Today’s Spring Statement has echoes of Rishi Sunak’s on 11 March 2020. If the war in the Middle East persists, there’s a strong chance the CHX will be back with fiscal measures within 6 weeks.
While I embrace the intent (and very much how I spent my youth), I feel this fails to engage with where kids are, how they have lived or how they connect. Taking BlueSky away from us wouldn't encourage us to engage more with humans IRL.
I wrote this 3.5 yrs ago on how AI is changing discovery & the formation of youth culture. It feels more true today. I'm not saying we shouldn't ban social media for kids. More that it'll feel like we're banning discovery for them:
medium.com/@jeegarkakka...
"But how are we supposed to find anything?" a 15 y/o on banning social media for kids in the UK.
Can't stop thinking about this as the rush to introduce a ban will feel like a ban on discovery of news, music, culture, identity, community… Kids won't replace TikTok w/ google, so where will they go?
I've been wondering why there isn't a Panama Papers style consortia of journalists doing forensic analysis of the Epstein files. I've been told its partly the volume of docs & the significant threat of legal action by US admin figures.
For those keeping score, Bellingcat, The New York Times Visual Investigation Team, & Washington Post's Visual Forensic team have all published analysis showing the ICE shooter wasn't in the path of Renee Nicole Good’s vehicle when he shot her, contradicting statements by the President & his cronies
I haven't been on BlueSky in weeks/months. I pop on today and this spicy take is worth it.
Workers have every right to withdraw their labour. But for the life of me I can’t see the industrial theory of change behind the actions of the BMA. Union leaders must lead rather than take dictation: there comes a point where they must bank what they have achieved and stand down their members
I’m old enough to remember when people said this site was the place for a more civil, informed discourse. smh.
that's not what my okr's say.
Tesla cannot make an airplane. SpaceX, absolutely. Tesla, not a chance.
So, yes, more funding for defence is good. The focus needs to shift now to reform & modernisation, not endless debates about the amount of funding and how to finance it.
The UK needs a defence industrial strategy that prioritises 3 areas:
🫡 rapidly scale capabilies that can be deployed to defend UK interests, inc in the Red Sea
⚙️ modernisation of the traditional defence sector, inc automating production
🤖 deeper engagemnet w defencetech cos
The announcement of additional defence spending today is good, not least because it is an important international signal of the UK's commitment to it's security and values. But additional spending alone is not enough...the way it is spent matters far more...🧵
To do this at pace requires Whitehall to operate differently on
-budgeting (annual budgeting drives costs up, not down)
-procurement (it was broken 20 yrs ago)
-intl collab (UK must learn from Ukrainian def capabilities)
-military recruitment & logistics
-deployment (from Ukraine to Red Sea)
Two things shock me about that Signal leak:
1. That this US admin is still willing to defend laregly non-US shipping lanes in the Red Sea; and
2. Nothing in the EU Defence Readiness 2030 Whitepaper suggests the EU is willing to defend its own shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Is there any one on here that is critical of Labour's Employment Rights Bill?
No. Bc just like Kamala Harris, his online fandoms were just too niche.
In a world where online fandoms are everything (yes, even in politics), being an offline PM will prove problematic.
Idea that Labour can’t govern austerely is ahistorical - as long as that fiscal conservatism has a morel purpose beyond looking “credible” www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Labour’s credibility trap
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
from The Economist working link
Growth idea for the UK government: Accelerate the Planning & Infrastructure Bill and delay the Employment Rights Bill.
What are the reasons any Government wouldn't implement the Jay report recommendations in full?
One thing becoming more apparent to me today are the divides between government departments on international issues. Always been an issue, but with the upcoming need to formulate policy on US, EU, China - probably now a bigger challenge.
They should be offered the opportunity to avoid the fine by handing back the Postcode Address File to the government.
I wonder if the UK could give up its golden share in Royal Mail in exchange for liberating the postcode address file.
Also, the NESO assessment that says 2030 is achievable will be out of date as soon as the government publishes the AI Opportunities Review
Two things have made me grumpy today, one of which I can call out: Ed M and his team have absolutely backtracked on their clean energy target. This should be welcomed. But for them to deny it - given the grief they gave anyone who critisised the 2030 target - takes some f*cking chutzpah.
Whenever I hear people say the policies are fine, the only problem is the communications, I feel like re-upping my tweet from peak Truss-ocalypse
Hollywood writers: Ai couldn’t possibly do what we do.
Also Hollywood writers shoving out yet more sequels and remakes: aRE YoU nOt eNTErtAiNEd!?!?!
