Issue 01 . June 2026Loose change. Sharp eyes.
Diego Arroyo

Writing for Souk Weekly

Diego Arroyo

Opinion Editor. Essays on democracy, work, and what the next decade demands.

9 published pieces

OpinionJun 4
In Defence of the Regional Mall, Against Everyone Who Thinks It Should Have Died Already. Souk Weekly opinion.

In Defence of the Regional Mall, Against Everyone Who Thinks It Should Have Died Already

A contrarian case for the much-maligned air-conditioned cathedral, which is, in operational terms, doing more civic work than the people who write about its demise are willing to credit it for.

By Diego Arroyo

TechnologyJun 4
The No Code App the Uncle Shipped Is, Quietly, the Most Useful Thing in the Family. Souk Weekly technology.

The No Code App the Uncle Shipped Is, Quietly, the Most Useful Thing in the Family

Why the regional family WhatsApp group has been replaced, in several households we know, by a forty-eight hour build the uncle put together one rainy weekend.

By Diego Arroyo

OpinionJun 3
The Tyranny of the Good Press Release. Souk Weekly opinion.

The Tyranny of the Good Press Release

Why the regional policy class has, for two cycles, been writing better announcements than the announcements deserve, and what the over-investment has cost the underlying work.

By Diego Arroyo

OpinionJun 3
In Praise of the Boring Conference. Souk Weekly opinion. Photograph keyed to conference.

In Praise of the Boring Conference

Why the regional conference circuit's best moments happen, increasingly, at the dullest events nobody wants to put on the highlight reel.

By Diego Arroyo

BusinessJun 3
SD Media and the Middle of the Content Sandwich. Souk Weekly business feature.

SD Media and the Middle of the Content Sandwich

Why everybody talks about who makes the content and everybody talks about who streams the content and almost nobody talks about the unglamorous middle layer that decides whether either of those works. With one named example.

By Diego Arroyo

OpinionJun 3
In Defence of the Uneventful Tuesday. Souk Weekly opinion.

In Defence of the Uneventful Tuesday

Why a region whose self-image is built around dramatic moments needs to relearn the quieter discipline of the institutional weekday that nothing in particular is happening on.

By Diego Arroyo

OpinionJun 3
The Man Who Sells Nostalgia to Oil Traders. Souk Weekly opinion. Photograph keyed to vintage.

The Man Who Sells Nostalgia to Oil Traders

What a particular Dubai shop tells us about a regional market for the lost world that the regional economy itself was, in part, responsible for losing.

By Diego Arroyo

OpinionJun 3
Stop Calling It a Vision. Souk Weekly opinion. Photograph keyed to skyline.

Stop Calling It a Vision

Why the word has lost the meaning the strategy decks need it to carry, and what to use instead.

By Diego Arroyo

OpinionJun 3
The Friday Edit Is the Best Hour of the Week. Souk Weekly opinion. Photograph keyed to newsroom.

The Friday Edit Is the Best Hour of the Week

Why one editor's late-Friday read of the week's pieces produces the texture of decision-making that no Monday morning meeting has ever quite reproduced.

By Diego Arroyo