“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.” Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻

It is so weird that Labour have a huge majority and are in government but have spent the whole time acting like an opposition party on the ropes

Keep reading about new defence tech and whizzy applications of AI. At risk of sounding very twentieth century: if I was a defence planner I’d probably be valuing a larger stockpile of 155mm shells over a lot of this stuff.

Keir Starmer's Substack: the obvious choice for a middle-aged man about to find himself unexpectedly out of a job. thecritic.co.uk/hes-...

Oh look. They’ve actually drawn a diagram for all the people stupid enough to need a bloody diagram.

Farage is currently "boycotting the BBC". Perhaps the BBC and every other reputable broadcaster should instead be boycotting Mr Farage

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD USE HYPHENS

1. The European Parliament’s attempt to ban plant-based foods from being sold as “sausages”, “burgers” etc is a direct response to livestock industry lobbying. This is a short thread on how utterly bleeding ridiculous it is. 🧵1/6

2. It has *nothing* to do with improving clarity. There’s no evidence that people are confused by terms such as veggie burgers, meat-free sausages or oat milk. It’s a crudely protectionist measure designed to stamp out competition, by forcing plant-based companies to use offputting terms. 2/6

3. The industry knows that words are important. If Moses had been obliged by labelling laws to promise the Israelites a land of mammary secretions and insect vomit, I doubt many would have followed him into Canaan, though these are accurate descriptions of milk and honey. 3/6

4. If legislators are to insist on food literalism, they should at least be consistent. There's no dinosaur in turkey dinosaurs (and not much turkey). If a vegan hotdog is ruled out on the grounds that it contains no meat, the meat version should also be ruled out, as it contains no dog. 4/6

6. But again and again, legislators seem determined to make idiots of themselves on behalf of powerful industries. They are meant to represent our interests, not those of the lobbyists, but that message seems to have got lost. Vote for those who represent the people, not the money. 6/6

5. Minced meat is meat, but mincemeat isn’t. Nor are sweetmeats, though sweetbreads are. Buffalo wings are an obvious attempt to mess with our heads. Shepherd’s pie, or so the printed ingredients claim, contains no shepherd. And don’t get me started on jelly babies. 5/6

🚨Some personal news. I'm thrilled to announce that I've just filed my first copy for The New Yorker. A profile of Jonathan Gullis. "You get the sense that offstage, Jonathan Gullis struggles with being Jonathan Gullis." open.substack.com/pub/mrhenrym...

Prove you are a genuine Russian armed auxiliary ship with this simple Kamcaptcha...

Every single person in Britain: "the chippy" or, if we're being fancy, "the chip shop" The New York Times: "the french fry restaurant"

This is what Peak Male Performance looks like.

It's 2029, and a Reform government has sworn in its first batch of politically appointed judges. Suddenly, the Labour Party remembers why jury trials mattered.

"Russia is an undefeatable juggernaut against which Ukraine could never hope to score victories. That's why it's imperative we limit Ukraine's military size so as to give Russia confidence Ukraine won't attack it." Do these people fucking hear themselves?

Someone referred to this Dmitriev and Witkoff agreement as the DimWit Pact.

If Labour wants to get all patriotic, don't piss around with migrants. Introduce a patriot bill, where it requires all utility, transport and media owners to be based (and pay tax) in the UK. Make the patriotic case that this country should control its own future and own its own free press.

Danke für die Bilder Helme Heine.

I am increasingly of the opinion that people who change menus and look and feel of computer software just so that you know it's a new version should be personally forced to play tech support to my mother for five months.

Yes. Lots of startups are flogging AI tools for patent drafting. They do a great job of generating something that looks like a patent application. And tbf this is all some human patent drafters do. But that's the easy bit. The AI can't do the clever stuff—the bit that actually makes a difference.

I’m an avowed and unashamed AI sceptic (not especially controversial within my bsky bubble I guess) but look, at work they want us to use it, & I’m snowed under so fine, I try AI to generate a meeting report from my raw notes and… it’s utter garbage. Worse than useless. This can’t be the future.

To borrow a @roberthutton.co.uk line, if only there were some sort of sign they were like this

“…and we want to assure those dark forces: we hear you, you have our full attention, we’ve got your backs. You can count on us.”

The Labour Government reeling off the same far-right talking points on immigration. And look who is celebrating. The far-right. There is a political alternative that won’t ever scapegoat those fleeing war, persecution and torture join.greenparty.org.uk

A story in 3 parts.

I despair of Labour. Can we not just have a sensible budget, delivered on the day, that apologises for hard choices and then just gets on with giving us something that will give us some hope? All this briefing and speculation makes them look like clowns.

"What's more shocking? Fairytale of New York never making it to Christmas No 1, or #UnitedUtilities dumping sewage into #Windermere and paying themselves huge dividends?" www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Given the state of my timeline I suspect I'm not the only one in need of an emotional support ekranoplan...

Gut, dass es mal einer aus der Branche deutlich ausspricht. Es ist leider kein Problem, das nur Bayern betrifft.

BRB mit heftiger Kritik am DB-Baustellenmanagement: "Wir sind kurz davor, alles hinzuschmeißen und gar nicht mehr zu fahren" – so wird der Chef der Bayerischen Regiobahn (BRB), Arnulf Schuchmann, zitiert. DB InfraGO plane überall Bauarbeiten, komme aber mit der Realisierung nicht hinterher. "Von...

“I’m so relieved that the only problem I cared about - me experiencing mild social discomfort - is now over” my brother in Christ, do you want to bet

“whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation”

If they only knew how to zoom in, they might just be able to make out the red poppy too....

Warum gibt es keine Smartwatch, die einem hilft, fauler zu sein? „Es ist Zeit, sich hinzulegen!“ könnte sie sagen oder „Bleib dran! Nur noch eine Stunde auf dem Sofa und du hast dein Tagesziel erreicht!“

Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.

A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?

Meet your inner cat 🐾Please open thread scroll through, if you’d like to know your inner cat according to your birth month 🐈‍⬛

Last night I went to the Puca Festival in Trim, Ireland. It's all fun and games until someone unleashes a giant demonic hare.

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

I recall in the 60s, Remembrance Day was one solemn Sunday morning. That was it. It was a moving occasion at our local memorial and attended by actual WW1 and WW2 veterans. Unlike the mawkish weeks long competition for the most tasteless display of a poppy that it's become Often, less is more.

"Can't miss the boat" "Embrace it or be left behind" "You'll be replaced by someone using AI" These are all marketing slogans that prey on FOMO rather than value propositions. Anyone making decisions based on this kind of shaky logic is just another layer in the pyramid scheme.

Farage: epic grifter

Author Rachael K. Jones is known for writing stories that are so knife-sharp that you cut yourself when you pick them up. Her story "Five Functions of Your Binosaur," from Issue 4, is a gentler story, though still bittersweet.

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

Absolutely amazing. Where you gonna go Matt? Hope they don't treat you like shit for some irrational reason.