Authoritarian AI is a political project not a technological inevitability

For all its professed commitment to “sovereign” tech capability, the UK government is remarkably ready to waive the rules to accommodate US data company Palantir. 🧵1/4

Full story online and in the latest issue: www.private-eye.co.uk/hp-sauce For the rest, including cartoons, Pseuds, Dumb Britain and all the other regulars, you’ll have to buy the magazine. 🧵4/4

One of my cartoons for Tuesday's Metro

Vote Democratic Socialism, health care, social security, child care, education funding, gender and racial equality etc etc and etc.

This Brit nails it. #Immigration

In case you didn’t know, Exeter uni, where I work, has announced a plan to make 25% of staff in my English department redundant. Left-over staff will do double the teaching while their research time will be shrunk to 1%. Meanwhile admissions for English at Exeter are HIGH, and on the rise this year

7/ Install renewable energy and heating systems, like heat pumps and rooftop solar Rooftop solar has never been easier or cheaper – it will slash the school’s emissions and bills at the same time, and may even generate revenue letsgozero.org/solar-panels...

Almost 5,000 people have joined our call for a halt to new hyperscale data centres in Scotland. Have you? The 24 applications in so far would require 1.5 times as much energy as all of Scotland uses at peak demand. We can't let this free-for-all continue. greens.scot/datacentres

If rumours are to be believed I'll be living with a seventh different Prime Minister shortly. If it carries on like this I'm going to stop making the effort to learn their names.

Burnham the mystic with a mission is all smiles after Makerfield coronation | John Crace

Congratulations to colleagues at WIEGO plus Data Labellers Association and Kenya Union of Gig Workers for your work securing this ILO Global Treaty providing workers rights and social protection to gig workers across the globe. www.hrw.org/news/2026/06...

If you use Waymo driverless car services, you are aiding and abetting fascism. Waymo helps I.C.E. agents locate people to terrorize and abduct. The company willingly shares all facial recognition, license plate and GPS data with I.C.E. and other law enforcement agencies—no subpoena required.

Sorry for the poor sound quality, but stay for the ad.

Tommy Robinson and allies have attenpted to call 96 simultaneous mass protests tonight, apparently by googling and listing possible meeting places There are particular concerms about disorder in Belfast & Northern Ireland after a serious crime, attempted murder, last night.

"France passed a single law and instantly unlocked 11 gigawatts of #solarenergy — without using new land. In 2023, France's government mandated solar canopies over all car parks larger than 80 spaces. The scale was enormous: There are 400,000 parking areas across France #ActOnClimate #Renewables

So grim. In the 1990s I visited China. The faculty there couldn’t believe I designed my own courses. They kept asking the same question in different ways thinking I hadn’t understood. I assumed that China would come to adopt Western freedoms, not US would adopt central control.

RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.

Let's prioritize installing solar panels on structures like car parks and building rooftops instead of agricultural land, as this approach embodies sustainable development.

Blair putting on full display what is in many ways his special ability - to lay out a political argument grounded in his own view of global trends (globalisation in the 2000s, tech in the 2020s). But… institute.global/insights/pol...

Deeply pathetic that BBC is reporting this as a Reform power struggle rather than explaining that Reform's policies would require deporting people -including pensioners - who have lived and worked here legally for decades. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Says it all.

We're hiring! We're looking for a Community Organiser in South & East London. This is an exciting opportunity to support people with lived experience of debt to demand policy change to end the use of bailiffs. Apply by 9am, 6 July ⬇️

Nigel Farage's Reform UK handed almost £15m by offshore millionaires www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

UK, German and French aid cuts will take ‘devastating toll’ on most vulnerable, says study

Ohio’s state sales tax exemption for data centers cost $1.6 BILLION in 2025 — 11x more than its original estimate. That’s $1.6 billion that could have gone to public schools and healthcare instead of Big Tech CEOs’ pockets. Is it any wonder communities are organizing against data centers?

Rousseau said that the greatest trick ever played was that the rich managed to get the poor to use their strength against themselves. That was in 1762. You would have thought we would have seen through it by now.

Maybe the government should do something about corrupt foreign influence in British politics?

Golden sneakers. Scam phones. Red caps for asshats. Making China's Manufacturing Industry Great

Chart that tells you so much about the shift in politics. Both in & out of London Labour lost most ground in areas of the most deprivation. Often they had higher to fall, but shift is stark as most deprived increasingly vote Reform or Green and Labour’s base becomes more affluent.

ah the good old humanities… might it be time for the UK government to rethink only subsidising STEM?

The Olympics. The Soccer World Cup. The 250th birthday. All foreigners should boycott the United States considering how we now treat foreigners.

inequality is the issue of our age; tax an important part of the solution

Nope, not surprised at all. 🧐

Spanish PM Pedro calls for the IMMEDIATE ARREST of Netanyahu He said: "Netanyahu launched the worst possible unjustified attack against Lebanon. His contempt for life and international law is intolerable. He is a criminal that must be arrested immediately.” #cdnpoli

So...um... I can't be the only person thinking "He's threatening genocide" WTF??? Remove him before he kills more people!!!

The French president urged countries to band together to avoid becoming “vassals” or face the “dominance” of China or the “unpredictability” of the U.S.

I've thought of trying to get an online army to just tag all these pieces of bad news #theydidthis and this is a big one. When the catastrophes, the hunger, the breakdowns happen, please trace it all back to #theydidthis.

there needs to be a loud and clear global coalition to #StopTrump and Israel from their illegal war and prosecution for growing list of war crimes. the entire world is suffering as people struggle with transport and heating and vital supplies for agriculture already- it will only get worse

. Just so everyone remembers . . . . .

Wrote a thing.

77% of Americans want all the Epstein Files released.

Palantir executives adopt quantitative rules and code them into military software not because numbers are more accurate or more reliable than human judgement but because they are more defensible and automating them provides plausible deniability for their actions.

I think we need to return to medieval ideas of war where those who had declared war were in the front line flanked by flag bearers.

Which UK organisations other than MedAct are currently active in opposing Palantir? Colleagues are pulling together a list ahead of a public meeting. newrepublic.com/post/207693/...