So so so easy to make the same point without the deceptive editing. And what's with the music bed? There is a genuine issue with BBC News chasing overly dramatic angles and sensationalism, but, crucially, at least it's sensationalising what's basically true. <Side-eyes at Fox/NewsMax/GB News>

Would it have killed them to knock the "A" over with a soft return?

Ooof. This feels like a reach: the one study cited feels lonely - and a mountain of anecdata would disagree. The benefits will flow. But the image they used below feels accurate: currently AI is most vivid in helping fly-by-night e-tailers write marketing copy and BigCos de-staff single processes.

I'm just going to keep writing this into the void because it irks me so much: why the hell would you establish within weeks of coming to power that there was a £22bn "black hole" in public finances *and not take the opportunity right then* to justify ditching the manifesto pledge on income tax?

This is great and it chimes with SO MUCH I've been coming across recently. A year ago I did a round-table with a senior finance exec at <£bn retailer>, asking a bunch of CFOs how they were deploying AI. Only one out of 15 was. Everyone else was like, "can you just make PowerBI work properly first?"

This is a great little history (and if any project managers who worked on The Line feel like spilling the beans, I will pitch the feature for Project mag...). But reading about the people working on it reminds me of a convo I had about three years ago...

My proper journalism days are behind me, but in 2002 I interviewed Nick Montagu when he was head of the Inland Revenue. (Like O-levels, that dates me.) He was clear: the mission *must* be to reframe paying tax as a social good - paying for the things that make society liveable. Guess it didn't work.

We've been nominated for 2025 FSA Fan Media of the Year! There's a public vote. Just saying. Public. Vote. sqbl.co/vote

I can only remember three things about Dick Cheney. 1. He shot that old dude in the face. 2. He was instrumental in lobbying for war in Iraq. 3. He said he'd happily see people killed if there was a 1% chance they were a terrorist.

Yes, this thread. And lots of people reading it will be appalled but behave in *exactly* the same way, only for the things they believe are right and can't fathom why others are so ill-informed or even evil for not getting it.

Universal basic credit would create a fair AI economy ft.trib.al/GHcjYlt | opinion

Happy birthday to Leeds United manager Daniel Farke who turns 49 today. Many happy returns and hope you enjoy a few slices of cake later, Boss. 🍰 lufcdata.com/daniel-farke | #LUFC

As in writing, today's AI highlights how much human work is crank-the-handle, good-enough junk food for the brain. RELATED: linked in today's Overspill email: many podcasts only exist to blot out our thoughts and do ad reads. tthe-handle, hebaffler.com/outbursts/the-hatred-of-podcasting-belden

The use of "today's" is discussions of AI feels like it's becoming both important and a dire warning. When people leave it out, it feels like a scene from a movie where people laugh at the fallibility of early robots, only to all die when one finally walks upright and managed to pick up a gun.

Checked in on the "Unfollow Project 2.0" list I maintain. I see lots of ANGRY posts about Elon Musk. I sleep peacefully in my bed knowing that hard Bluesky account holders stand ready to post furious takes on my behalf (even if they're mostly just performing for each other).

Lovely history of the decline in UK shipbuilding; like the car industry, it fell foul of chummy marketing, too-relaxed management, and over-zealous unions. TIL all those things had been *advantages* at one point. HT @charlesarthur.bsky.social's Overspill www.construction-physics.com/p/how-the-uk...

The whiter the area the more likely it is to have a Reform problem. Immigration isn’t the problem, otherwise you’d get Reform in more diverse areas - it’s fear of change among older people.

We we have plenty of kids that would qualify for pupil premium, but lots of families won't claim it (because it's seen by many as shameful, we think); but the massive rise in formal diagnoses of SEND/emotional conditions (which many *do* seek) attracts little money, but lots of extra teacher stress.

Bad takes beget bad takes. Gawd, public discourse is so relentlessly stupid now...

Genuinely feel for Wolves. This orange looks like our stats for many dropped points this season. And LUFC could have done with the draw...

Because they're illiquid and non-one wants to be a bag-holder?

The crest of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell features a dude (who I think is supposed to be Jesus?) who looks like he's getting really tired of running his paleo-lifestyle YouTube channel.

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast' 10/10 response, no notes

These days, every time I *pay* for a sub to something worthwhile, I feel like it's a little act of defiance against the dying of the light. But not streaming services that insist of showing me ads, or are simply helping switch my brain off. Then I feel like a scuzzy junkie passing over grubby fivers

A new study has found that doctors who regularly used AI became less skilled at spotting cancer. Just like our ability to read physical maps, overreliance on automation could make us forget basic skills - time.com/7309274/ai-l...

This is lovely *because it's not angry*. See how much more compelling polite dialogue is, even with people you think are (wittingly or unwittingly) evil. It's deliciously rational and so much more devastating for that.

With Alexa down I may have to start swearing at real people for not doing what I asked them to.

JP Morgan (via @paulkedrosky.com newsletter). I'm sure this is fine.

Message on the ruins of a building in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine as it comes under russian attack.

Explainer: “doing a Leeds”

Jesse Marsch looks back on his time at Leeds #lufc

Paging @dempster2000.bsky.social we have a new winner.

I hate these echoes of early Facebook. 1991

As a telephone sales rep I didn't know the numbers of my best clients. I knew the shape the numbers made on the keypad.

I assumed at first glance it was a Camilla and Charles cartoon. Then I read the caption and realised it's actually a cartoon featuring Camilla and Charles.

Bluesky Unfollow Project proceeding nicely. Latest: an older commentator, whose output has been flagging, reposting a younger hyperbole merchant whose weapon of choice is really basic insults. It’s not just destructive of the discourse. It’s boring! Another one down.

The guy to my left at the football this season leans to his right a lot and has a chronic cough. #fml

Inbox zeroing and came across an excellent @matt-levine.bsky.social piece on hedge funds, gambling and prediction markets. Got me thinking: it's a bit like an LLM: gather a huge corpus of (human) data, aggregate, project forward probabilistically, evaluate the outcome, iterate. Hmmm...

This is good. I played Football Manger 2022 (IIRC) and pissed off Isaac somehow and regretted it for a whole season until I decided to restart the season.

I am Lance. In a way, we all are.

Speaking as a person who invested £40 in a set of rods so I can clear our terrace's shared sewer of fatbergs and wet wipes every few months, I endorse this message.

In memoriam...

The standfirst. 👏👏👏👏👏

This is one of my top ten films of all time, but every time WMT do something I really know and love, I just get angry with the podcasters. I'm torn!

Theory: In the 1990s lots of people still rented a TV because buying a TV was expensive. To play music lots of houses had hifi. Stuff was more worth fencing. Now? Why would you buy a a second hand TV?! Equally, ID theft meant nicking people's paperwork. Now? Scam them via text!

CNN, no I haven't wished those things. We should be re-learning the art of being present (ignore text messages for a couple of hours in a theatre!) and who needs coffee so bad in a place where coffee shops aren't obvious from looking? Smart glasses solve one problem: phones no longer evolving.

How university expansion split western societies, according to Janan Ganesh www.ft.com/content/9b071b7a-7cef-4244-ab2c-8d4394fd5abf

When was the last time a nation state conclusively won a war? As in, definitively achieved its aims at the outset?

Tune in to @tcmtv.bsky.social Saturday at 4:00 PM EDT to watch “Fail Safe,” the second and less-well-known film from 1964 dramatizing the colossal risks of relying on the threat and ability to start a nuclear war at any time to—in theory—forever prevent the outbreak of such a catastrophic conflict.

"Everyone knows why Keir Starmer is doing this, and however unpleasant it is to watch, most people seem to accept that he has to do it. He approaches Trump as one might a very rich but increasingly senile relative who is in the habit of changing their will on a daily basis." 👏😆 @roberthutton.co.uk