David Lambert

Which meaning of 'sanction' should we take this to mean?

Say what you like about those curlers, but you can't deny they've got some stones

Sir, your panda is drunk

The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.

Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.

This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.

Even the use of the term 'slavic' suggests a racial (ie Nazi) worldview

My idea of Ash Wednesday

BBC Newsnight covers Reform's pledge to scrap Equality Act [as Braverman mentioned it today]

"Whatever intention was of passing the EA" says Zia Yusuf, "it stops discrimination against some people in its current form, but actually industralises discrimination against others"

A common misconception

I tell my kids that the first one to spot a shrove gets the first pancake. They think a shrove is a small furry animal

Only went so I could see him calling Heathcliffe a big wally

I'm sure we'll see the impact in the GDP figures next month

If this Tudor partnership doesn't produce then heads will roll at Spurs

Wait what? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How London unwittingly killed housebuilding A perfect storm of policy and regulatory headwinds has slowed new construction to a trickle

Well this is utterly depressing

How London unwittingly killed housebuilding - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @jburnmurdoch.ft.com

Saw the Ukrainian guy who got banned by the IOC described as a 'skeleton racer' now that is a sport I would pay to see

"It was the worst of times, it was the worster of times"

They put the wrong word in inverted commas

In fairness, this is pretty much my justification for being a South London-raised Man Utd fan

Pitt the Younger famously loved a Shisha lounge

Then for you it's fast chargers in urban areas, and knock the VAT down to 5% to reduce the cost. Takes about 25 minutes to charge my EV from 15% to 80% on a 150 kW charger, and that will continue to drop over the next few years. But will require grid upgrades to make it work.

Cross-pavement solutions for charging electric vehicles

For terraced houses this is an easily solvable problem, provided you can pay for installation and are able to regularly park outside your house. Government needs to stop local authorities blocking this

www.gov.uk/government/p...

a man standing next to a robot in a field ALT: a man standing next to a robot in a field

Vibes

Death toll in Afghanistan when NATO answered the US’s call:
- 453 Britons
- 158 Canadians
- 89 French
- 59 Germans
- 53 Italians
- 44 Danes
- 17 Spaniards
“Stayed a little back, off the front lines “!
No one in the media will call him out over this lie or any of the others he spouts.

Right now I have 'Five Years' by David Bowie on repeat in my head

a cartoon of a horse sitting at a desk with a netflix logo on the bottom ALT: a cartoon of a horse sitting at a desk with a netflix logo on the bottom

She means Bojack Horseman, doesn't she

Could they be under 100 by the time of the next election?

Winner gets a stick of rhubarb

You should park 'er

New cash reward for information in unsolved Conwy murder case Police are appealing for information on the murder of a man whose remains were found in Clocaenog Forest.

Wait, they killed Ed Davey, dumped his body in a Welsh forest and replaced him with a lookalike??

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...