land for me is the backstory. Tinashe spent years in the industry — signed to RCA, her debut delayed, never quite getting the recognition she deserved — not unlike what Zara Larsson went through. She went independent in 2019, and it worked: “Nasty” became her first solo Hot 100 entry on her own terms. Popstar is her coming back to a major label (Atlantic) with all of that experience behind her, and you can hear it — there’s an organic, lived-in confidence to the sound now that wasn’t there before.
The album’s main themes circle around the fear of an empty audience, anchored by tracks like “Empty Stadium” and “The Show Must Go On,” with “I’d Rather Be Alone” standing out as the big vocal moment. It really feels like Tinashe is entering a new era, and while it’s not for everyone, if you like pop music, give this one a chance. Standouts for me: “Too Easy,” which has the bass and swagger of a first big break, and “Melatonin,” a glitchy, hyperactive track built from sampled audio. (Rating: 8/10)
Estrus by Tove Lo: I’m a massive fan, so take this with a grain of bias — but I would genuinely fly somewhere for this tour. Estrus is Tove Lo’s sixth album, and Beats Per Minute gave it 80%, calling it her “most grown-up record” that “still sounds like 3am.”
The title plays on a double meaning — estrus as desire, and as the fertile phase of a cycle — and the album leans into the second one more than you’d expect: fertility, motherhood, mortality, all wrapped in her usual blunt, chemical-pop honesty.
The closing track, “source of life,” is the emotional center of the record, and “des fleurs,” a collaboration with Stromae sung in French, is one of the most unexpected and best things she’s ever put out. It’s a continuation of the ground she broke on Dirt Femme, and the reviews credits her with writing this kind of frank, chemical pop long before it became a trend — without ever sounding like she’s chasing the artists who followed her lead. I don’t think this album will make someone a fan if they weren’t one already — but it’s definitely a more mature version of her best. (Rating 8.5/10)
Micael
first one of many
October 31st, 2013.
I love Halloween. Hocus Pocus is one of my favorite Disney movies, and I desperately wanted to live in the US and go trick-or-treating in some suburban neighborhood. Luckily, middle-class Brazilians love pretending to be American in small, deeply specific ways — and that year, my building decided to host its own trick-or-treat. Kids aged 4 to 10 were invited. I was 14. Obviously, I went.
I grabbed fake vampire teeth from the “everything for 1 real” store, a cape I found somewhere, and fake blood I already had lying around for emergencies (who doesn’t?), and in under 20 minutes I was a sexy vampire — if you ignored the braces, the huge glasses, and the world’s nerdiest haircut. In my head, though: sexy vampire.
Downstairs, the other kids — who looked like actual babies to me, average age 5 — gathered for the hunt, some flanked by their mothers, which made me feel both unwelcome and, deep down, a little ridiculous for being there. But the things we do for chocolate.
Everyone assumed I was somebody’s older brother chaperoning. The good chocolate went to the toddlers. I got the leftovers.
Why give the best candy to a kid who’d be thrilled with anything, instead of the teenager — unhappy by default — who actually knows the difference?
My fake teeth kept slipping, some kid smeared my fake blood across my face until I looked like a chubby-fingered crime scene, and I kept going anyway. It was my first Halloween.
By the end of the floor, some of the younger kids could barely lift their pumpkin baskets. Mine still had plenty of room. I briefly wondered if anyone would notice if I helped myself to theirs — is it stealing if the kid won’t notice? And their parents didn’t even pay for it. And besides — today, I’m a sexy vampire.
Most neighbors pretended not to be home. We all knew they were. We rang the bell anyway, the little ones screamed on command, and I tried to look excited instead of mildly embarrassed to be there.
Two hours later I got home, face still streaked red from the fake blood fiasco, with roughly 16 candies in my bag. I lined my loot up on the windowsill in my room. (Relevant detail: I lived on the 14th floor of a building in the middle of São Paulo — arguably the most urban square mile in South America. Keep that in mind.)
After dinner, I went back to my room and found my mother putting unusual effort into closing my window. She was stronger than her frame suggested and still couldn’t get it shut. “Grrr — it’s stuck! There’s something in it!!” she yelled, in the specific tone reserved for home emergencies. My father arrived like the hero of the house he believed himself to be: “Okay, let me see what this is about.” He couldn’t close it either. So we all looked closer (they looked closer, but I was also standing there).
Gross! What is this thing?! — And there it was. A wild bat stuck in the window track, one my mother had been slamming repeatedly, with increasing panic, directly onto its face. A bat with a now very rearranged face. At this age I already wanted a nosejob. The bastard got a nosejob for free.
My father didn’t hesitate. He walked to the kitchen and came back holding a giant barbecue fork. He didn’t hesitate with that either — speared the dead, disfigured bat clean out of the window frame, turned to me, held it up like a trophy, and said: “Happy Halloween!! Son, look how fort—”
I don’t remember the rest of the sentence, because I was already somewhere between screaming and dry heaving: “Ew, ew, EW, that’s so gross, so gross, so gross.”
We tossed the disfigured bat in the trash (organic), I washed the fake blood off my face, and we sat down to eat some of the candy I’d hunted.
Call this the first entry in the official saga of my failed Halloweens.
Soon it was November 1st, and there were only 5 candies left.
With love,
Micael.
Subscribe to Tanamesa for your regular fix of content, entertainment, and my life. Our mission is bring everything you need to know about the most important things happening worldwide, with exclusive recommendations curated by the editor-in-chief.
Take it easy: It lands in your inbox only every second Thursday. And just like me, it is not only free but also kind of addictive.