Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2

Tories in 2023-24 : let's have a performatively cruel policy which the public knew would never be implemented, maybe they would then vote for us! Labour in 2025 : Hmmm, that's a good idea!

A strong immigration system doesn't need to be a cruel one. It shouldn't need saying - but refugees & asylum seekers are real people, fleeing war and persecution. This daughter of an immigrant is proud of our British and Labour values of respect and not turning our backs on people in real need.

"As another row on immigration and refugees awaits parliament, it is clear the problem is not immigrants, but politicians themselves." Great piece, great closing line from @stellacreasy.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Giving a talk to 1st years students tomorrow about the consequences of LLM and Gen AI use in education…

Asylum seekers with the right to work account for less than 8pc of those in accommodation, unless I’ve misunderstood something (8,500 currently have work visas, according to the Home Office)

Morally bankrupt *and* electorally stupid.

This is excellent.

A Labour Party which takes middle class professionals’ money, comes after their job perks, and rejects their values, then asks “why are these people turning against us?”

This statement not acceptable and I suspect not sustainable. Large majority of public support principle of asylum, support letting people stay permanently. Majority for that among Labour and other progressive parties’ voters is overwhelming. The Reform voters this is aimed at will never vote Labour

Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...

“We’re not like Liz Truss” “We’re not like Liz Truss” “We’re not like Liz Truss” “We’re not like Liz Truss” “OK, we are like Liz Truss.”

We have traded corrupt for incompetence. Raise the income tax you fools.

Good thread by Sesh. TL;DR : Evolving DE is down to 3.2sigma from 4.2sigma. (Sadfaces for all.)

A little less than a year ago, a large team of cosmologists reported evidence that dark energy (which drives the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe) evolves over time. This made a huge splash but has also been viewed with healthy skepticism. Today they report that evidence has weakened. 🧪

With the caveat that it's impossible to know what is really happening from such a short story, this is clearly a terrible idea www.theguardian.com/education/20...

www.theguardian.com/education/20... What could possibly go wrong?

Just been invited to the launch event of a report considering the 'future of the UK's research system' where they will be considering the creation of disruption labs named after Ada Lovelace and the report will be introduced by a panel of five men

Lewis Goodall is consistently one of the best journalist around who have risen to the occasion of the new media landscape.

Wait there is a 24 hour cafe and ICE CREAM chain in London and I didn’t know about it??!?

This isn't a revolutionary government. But as a Labour government, it does need to be the people's representative to the system. So far it's acted as the system's representative to the people - "no, you can't have that, tough choices". And time is running out to deliver outcomes by the election

I expected better analysis from Wonkhe articles than a spewing of AI tech bro platitudes and dismissive of genuine concerns about reliability of LLM.

Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...

Interested in a fully funded PhD place in Experimental Particle Physics in Edinburgh? We have fully funded studentships, including a specific scholarship for students from a Black heritage (including mixed Black background). More info: inspirehep.net/jobs/3080808

This is probably worth a read… www.nature.com/articles/d41...

So not only did Crick and Watson nicked Photo 51 from Franklin, they also read her internal report to the MRC which provided the data. The Nobel cmte was sexist tbf as there was still strong case Franklin should’ve shared it. But without the data theft, you could argue W+C wouldn’t be on the podium.

James Watson, the sexist racist who stole Rosalind Franklin’s ground breaking research on DNA, created his own (sadly widely believed) genius mythology with a popular book, is dead.

Dear Physicists and Physics fans, I would like to encourage you to celebrate #WomenInPhysics Day this Friday, November 7th. Why November 7th? Because it is the birthday of two of the most impactful women physicists of the 1900's: Marie Curie and Lise Meitner. 🎢 ⚛️ 🧪 👩‍🔬

This debate always makes me worry there’s something a bit wrong with me in that I don’t think the past is something you should draw pride or shame from. I have benefited from the British empire more than most Brits, but ultimately I am *not* my maternal great-great-great-grandfather!

Ah the bi annual room temperature superconductor claims have arrived.

"There is simply no sign of a fiscal catastrophe from the 'Boriswave'. Recent migrants are very likely to be employed, paying tax and seem to be contributing to British society..it will help, rather than hurt, Britain’s fiscal position." Analysis by @lgilbert.co ukandeu.ac.uk/lower-migrat...

Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design. news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

That No. 12 RB at Anfield today is quite something.

I wrote this yesterday about what to tell young people who are worried about what work will be in the age of AI: naomialderman.substack.com/p/preparing-...

Looking for a postdoc in foundations of physics/cosmology/science? Come work with us at @fqxi.org on the Foundational Answers project fqxi.org/jobs-postdoc...

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Pretty extraordinary story here www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....

Labour's ugly rhetoric has consequences: a sentence I frankly wish I'd never felt the need to type. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Being laid off feels especially hard when I remember how many times I put my job first before my own health, well-being, and family. When I worked weeknights until 11pm and on weekends to hit production quotas, during PTO, and filed three stories the day before it happened. There's a lot of grief.

That’s Elon Musk, FRS to you, Sir.

When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same. Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-... 🧵

I got a dramatic increase in racist incidents (twice in Bath in the same day!) when I started dating my now wife from Yorkshire, including one person very loudly telling her she married badly.

I think this is absolutely right. Also, so many of these guys do actually understand that 'a mixed-race family in an advert' is there to sell people things. They absolutely cannot stand that some minorities are successful. It is resentment all the way down.

Leadership(tm)

AI models are 50% more sycophantic than humans go.nature.com/3L1LwA1

Not quite sure why the media is presenting the Caerphilly result as a disaster for Labour, rather than as a perfect execution of its electoral strategy. That strategy for *months* now has been to tell everybody who might otherwise be inclined to vote for them to fuck off. And off they have fucked.

That scene of the Welsh BBC correspondent being the only person interviewing Caerphilly's new Plaid AM while the rest of the media interviewed Reform's loser in the background was far too on the nose.

The story of British politics of the last 12 monthe is of a vocal populist minority coalescing to set most of the political and media agenda + the unknown, unpredictable question of whether or how Britain's pluralist, complicated populist-sceptic majority will or won't respond to that by 2026-29

Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.