Bit of a sunset light show this evening.

"Among these improvements is AI Companion 3.0..." Zoom doing a Microsoft. "We've added shit you neither need nor want and we're whacking up the price even though you'll never use the extras. No, you can't opt out of them."

Dog sitting in Northumberland. Somehow managed to stay dry.

Dispassionately agree with this analysis. "Sincerely and constructively anti-establishment" is a better proposition than "anti-Reform". The former is a strategy. The latter is a by-election tactic.

Another Manipulate Festival show this evening. Expecting a spectacle. vimeo.com/1129589485?f...

Stumbled on this thread five months late. Brightened up a damp, grey day immeasurably.

Seeing this tonight. My first show of this year's Manipulate Festival. Love me a subversive art form. vimeo.com/1129831932?f...

This is a wee treat. A wry and dark wee treat.

Wow. This is up there with Sarah Snook in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Comer is off-the-scale good. Several women around me were sobbing at the end, deeply affected by the portrayal of a legal system, designed by men, that rarely delivers justice for the victims of sexual assault. What art is for.

Looking forward to this tonight.

Thinking again about how the producer on a Radio 4 show I did a while back asked me to repeat myself "but don't mention capitalism this time" and also edited out all the things I said about Peter Thiel being quite an important influence to understand when talking about tech and politics.

"That translation from my consciousness to yours will never be perfected but it can always be improved. My software will run through the hardware of your brain and achieve a never quite settled compromise called 'meaning'. Which is the best two humans can ever hope for." One of many saved snippets.

Mistaking relief for redemption (losing Cadbury at BBH) Forgetting ourselves (losing Honda at The Leith Agency) newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk/archive/our-...

“When speed is invoked,” he said, “judgment is treated as indulgence.” From the latest in the clever Blumenkohl series of posts by @herdmeister.bsky.social. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Saw this last night. It’s haunted me into today. Feeling a strange combination of awe and shame. releasing.dogwoof.com/put-your-sou...

"To do as well as to have... we are beset with the ideology of maximising having while minimising doing." Yep. "As with most problems with capitalism, there is only a distribution problem." Double yep.

Going to see this @filmhouseedinburgh.bsky.social on Wednesday. Just saw that the showing has sold out. Documentary is a more vital art form than ever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yaS...

Lessons in style from a half-year financial report. newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk/archive/pret...

Preaching to the gallery? I would say so. Confirmation bias? Almost certainly. Still a fabulous read? Oh yeah. ianwhitworth.net/what-ai-and-...

Dunno why the phrase "in the same casual manner" popped into my head, 50 years after I first heard it, but this is a brilliant piece of exposition. Its faux sombre tone nicely teed up the sit-com genius that followed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ztm...

roomba accidentally saw outside

"Most organisations don’t lack intent. They lack systems that can carry it intact. So the interesting question isn’t how much effort AI can save. It’s where, in your own work, intent tends to disappear." Interesting and useful take, as usual from Phil.

The first New Moon Letter from John Higgs. It's about countercultures. How they differ from subcultures. How they are an R&D department for the mainstream. And how the culture they counter today is the culture of the algorithm. Love it. johnhiggs.substack.com/p/new-moon-l...

Die My Love. Sheesh. Brilliant acting by Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Clever cinematography too, including a strange, claustrophobic aspect ratio, somewhere between 4:3 and square. Intense and the opposite of uplifting. I don’t think it’s possible to be “in the mood for it.”

This is an unusually good list. Wisdom and clarity. Thanks for sharing Neil.

The FT got is architecture critic Edwin Heathcote to write about data centres and it's wonderful. www.ft.com/content/7692...

"A system that can’t act against its manufacturer’s interests is not really on your side. It can perform loyalty convincingly, but its allegiance is fixed before the conversation begins." www.volcanobase.co/p/when-ai-ge...?

A rare beast indeed. @buttondown.com is a company whose values are pointed, sincere, and fully integrated with its business model. Founder and CEO, @jmduke.com kindly took time to discuss its values and style with me. newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk/archive/thei...

A favourite image from the Resistance exhibition by Steve McQueen at Modern Two (National Galleries of Scotland.) It shows protesters dancing on a nuclear missile silo at RAF Greenham Common, 1st January 1983. Photo credits and the exhibition theme are in the reply post below this one.

The Buttondown annual review. A newsletter platform with principles. Customer service is brilliant too. "We remain cash-flow profitable, meaning we don’t need to chase a big fundraising round or pivot to video advertising or social networking." buttondown.com/buttondown/a...

A big ball of wibbly wobbly brandy wandy stuff. newsletter.lowfalutin.co.uk/archive/the-...

Rebecca (RF) Kuang last night. So smart. So articulate. So forthcoming. Turned a question about Nature Valley bars into a brilliant point of view about characterisation.

If handing someone their arse, was a video clip

When your analysis doesn't spoil your enjoyment, and your enjoyment doesn't dull your analysis, I think that's what they mean by appreciation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=INiV...

My friend and ex-colleague, Tim, gave this perfectly pitched Time For Reflection address to the Scottish Parliament yesterday. Timely (timeless) messages, well packaged and well delivered. www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/time...

"What she was great at was posing questions, listening, and watching. This is a habit many CEOs struggle to develop." Margaret Heffernan on good decisions. heffernanm.substack.com/p/what-make-...

Lots of good stuff in Adam Buxton's chat with Zadie Smith, but I laughed out loud when she described the lyrics of Don't Look Back in Anger as, "Beatles wingdings." www.adam-buxton.co.uk/podcasts/82d...

For fellow alcohol-free drinkers, this is in my Top 5, especially at this time of year. Tastes how it looks.

Marta from Company Bakery talking with great style about change and growth at Creative Mornings (Edinburgh) today. A lesson in how to combine personal and corporate storytelling. @creativemornings.bsky.social

"With one eye on posterity." Love this. Brand management should be an act of stewardship; the manager in service to the brand. Too often it's the other way round.

Dressing up and having fun. It feels like a radical act. Who knows, it might start making sense. Groovy as fuck. I shall watch this many times. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNmc...

I was mesmerised by this beautiful documentary @filmhouseedinburgh.bsky.social this evening. Gorgeous cinematography and deft storytelling. Lots of Mongol Rally nostalgia for these people and landscapes too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Ow...

Unemployable, Exhausting, Chaotic, Boring, and Indiscriminate. My latest newsletter. buttondown.com/Lowfalutin/a...

Nick Liddell's book arrived this morning. I haven't read a word yet but it looks gorgeous. And it's bigger than I expected; about the same size as Campaign Magazine, when the print version was a big thing too, literally and figuratively.

"Because if you don’t know what’s going to happen, how can you confidently stride up to your client and say “I’ll make you some magic, promise”? What are such promises worth?" I promise Paul's post is worth your time. He's written some magic. And I do know what's going to happen; you'll enjoy it.

Catching up on stuff after a month away. This is courtesy of the most recent Storythings newsletter. "Fruitionising". Perfectly observed marketing Zoom call. x.com/RealChalamet...

Still got it. And some. www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Kl...

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Serving a niche in Osaka.