Taliban courting China; What is going on?; More pain for games; Climate talks

I am just going to admit it, today’s newsletter is not great, occasionally things just don’t come together the way I hope. Apologies in advance, hope to see many of you in tomorrow’s weekly discussion thread, there will be some interesting things to discuss, and perhaps we should have a struggle session to help me improve the newsletter going forward…

Today’s Essential Eight items:

1. Xi’s speech to the BRICS summit

2. Taliban courting China

3. Hong Kong arrests and convictions, Museum raided

4. 5 year human rights action plan

5. What is going on?

6. gaming

7. Taliban interview

8. Cultural rules

Thanks for reading.