Technologists find technology hard too, to be fair. Or they would know that the *availability* of a technology doesn't equal its instantaneous universal *adoption*.

It looks to me like this election will be won by the party with the best ground operation, and will end up revealing something important about the country, but not the thing people will think it revealed

Because most planning control departments have been cut to the bone & only use enforcement when it's an absolutely nailed in certainty they'd win, but these cowboys think that "very rarely" is the same as "never".

This would, presumably, imply massive layoffs between now and August 2027. The tax implications alone would be mind boggling. www.ft.com/content/f1ec...

The meeting of the Coalition of the Willing has ended. Little hope for peace, for now... Keir Starmer: “We must defeat the lie that Russia is winning”

A great result for London Centric (to which you should subscribe if you don't already.) Their work gives me hope, but also makes me think of all the council meetings and court sittings that happen every week across the UK with no reporters present because local journalism has been hollowed out.

UK trade policy remains absurdly vulnerable to threats given successive governments disdain for using Parliament or telling anyone very much. We don't even know what phase 1 of the US-pharma deal says, and now there may be a phase 2. www.politico.eu/article/dona...

‘Crisis of his own making’: Trump weighs another war with Iran ft.trib.al/bDc64EB

Update: Public Meeting to discuss the Trumpers Towers proposals, organised by Hanwell Broadway ward councillors. 7pm, Friday 27 February, South Hanwell Baptist Church, Boston Road W7 2HJ. hanwellblogs.wordpress.com/2026/02/15/g...

I’m sceptical about the absence of human intervention here but an astonishing story of an AI-enabled vendetta carried out at lightning speed.

Here’s why we need @londoncentric.media. Interesting how many of their and @millmedia.bsky.social investigations feature property. English property law facilitates some egregious abuses.

The US built a whole tech industry off taxpayer dollars on defense and war. In the UK, ou health budget dwarfs defence, yet rather than use that to build our a socially useful tech industry, we outsourced that industry to military industrial tech giants from the US, like Palantir. It's mental.

We long since outsourced our ability to produce basic electronics boards and components to China and other places, but why we ended up outsourcing software and data skill sets to America, is just beyond me.

Much of Palantir's "genius" is not genius at all, it's just smart data science. When did UK politicians decide the UK state didn't have the intelligence and capability to build it's own systems? Why does the NHS need a Palantir? It's just data guys, not Elvish spells.

For so many things. As I've been looking for non-US alternatives for software and services it has really hit home how we've just given up, despite the heritage of computing.

When Farage avoids a by-election it’s usually a sign that he thinks Reform are going to lose.

Tenders and procurement procedures are for little people.

I have no particular knowledge nor interest in Palantir, but as a public procurement lawyer looking closely at the public domain documents about the MoD-Palantir contracts, there is something concerning going on. Two successive high value tenders without advertisements or competition? Really?

The detailed and informative replies to the quoted post show how this site can be very good for discussing news events. No site is perfect, but Bluesky has many merits. And this sort of engagement is better than I had with 1/4 million followers on Twitter.

In a word, uncertainty! It’s bad for business.

“Shadow CDC”: the former group Fired But Fighting has rebranded as the National Public Health Coalition, with about 100 regular volunteers. But will they be able to reach people, & will the public be able to access their expertise? Jerome Adams, Trump's... 1/3 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Great stuff.

This too…

Libya’s prime minister and the Haftar clan are the beneficiaries of the country’s disorder. For nearly a decade they have obstructed elections and muzzled civil society

It’s amazing to think that American conservatism, which claimed to have an intellectual heritage going back to Burke, Hamilton, Hayek and Buckley, would now be a movement whose sole ideology is whatever crazy policy Trump pulls out of his ass.

A long read, but worth it. Sharp analysis by an economics professor of the threat that cryptocurrencies play, especially with Trump stumping for them. www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

The Empty Cell . Cartoon by Pat Bagley

The thing these Reform UK supporters aren’t telling you is that the same ‘fake’ accounts were supporting their own party months ago. And many still are.

"Nasty and violent" ex-Reform Kent county councillor sent to prison www.bbc.com/news/article...

At what point should the Foreign Office be issuing travel warnings?

Just don’t go to the US. There’s a maniac in charge there and anything could happen. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This is almost certainly going to get lost amid everything else happening at the moment. But it’s a big story.

The inmates have seized the asylum.

Absolutely insane story about a middle-aged woman from Hertfordshire who got arrested, shackled, and detained by ICE and held in a prison for eight weeks.... while on holiday... with a valid tourist visa... as she tried to leave the country.

Now this is interesting. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com trashes the ‘graduate earnings are low because we are sending too many people to university’ line. www.ft.com/content/649d...

Gotta love @chrisdillow.bsky.social

The Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unconstitutional. The president was quick to respond. Here’s what that means: www.cfr.org/articles/how...

"Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic depend on stability and predictability in the trading relationship" Well, they won't be getting that for the next three years. Possibly from either side, but certainly not from the US. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My letter in today's FT, showing that serious reforming governments, like Labour 1945-51 ran big budget surpluses, contrary to claims from @unitetheunion.bsky.social leader Sharon Graham. No conflict between reform and fiscal probity.

"L'etat, c'est moi." In Trump's mind there is and can be no loyalty but to him personally.

Tbh I always thought the role of Trade Envoy was "get out there and make friends with rich assholes for the national good". (Read the article, it's good.)

He’ll be calling them ‘enemies of the people’ next.

The noise of the executive complaining of the judiciary, even in circumstances like this, is a sweet constitutional sound.

‘Why haven’t I been promoted?’ ‘Computer says ‘No’!’ The phrase “broken slop generators” gave me a laugh this morning. www.ft.com/content/ac67...

Brazil has decent economic growth, an independent central bank and its primary budget is almost balanced. The country has one big problem, however

Useful @chathamhouse.org piece on the implications of Europe’s break with the US. www.chathamhouse.org/2026/02/what...

This man should be in a care home.

It's not even the first time that the Duke of York has been shut up.