The oligarch’s guide to sitting out a nuclear winter

['Oliver Bullough', 'Isobel Cockerell', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Coda Story 2025-05-28 12:54:34

Teona Tsintsadze/Getty ImagesperspectiveThe oligarch’s guide to sitting out a nuclear winterI’ve been thinking a lot about the apocalypse in the last few days, and wondering what options oligarchs believe are available to help them escape it. In Mark Lynas’s new book about atomic weapons, he helpfully provides a table showing what percentage of each country’s population would die during or immediately after a nuclear war. Lynas’ deaths table shows that in the event of war, 68 percent of New Zealanders would be dead after two years of nuclear winter. I’m surprised no one’s started marketing these countries to rich people worried about nuclear war: ‘If life sends you nuclear winter, enjoy the fresh powder.’ Mr Nash, you can have that one for free. ESCAPE TO MARSOf course, everywhere on Earth is going to be impacted a bit by nuclear war, so why not abandon our planet altogether?