This is very good from Stephen Bush on.ft.com/4pq7NHo Starmer and Badenoch are handling the far-right march all wrong

An historical note from me….

Perpetual story of at least the last 60 years, but great for teaching.

An interesting overview from @leightonandrews.bsky.social of the first meetings of the Welsh ‘cabinet’ in 1999 as it sought to navigate its role and working practices amidst the broader infancy, and constitutional complexities, of Welsh devolution #senedd #devolution

Just read a wonderful quote from James C. Scott on Bourdieu

How do new political institutions evolve their practices? I take a look at the first meetings of the Welsh Cabinet in 1999. ukania.substack.com/p/the-first-...

Transforming Government - new @carr-lse.bsky.social discussion paper on contemporary public sector reform. With @leightonandrews.bsky.social, Roland Koch, Daniel Werfel and Richard Mottram www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/a...

I have a short essay in this collection on Transforming Government from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) CARR centre. My theme is ‘Priductive Government’ - and of course, its opposite! @martinlodge.bsky.social www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/a...

“We need public debates about AI governance that go beyond technical jargon to examine fundamental questions about power, justice and human agency” Thanks for sharing this article @leightonandrews.bsky.social👇🏻

on.ft.com/40hM8Gw Why politicians need to get over their tech insecurity

Not just England on.ft.com/4ePKVfy Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy

New post from me on ukania.substack.com

Very sad news. I met David a number of times when I worked for the BBC and subsequently. Great mind and commitment to a pragmatic progressive politics. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Now recruiting....recriwtio nawr #cymraeg

Just finished this - brilliant, wonderful, lyrical, profound and an unfolding thriller of detection as well;one of the best novels I have read this year and one I will be coming back to; and it's also about #Wales #Cymru - the stories we tell ourselves, and our changing and climate-threatened world.

Better governance ‘could have avoided mass university job cuts’. Philip Augar proposes union representation on governing boards and vice-chancellor pay reforms. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

The lower Thames crossing would be a very long way behind the need for every city to have a Dutch/Danish level of cycling infrastructure in terms of priority if we were doing proper holistic BCRs.

Amidst hyperbole there is a good point in this: successive Governments have prioritised big, risky infrastructure projects over simple maintenance, 10,000 miles of cycle and bus lanes - which would have significantly improved health, the environment and growth. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

on.ft.com/3TBjc8s The copyright war between the AI industry and creatives

New post from me ukania.substack.com

Working on a post about the Welsh Government in 2008

This was the plan the entire time and it was always going to be targeted towards Democratic run cities. It’s not about law and order. It’s about controlling by force the areas where Trump does not control by ideology.

‘In buying a minority stake in Scale rather than acquiring it outright, Meta is likely seeking to avoid further antitrust scrutiny.’ Indeed. But 49% pretty much gives it control and it still needs that scrutiny.

Pob lwc Aaron Ramsey, paid gorwneud y tacos!!!

Eighty-one years ago today my father went ashore in France as part of the D-Day landings. He was a Signalman.

Why is the American president repeating Russian threats without comment?

Competition Authorities should be looking at this. As I argued in my book on Facebook, one of its strengths is its integrated advertising apparatus.

on.ft.com/4jzSqIa ‘Godfather’ of AI Yoshua Bengio says latest models lie to users

Thank you to @politico.eu and @pieterhaeck.bsky.social for a great conversation on how the latest advances in AI are shaping Europe’s present and future. 📽️Full discussion available here: www.linkedin.com/posts/politi...

I recently participated in the High-Level Expert Panel on AGI, convened by the Council of Presidents of the UN General Assembly, which has just released its final report on the Governance of the Transition to AGI. Report below ⬇️ uncpga.world/agi-uncpga-r...

Latest Substack. ukania.substack.com/p/copilot-an...

When I realized how dangerous the current agency-driven AI trajectory could be for future generations, I knew I had to do all I could to make AI safer. I recently shared this personal experience, and outlined the scientific solution I envision @TEDTalks⤵️ www.ted.com/talks/yoshua...

So you want to talk to politicians about the threat from AI, but how do you actually do that? Having briefed over 70 UK parliamentarians, Leticia Garcia comprehensively answers this question. leticiagarciamartine...

Crypto industry-funded polls have claimed that as much as 28% of American adults currently owned crypto in 2024. Coinbase in particular loves to throw around claims of 20%. Federal data has just come out putting the figure at... 8%.

NEW on Wonkhe: Steven Jones makes the case for a new ethical code to empower university governors to stand up for students, staff and the public value of higher education buff.ly/hR1dEeI

I have a Substack article on why I wouldn't hire an LLM as a researcher. www.ukania.substack.com

As a ML graduate I celebrate this news but just embarrassing that Cardiff ever thought this was a good idea in the first place

Cardiff University backs down on Music and Modern Languages

I have a Substack article on why I wouldn't hire an LLM as a researcher. www.ukania.substack.com

So far today both ChatGPT and Copilot have lied to me about delivery times on separate projects. By several hours and neither project delivered yet.

Generative AI models are skilled in the art of bullshit on.ft.com/4je7uLm

on.ft.com/4k3wWo5 We still don’t know how much energy AI consumes

Twenty years ago today, this young man @davidtaylor.com came to work for me in the Assembly. Now he’s a grown-up with two children and he’s married to an MP!

I have just been informed that Cardiff University Business School staff have been taken out of scope for redundancy. This is welcome news after a very damaging and distressing 3 months plus. Solidarity to those still in scope.

Timely FT longread dissecting DOGE’s so-called saving cuts to US Govt expenditure and showing it is full of inflated or unsubstantiated claims on.ft.com/4dgNQgz

Wonderful to be at the production of La Traviata by the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Kyiv, at the New Theatre, Cardiff. Very emotional when they sang the Ukrainian anthem at the end #slavaukraini

And *surprise* the left/liberals papers are focusing on the nastiness of the language and the right papers are focusing on the limited nature of the measures.