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Literature · Satire · Social Observations

Essays, satire, stories and a few inconvenient observations about the world we have grown accustomed to calling normal.

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The latest published work from the English edition of INI.

01
The Relative We Turned Into an Insult

The Relative We Turned Into an Insult

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The Comfortable Distance of the Long Term

Power & society

Free to read

The Comfortable Distance of the Long Term

There is something reassuring about the long term. Problems become strategies. Losses become adjustments. Deadlines become target dates. And if the future is far enough away, almost anything can be made to look responsible. We do much the same with our own lives. We work now, save now, invest now — all for the freedom we plan to enjoy later. The money grows. The target moves. The future remains patiently available. We, meanwhile, become slightly older. **The Comfortable Distance of the Long Term** is about economics, postponed responsibility, compound interest — and the small problem of trying to save for a future while quietly spending the one thing we cannot put aside.

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Exactly What We Expected

Human stories

Paid writing · €1.99

Exactly What We Expected

How hard can financial forecasting be? If the market rises, you saw it coming. If it falls, you warned everyone. And if nothing much happens, uncertainty remains elevated. Henry, Margaret and John may just have discovered the perfect profession — although Brutus still seems to have the more disciplined investment strategy.

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INI

New Writers

Alex Buday

Founder & Writer

Alex Buday writes about power, money, history, human nature and the quietly absurd machinery of everyday life from a Central European perspective. His work moves between literary satire, personal memory and cultural observation.

Notes

Latest Notes

Alex Buday

Leipzig, 9 October 1989 — When Fear Was No Longer Enough Thirty-seven years ago today, around 70,000 people marched through Leipzig. The East German authorities were prepared to intervene, and nobody could be certain how the evening would end. Ye…

"The Wall' by Alex BudayRead note →
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Alex Buday

Today, Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy praised her bold, inventive work and the way she moves freely between poetry, essay, fiction and the classical world. At 12:59, Carson was already an extraordinary writer.…

Anne Carson, poet, at the 2024 National Book Awards finalist readingRead note →
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Diderot and the Indiscreet Jewels

Denis Diderot was born 313 years ago, on 5 October 1713. By day, he worked on the *Encyclopédie*, trying to organise everything humanity knew. He also found time to write *Les Bijoux indiscrets*, in which a magical ring compels women’s most inti…

Denis Diderot, Les Bijoux indiscrets, Amsterdam : Marc-Michel Rey, 1772Read note →
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Essays, satire, stories and brief observations from different points of view, without convenient answers. Explore the latest writing, or open the notebook in Notes.