How the desk works
Not a manifesto. A set of working rules. They move slowly, on purpose.
Price is the judge, time is the jury
Stories are the audience. They are allowed to stay if they buy a ticket in cash flow.
Optimism is a risk limit
Not a mood. A rule: we will not rent our nervous system to people who profit from our panic.
Institutions beat influencers
On any horizon longer than a week, the annex outperforms the clip.
The inherited and the ordinary rhyme
Both are one sequence away from needing a plan. Write for the sequence.
Physics, then politics
Energy, food, housing, sleep. After those, you may have a take.
No public comment board
Not because we fear argument. Because we refuse to host harm.
One desk, many time zones
Precision over performance. The letter is written once, read everywhere.
Weekdays for the pulse, Sunday for the week
Morning to aim. Evening to admit. Sunday to keep the sequence honest.
The rhythm
Morning at 08:30, evening at 17:30, Monday to Friday; the Sunday long-read at 10:00. All times are Berlin time: CET in winter, CEST in summer. Saturday is closed. Each edition carries one lead piece and a few short desk notes. Fewer pieces, more work in each.
Formats
Lead. The one argument of the edition, with the chart that carries it. Desk note. One mechanism, one print, a few paragraphs. Podium vs Print. What was said, in the speaker’s own short words, set against what the data did. The verdict is about the gap, never about the person. Sunday long-read. The week in the order incentives actually moved.
Sources and numbers
Every figure traces to a named source, linked under the piece. Primary data comes first: statistical offices, central banks, agencies. Where the desk does its own arithmetic on those numbers, the text says so. Quotations are short, attributed and linked. No anonymous tips, no material non-public information, no claims of special access. “Inside” is a reading habit, not a source.
Charts
Charts appear only where they carry the argument. They are drawn at publication from public data with open or public-domain terms, in the desk’s own house style, with the source and licence printed under each, a text description, and the data as CSV. No projections are drawn as if they were data. Charts are not a trading feed.
Corrections
Mistakes are corrected in place, with a dated note at the foot of the piece. Write to insidedesk@benjaminkoch.info. There is no public comment board, by design.
Corrections log: none yet.
Independence
No advertising, no trackers, no sponsored content, no paid placement. Reader gifts keep it free; they do not buy access, advice or influence.