Alys Key

The UK 2.0 summer reading list Books on technology and politics, history and the future, and everything in-between

I put together a bunch of recommendations from cool people that should see you through to the end of the summer uk20.substack.com/p/the-uk-20-...

Yaccarino was the only one of those Lindas I knew. Not sure whether to be proud or ashamed #OnlyConnect

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How do you explain this to people who challenge it? I generally say the output is still not as good writing-wise, but often people who aren't writers by trade aren't convinced by that - in terms of the writing THEY do, genai has matched or even surpassed it.

"I can't remember the title, but the cover is blue with yellow writing". A wall of thriller book covers that match the description.

In which I implore you to please be nice to the machines digitalfrontier.com/articles/pol...

This was pretty good. Intriguing, innovative sentence-making. The denouement felt a bit unimaginative.

Where Have All My Deep Male Friendships Gone?

This was a sweet read. It also made me think a lot about the role podcasts can play in our lives as a stand-in for conversation with friends.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/m...

Thinking about the sweet dog who I used to see sitting calmly outside the stationery shop in Brussels today. The owners had a little sign saying "le chien de la papeterie" so people would know she wasn't lost.

I wrote about my favourite session at SXSW London: a solo talk from Mubi founder Efe Çakarel. He spoke about algorithms, AI dubbing and the future of cinemas digitalfrontier.com/articles/mub...

Cover of the essay Rediscovering British Progress available at https://britishprogress.org/articles/rediscovering-british-progress

💫 We’re launching the Centre for British Progress

Our founding essay: Rediscovering British Progress is a case for growth that drives shared progress, rooted in Britain's values and industrial heritage.

It all starts with a postcard from 1870 👇

britishprogress.org/articles/red...

a poster for a complete unknown shows a man and a woman playing guitars ALT: a poster for a complete unknown shows a man and a woman playing guitars

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN - Good fun, mostly avoids the biopic boredom curse (though my pet peeve of concert scenes that rely on dozens of reaction shots did come up a few times). I'm not a Dylan aficionado but it got me more interested in the music. Timmy was good, Norton great.

My full interview with Cory Doctorow, including why he won't join Bluesky despite trusting the team implicitly digitalfrontier.com/articles/cor...

a statue of liberty is hanging upside down in a blue sky ALT: a statue of liberty is hanging upside down in a blue sky

THE BRUTALIST - Much like TÀR, I liked this but can see why others might not. Engaged me for the whole runtime and left me thinking it over for days. Found some parts too overt and others too subtextual, but when the balance is right it's brilliant. Looks beautiful, too.

We need to reinforce a bit of strictness on the buzzing here. You can't come in to stop the timer then turn and ask your teammates "what do you think"? #OnlyConnect

Feel sad for whoever wrote that video game round, cut off so abruptly. Sounded like it was going to be interesting. #UniversityChallenge

a woman wearing a red jacket and a white shirt that says uce on it ALT: a woman wearing a red jacket and a white shirt that says uce on it

EMILIA PEREZ - better than the first 20 minutes made it out to be. Critiques certainly justified but an interesting idea. Found myself wanting to know more about Rita despite all the time we spend with her.

a man is standing in the middle of a crowd of people in a dark room . ALT: a man is standing in the middle of a crowd of people in a dark room .

DUNE: PART TWO - saw this back in March and enjoyed it just as much as the first one, occasional Life of Brian-ness notwithstanding.

This year I've only seen 1/10 Best Picture nominees. Hoping I can rectify that by the time of the awards, keeping track on this thread🧵

The idea of carrying around a "drunk nose" to swap to when you've been on the sauce is hilarious and very moving at the same time

Fried egg on two Welsh rarebit toasts

Croque madame / Welsh rarebit crossover. Croque Menyw?

I spoke to Cory Doctorow yesterday (full interview coming soon) and we had an interesting chat on his thoughts about Bluesky. He goes into it at length here and it's worth taking a minute to think about. pluralistic.net/2025/01/20/c...

This Sunday is the annual parade commemorating Charles I. It's put on by the English Civil War society and is a bizarre and brilliant thing to go and see if you want to do something different with your weekend. I went last year.

A library stretching into oblivion

This was a great read from @lydmorrish.bsky.social about all the work that goes into archiving our internet digitalfrontier.com/articles/way... with a beautiful illustration by Karina Cao!

Amol has such an easy demeanour that it feels so much more dramatic when he has to tell them off for rules infractions. Like the nice teacher who only reprimands when it's really serious. #UniversityChallenge

Elizabeth Line has a RIBA award but no way to clean the ghostly outlines of passengers off its walls apparently

Any suggestions for a bakery to find Galette des Rois in London this weekend? Been to Miel before, have got Jolene and Eric's on the list. Any others?

New around here? Interested in tech? I've compiled a list of 50 or so UK technology journo accounts. Let me know if you'd like to be added!
go.bsky.app/5s9g2Rn

Figure-like abstract sculptures

Why do we dislike art that we previously rated highly when we realise it's made by AI? @stokel.bsky.social investigates, feat. some uncanny AI-made imitations of Henry Moore sculptures digitalfrontier.com/articles/hum...

Our attempt to make a Christmas-themed Elphaba at last night's bake-off challenge. ELFaba, if you will.