Dr Simon Ubsdell

There's something deeply obscene and broken about the fact that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are bombing elementary schools in an illegal war of aggression, and there's still a sense among the opposition that it has to be explained in terms of gas prices in order to get American voters to care.

It is absurd to say that I feel I am not yet grown up. I am not laying claim to perpetual youth (though 89 is something of a surprise), and youth I was never much aware of when I had it. What I mean is, there has never come a time when I could be thought to have acquired dignity, common sense, still less worldly wisdom, qualities that supposedly come with age and get lost with age, too. One doesn't look for common sense from someone over 90.

counts. When I enter a room full of people (these days a rarity) I am 16. Except in the even more rare occasion of entering a room of 16-year-olds, when I am 90. I have the credentials but I don't seem to have the baggage. Once upon a time, I think I imagined age itself as an eminence, years were a plinth, it had prospects even if the end was clouded in mist. A virtue of age is that it emancipates one from class. The old are in a class of their own. It also bestows a privilege of plain speaking.

Alan Bennett on feeling 16 when you are 90

Steve Witkoff: I've communicated to Russians to stop sending targeting information to Iranians.

"I've strongly said that," he told reporters.

In the linked piece.

Sorry, but my toaster is definitely conscious.

It knows exactly when I am not looking so that it can overcook my bread.

And when I *am* looking it knows how exactly how to maintain it at undercooked for as long as it takes for me to walk away.

Although he still contrives to conclude that the only economically insecure voters that count are the racist ones, not the ones with a moral compass.

Gonna start a second war to distract people from the first one.

He seems suspiciously relaxed at how things are turning out.

As so often.

But maybe this time he knows something we do not.

(Finally.)

”People with lots of bombs used them” turns out not to be as fascinating a story as it (for some) promised to be.

As with domestic US gun atrocities, possession of lethal weapons quite often leads their owners to think: ”What's the point of having them if we’re not using them to kill people?”

These are Olena Udovichenko and her son Hordii.

A Russian missile killed them today.

Olena was a teacher in a Kharkiv school, Hordii was a second-grader there.

Last night, Russia killed 11 people in Kharkiv, including Olena and Hordii.
RIP.

Caitlin KALINOWSKI over X I resigned from OpenAl. I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn't an easy call. Al has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I'm proud of what we built together.

OpenAI head of robotics just resigned over company deal with the Pentagon saying…

“Surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got”

And, please, before you reply with your ”Well, actually’s ...”, this is what the classicists among us refer to as ”rhetoric”.

Quaint, I know, but still ...

I think I detest Sam Altman even more than Donald Trump.

Trump is so stupid that no other avenues in life were open to him except those that he fell into.

Altman is just clever enough that he didn't need to become a world-destroying arsehole.

And I despise Trump with the heat of a trillion suns.

“Petty advantage” is extremely appropriate here.

Politics has narrowed to consist of nothing more than the headlines you can extract from the next eight hours ... at most.

And that window is closing fast.

BREAKING: Sam Altman’s greed and dishonesty are finally catching up to him It’s about time

open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...

“In reality, Altman was never really all that interested in AI for the “benefit of humanity.” Mostly he was interested in Sam.“

Really? But he seemed so completely trustworthy.

Exactly that.

There are no just or unjust causes - there are only clicks.

God help us all.

If you know anything about the Bones of Theseus, then you will be experiencing a pretty weird frisson right now.

Ron Arad.

Poll: Reform UK is most disliked party in Britain Reform UK is now the most disliked party among British voters, according to new polling. A More in Common survey asked w

👀

https://unherd.com/newsroom/poll-reform-uk-is-most-disliked-party-in-britain

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his substack depends on his not understanding it".

I'm self-employed and if I posted something like "If you're confident my teddy bear isn't conscious please explain the nature of human consciousness" on social media I'd be forced to fire myself

It is a further sign of deep national malaise that the grave and serious question of war has become just another hot button culture war topic.

In case you missed it

Developers: "The problem is that the faster we go, the more we get things wrong and have to fix them or do them over again, which actually makes us slower overall"

Big Tech: "I see, yes. What if... hear us out... what if you could get things wrong much, much faster?"

Yes, it's literally taken us all this time to realise it.

What fools we all were.

/s

Saying the "ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant" out loud.

It is the creation of people who absolutely hate knowledge and inquiry and original thought.

Composite image of the BBC HQ building in London, a selection of Chris Mason articles listed on the BBC website, and photo of Chris Mason as an insert.

No factual errors. No obvious bias. But when coverage focuses overwhelmingly on one political actor – and mostly in negative terms – the narrative effect can still skew perception.
That matters especially for the BBC. Stephen McNair reports

eastangliabylines.co.uk/news/is-the-...

Intel report warns large-scale war ‘unlikely’ to oust Iran’s regime A classified U.S. report doubts that Iran’s opposition would take power following either a short or extended U.S. military campaign.

Intel report warns large-scale war ‘unlikely’ to oust Iran’s regime

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

No 10, Treasury, the Home Secretary's own team and the perm secretary should not let senior ministers make up stats.

Its a breach of the code to do it deliberately. Some of those involved may not realise this wasn't just sleight of hand on a 30 year lifetime cost, but a false claim about the policy

What this invented £10 billion cost does is provide misinformation - in a way that stokes grievances and resentment. It can be challenging for governments to deal with misperceptions, but proactively fuelling resentment with demonstrably false numbers is not legitimate
bsky.app/profile/sund...