Colin Gavaghan

Rachel Reeves’ budget must reduce inequalities and increase spending capacity of the masses This is how to secure sustained economic growth

685,000 Britons has wealth of £2.8 trillion, 48m have £2.4trn.

4 people have more wealth than 20m Britons.

Bottom 50% of the population has 5% of wealth, the bottom fifth only 0.5%.

Rich buy political parties, legislators; hold govts to ransom.

Can't get economic growth without redistribution.

@thenewworldmag.bsky.social Pretty savage Codeword this week! If I solve this, do I get out of Slough House?

The BBC are accidentally running the subtitles to Mrs Marple over the Mercury Prize, and it’s rather wonderful. A few of lines could plausibly have been written by Jarvis.

AI has a cargo cult problem Spending vast sums and inflating an investment bubble is no guarantee of unleashing technological magic

AI has a cargo cult problem on.ft.com/4qg0Hp6 | opinion

Exchange between two twitter users. A man called Scott Castaneda write to Tom Morella, "I use to be a fan until your political opinions come out. Music is my sanctuary and the last thing I want to hear is political bs when I'm listening to music. As far as I'm concerned you and pink are completely done. Keep running your mouth and ruining your fan base." User Howard Finklestein replies, "What 'machine' did you think he was raining against? The dishwasher?"

Absolutely love this twitter classic:

We are now accepting abstracts for our Annual Conference at @aberuni.bsky.social 15-17 Apr. 2026. Join us for critical talks on law, tech & education (and generally a good time!) The theme is: 'Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.' More info: www.bileta.org.uk/news/bileta-...

Also tiktok, so relevant both sides of the Atlantic.

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Let’s be clear about what happened to Jimmy Kimmel Trump’s most brazen attack on free speech yet.

After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

Spot on.

UPEND THE ESTABLISHMENT, by voting for a party composed entirely of rejects from the oldest party in the country that was in power for 14 years. 😂

Reform UK increasingly look like the Tories just ran off stage, then ran back on wearing a comedy glasses-nose-moustache disguise.

Trump on 19 Russian drones shot into Poland: "could've been a mistake..."

Part 2 of our podcast for TRUMP & VANCE - W/ FRIENDS LIKE THESE WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

www.alteredstate.org.uk/podcast

w/
Gen Sir Tim Radford
Prof Ana Garcia
Richard Graham ex MP & diplomat
@digitalfutures.bsky.social

#nato

Bad Apples review – Saoirse Ronan’s dark, school-set satire doesn’t go far enough The four-time Oscar nominee is as strong as ever playing a teacher in a shocking situation, but the film can’t quite rise to her level

'living in a drably anonymous corner of the United Kingdom (the film was shot in Bristol)'

Harsh.

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...

There are two kinds of people. There are those who see this statue and see a teddy bear reaching out to comfort someone in despair. And there are those who see a nightmare toy come to life, about to push him off the ledge... 😈

I told Tim afterwards that, of he ever gets tired of the defence gig, he'd make a wonderful audiobook narrator - that voice! But listening to this, I'm also struck by how much Richard sounds like the actor Anton Lesser!

This was such a rewarding gig!

I have a rape case. Offence in April 2022. Reported within days. Charged Oct 2023. Trial listed July 2024. Put back to Oct 2024. No court available so put back to today. At court today, there's no court available AGAIN. FOURTH trial date now June 2026 - more than four years after the incident!!

A real treat to spend a weekend with good books by fine friends.

They probably will split the left vote in some places, but they might also give Labour a reason to look over their left shoulder as well as their right. For some of us, that would be no bad thing.

Well at least we can be confident the Powers That Be will listen and learn from this and not make the same mistake again. Right?

Right...?

100%. Though they have helped make the case for getting rid of the actual humans who did make our work lives easier and better.

Reading through a 6-page explainer doc on how to navigate 8 website pages listing about 80 different links, so that I can check my teaching timetable for the coming year. I sure am optimistic about the next wave of tech freeing us up to do the 'high value' work because it's going so well so far...

The Bunker – News without the nonsense News without the nonsense, every weekday morning. In episodes that fit your commute*, The Bunker cuts through the noise to make sense of what’s really going on in news, current affairs, politics, econ...

Can't beat listening to one of my favourite tech ethics people on one of my favourite podcasts. Check out @drkatedevlin.bsky.social on @bunkerpod.bsky.social! pod.link/1496246490

14 years, I think you'll find! Some of them even pretty good ones. Srsly, it's a tremendous place and a great opportunity.

Brilliant talk last night about UK defence in the era of America First foreign policy

Thanks to Gen Sir Tim Radford, Prof Ana Juncos Garcia, Richard Graham & host @digitalfutures.bsky.social

Punches were not pulled

Spades were called spades

Blog & podcast to follow

#alteredstate #bristoltalks

Those of you in London today: This is TONIGHT! Drinks at 6:15pm, panel at 7pm, free to attend but please do sign up via the link below. Trump is taking a stand against ‘woke’ in the US — but what’s happening in the UK? And does technology help or hinder it?

Fun times trying to persuade a law firm that I really don't, in 2025, need to print, sign and *post* all the docs. AI might eventually revolutionise the profession, but I'd be more convinced if they could get their heads around e-signatures and the fax machine ...

The US has changed the course of the conflict - how will Iran respond? Whether the Middle East conflict escalates further will depend on Iran and its allies, writes the BBC's Jo Floto.

What are the consequences of the US's involvement in Israel's war w/ Iran?

Iran are active in the war in Europe via their pact w/ Russia

So is Britain

A NATO general, a prof of EU politics & a former MP & diplomat talk this Tues 24th

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

#bristoltalks #bristolevents

The assisted dying debate has been about safety not sanctity – here’s why I think the bill passed the test The assisted dying bill faces tough questions, but includes arguably stricter safeguards than existing end-of-life laws.

A thing I wrote.
theconversation.com/the-assisted....

If they could chuck in a few more Saturdays too, that would be sweet.