John Naughton

Friday 4 July, 2025 Once upon a time, this was Independence Day. And now...?

open.substack.com/pub/johnnaug...

A paradigm of how to use reasonableness and frankness to counter fanaticism. But sadly, in the current climate in the US it’s unlikely to have much traction, except perhaps as a model of what intelligent discourse would be like in an ideal world.

Yep, it’s sad news. I was the Observer’s TV critic from 1987 to 1995 and I never saw anything he made or produced that I didn’t admire.

Me too.

Yes, I’m still writing for the Observer in its latest incarnation. Tortoise is the fifth owner of the paper since I’ve been writing for it. But at the moment it seems difficult to find my stuff on the new site. I think it’s a glitch but…

Could you post a ‘gift article’ link, perhaps?

Sadly, behind the paywall. Nice essay though.

When the physicists need burner phones, that’s when you know America’s changed | John Naughton US academics, fearing persecution by their own government, are becoming ideological refugees. Europe, and Britain, must offer them sanctuary

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

All you need to know about Twitter

Barbara Streisand had the excuse she had never heard about the Barbara Streisand effect.

The touchstone of most authoritarian regimes is not the kind of total control that most people feel in their day-to-day lives. It is that the regime is only selectively bound by law, producing constant low-grade anxiety as to whether, how, or against whom power will be exercised.

And don't forget this clueless effing moron. youtube.com/shorts/ucpYt...

Whistleblower’s exposé of the cult of Mark Zuckerberg reveals peril of power-crazy tech bros | John Naughton Meta’s attempt to silence ex-employee Sarah Wynn-Williams has drawn attention to its work on stifling freedom of expression in China

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Memex 1.1 today

Today’s Memex 1.1

Major new policy school at Cambridge University set to take on AI economy and reviving ‘left behind’ regions - Bennett Institute for Public Policy The Bennett School of Public Policy opens this October, and is already leading work on two of the most pressing policy problems of our time: implementing AI and revitalising post-industrial areas.

Delighted to announce that we are going to become an independent Department - the Bennett School of Public Policy - @cambridgeuni.bsky.social from this autumn. Thanks to all those who have supported us on our journey to this point - www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/bennett...

DOGE recommended firing workers at:

-FDA, which oversees Neuralink

-FAA, which oversees SpaceX

-USAID, which probed Starlink

-CFPB, which oversees Tesla's financing arm and a potential payment platform on X.

"Conflict of interest" is a severe understatement.

Pubmed.gov is down. There are many outrages. This one is senseless, foolish, and a sign of a new dark age. A biostats friend wrote "This is akin to burning the libraries at Alexandria and Ninevah."

Reality Counts Markets Do Not Lie

#JenniferRubin at her best today. The Reckoning's a'coming open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Opinion | Trust Was Once an American Superpower Undermining one of our country’s greatest and least-appreciated assets.

'...before...Trump took office the first time in 2017, Transparency International ranked the United States among the top 20 countries in the world for least corrupt government. Now the United States has plunged in those rankings to its lowest level ever. We now have the same ranking as the Bahamas.'

a man pointing to a sign that says believe Alt: Ted Lasso, "Believe."

I drafted this post last night, when TSLA was at 331/share.

This morning, before publishing it, I updated the numbers. It had dropped to 311/share.

It's at 302 right now.

substack.com/inbox/post/1...

DOGE savings (WSJ): $2.6b

TSLA subsidies (10 years): $15b

Annual increase in deficit: $900b

Cuts to Medicare: $880b

It will no doubt be interesting (as usual) but it’s behind a paywall :-(

Annoying side effect of climate change is a growing sense that electrification of transport solves the problems with cars rather than leaving all the other problems with cars unchanged

Tesla paid $0 in federal income tax last year.

2022: $0
2021: $0
2020: $0
2019: $0
2018: $0

Tesla reported $6.7 billion in profit in those years.

So complex but we need to understand that what is happening to our country has been designed by Thiel and others to destabilize our economy, our markets, and our future...they are not making America Great Again. They are making America their piggy bank.

Yep, politics feels like a subset of tech right now