5 interesting stories

Here are the five most interesting stories I found today instead of relying on trending news algorithms.

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1. “Nigerians return from slavery in Libya to thriving sex-trafficking industry back home” (Washington Post) – Molly O’Toole reports on the grim outcome for migrants who have managed to escape human traffickers.
2. “Conservatives and Counterrevolutionaries: Corey Robin’s ‘The Reactionary Mind’” (LA Review of Books) – “This is why conservatism, though fundamentally concerned with economics,” Lily Geismer writes in her review, “has also been inextricably linked to forms of patriarchy and white supremacy: what unites them all is the effort to protect power in both the public and private sphere.”
3. “Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You for Years” (Wired) – Andy Greenberg explains why the blockchain (and law enforcement) never forgets.
4. “The Great British Empire Debate” (New York Review of Books) – No, argues Kenan Malik, colonialism wasn’t good for the world.
5. “Ghost towers: half of new-build luxury London flats fail to sell” (The Guardian) – Only 900 apartments priced above £3 million out of 1,900 units built last year have sold as Brexit is dampening the appetite of foreign buyers.