I wonder if any of the hundreds of academics who backed Miller in 2021 (led by Chomsky obvs) have changed their minds since then or whether they still think this stuff is fine

There is not a single political party that is coming remotely close to telling the public the truth on tax. Instead, right across the political spectrum, in different ways, every party is repeating the a variant of the opposite: YOUR taxes are too high, but someone else can afford to pay more.

A stunning exposé in FT on how Russia and Iran use nearly identical techniques to recruit teenagers to do espionage and sabotage for them. Russia and Iran have long enlisted proxies to perform hostile acts on European soil, but targeting minors represents a new twist on their subversive gig economy.

It's worth noting that despite careful technical analysis that strongly indicates a connection between Viory and Ruptly, they both vigorously deny it, which rather makes it look like they'd really prefer the connection wasn't public.

Sorry, the tech is not up to this, and "telltale signs" are often not accurate (and in anycase will likely change faster than someone not paying incredibly close attention would be able to keep up with). This is an awful idea, that might well lead to legitimate legal action.

What Reform have successfully done is to make the floor of open racism in England much higher than I have seen it in several years. I don’t know what their peak will be but they have normalised something that I haven’t seen here since the mid-1990s, and that is already dangerous enough.

Really good thread (and a really good follow also)

I feel like I'm going mad: Henry Nowak's killer has been sentenced to life in prison with a 21-year minimum. The whole process took less than six months. There were grave errors on the night. But how does this possibly evidence two-tier justice? www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-o...

NEW: Elon Musk’s xAI is trying to force four people suing it over sexual deepfake images created with Grok to drop their public anonymity. The company asked a judge to overturn a ruling allowing the use of pseudonyms. One person was allegedly depicted as a child in the images, the lawsuit says

A Restore Britain spokesperson went viral claiming a London school left a pupil in tears after her ham sandwich was confiscated due to the school's ban on park. She challenged doubters to phone the school. So @kdenkwrites.com did. This is what she found: www.londoncentric.media/i/193542671/...

Stephen Lawrence was killed by six men. It took 19 years for two of them to face justice. Four never did. Henry Nowak's killer has been convicted and jailed within six months of his death. The two cases *are not the same*. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-o...

the current director of national intelligence is a guy who two years ago received a trophy declaring he “Fucks Only The Young” at an (oddly dildo focused) event he organized dedicated to the conspiracy that Bed Bath and Beyond never actually went bankrupt

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We only went and won it!! 🎉🎉🎉 A newsletter has just won the biggest prize in British journalism Absolutely delighted. Huge thanks to Khadija and to all Democracy for Sale’s supporters 😊

Zack Polanski's baffling use of social media continues: he's liked this post, despite the fact he has admitted he should have been paying the council tax and is making arrangements to pay it. It's not a smear if it's true!

'A Restore spokesperson has said that people without “indigenous British ancestry and Christian faith” cannot be considered British.' I'm an atheist so LMK where to self-deport to I guess anyway, good piece here on the right-wing online aura harvesters - as.ft.com/r/7beb9e3c-f...

There are so many incredibly informed, articulate, tv-friendly experts on this subject who could have furthered a genuinely good discussion on a complex topic. So this is a properly missed opportunity.

This is extremely dumb.

Data shows that teens are being targeted in deepfake crimes at school. But nudify apps are still being pushed on Google and Apple's app stores. How can we hold Big Tech responsible? @samleecole.bsky.social and @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social break it down. Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bWe...

A livestream of a volcano in the Philippines captured a meteor crashing to Earth today. What are the odds? Mayon Volcano, Location: Albay, Luzon, Philippines

The fact that Blair thinks this is a genuine dichotomy, when in reality renewables have never been cheaper and fossil fuels are increasingly expensive, suggests he really isn't paying attention institute.global/insights/pol...

What's the best link you've seen about what's happening at Wikimedia / Wikipedia this week?

I think it's kind of weird that people are upset by this? It's not some big endorsement of AI, guys.

Louisiana has decided to cede the entire parole decision-making process to an algorithm that will decide if you die in prison or not. There will be no human input or nuance allowed. Even our parole board is sickened by this. LINK: veritenews.org/2025/04/10/t...

"The Internet was universally loved and never overhyped" is such an *amazing* take – especially given otherwise sensible people are nodding along to it – given we are *still living* amid the global backlash to social media and tech consolidation.

If you happened to be wondering how to beat a tech giant that wants to build a data centre in your area (and you have a particularly good reason to), a retired tech exec seems to have figured out the trick... www.transformernews.ai/p/new-playbo...

(Though in the case of Makerfield it is notable that there are some *extremely* dubious social media posts from Reform's candidate and they're just sticking with him and riding it out.)

It is *incredibly* shabby that the Green Party cited "family and personal reasons" for their Makerfield candidate dropping out, given it was actually in relation to sharing antisemitic posts. Had a right-wing party done the same, they'd be getting called out loudly here for it. And rightly so.

@hkesvani.bsky.social Just one followup question on using AI and credibility. Do you think using Otter or another transcription service, or using Google Translate, before checking carefully against the original, should convey the same level of distrust?

A good email to get from our lawyers: "Great news!! The attached judgment was handed down this morning and we have won!!!” Nightmare over for @londonermag.bsky.social and @coramazov.bsky.social. And a huge win for the free press. So delighted with this. ✊ www.the-londoner.co.uk/we-won-our-d...

When someone attacks a synagogue, a certain segment of people go searching for something that synagogue has said or done in support of Israel, to prove why the attack is actually justified. This article is the Islamophobic equivalent, and it's equally horrific and racist. nypost.com/2026/05/18/u...

Duuuuuude. When caught having AI-fabricated quotes in your book about the impact AI is having on "truth"... trying to turn that into "well, see here, this proves the point of my book" is just grade A level chutzpah. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/b...

It is so funny that this guy did this with this book title.

tomorrow at Uber HQ, the CEO, an Nvidia executive and other venture capitalists and assorted tech professionals will meet to discuss the future of Iran at a "private summit"

Not wrong on this at all.

Why are bluesky Americans who clearly never visit Britain let alone eat here so obsessed with British food?

Don't think I've ever come across Barkan before, but saying "it's not plagiarism because even though I copied huge chunks of text *not* as a quote, I also linked to the source I plagiarized from" is... weird? Did no one ever teach him what plagiarism means?

If this isn't "designed to stir up hatred" against Jews, what is? Why are the Met not arresting them?

It's another Transformer weekly newsletter! From $900b (yes, $900b) valuations to the "sad wives of AI" losing their husbands to chatbots, it's put everything interesting in AI lately in one handy place 👍️ Just click through and have a look around: www.transformernews.ai/p/is-openai-...

Docs show how the UK's Society of Media Lawyers lobbied government officials to push back on anti-SLAPP legislation, arguing it will enable abuse by the press (Democracy for Sale) Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink

This post convinced me that the talk about Claude Mythos being good at finding security exploits was not all hype. hacks.mozilla.org/2026/05/behi...

Increasingly think there is a strong case for an explicit wealth tax in order to make the politics of a more general tax rise more manageable. About fairness and burden sharing rather than revenue raising as such.

"It once included a well-staffed digital newsroom, but pivoted away from the journalism business in 2023." 😢 www.theguardian.com/business/202...

This is not good.

My column in today’s paper: the devolved and local elections had obvious winners: Plaid Cymru, the Greens, the Lib Dems and most of all, the SNP. It also had obvious losers: Labour and the Conservatives:

Interesting piece, but I resent how Peter Thiel is represented in the Gawker saga. Thiel didn't "emerge from the shadows" to magnanimously tell the NYT he funded Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker. He did it because my colleague and I exposed his involvement. www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...

Look, I’m not particularly worried about the Hantavirus, but come the fuck on. Basic precautions, guys.