Disclaimer: these are my views, and my views alone, written in a personal capacity, by me, using my own keyboard. They are not those of my employer or anyone else. I’m not an expert in anything and change my mind a lot. Don’t say you weren’t warned. 

Who are you, why should I read this?

I’m Alex Chalmers. I’m a London-based researcher and writer. I’ve variously worked across communications, policy, and venture capital. I’m currently spending most of my time working this year with the team at Stripe’s Works In Progress on AI and energy, but I take on other commissions as well.

In the process of reading about tech, policy, and finance I come across lots of stuff that’s too tangential to justify writing about during my working day. Instead of subjecting the dwindling number of patient people in my life to impromptu speeches on failed government financing vehicles, how the banks helped us beat Napoleon, or collectivisation in Uzbekistan, I’ll write here semi-regularly. 

I originally studied history and feel we have a tendency to either treat everything as though it’s new, ignore international evidence, or perpetually reinvent the wheel. I’ll try to bring a wider lens to a loosely connected list of things that happen to interest me. This is primarily an attempt to guilt myself into reading more, but it’s free, so it quite literally costs you nothing to subscribe.

I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to focus on many of my interests, so there will inevitably be overlaps in subject matter. However, everything published here, unless stated otherwise, is written in a personal capacity. 

They are my views and not those of my employer. If I ever write about markets, it is not financial advice. Please don’t base any life choices on a stranger’s Substack - get a therapist or ask an LLM to provide you with sycophantic reinforcement. 

Beyond Substack, you can find me on LinkedIn and X, or shoot me an email.