Simon Gompertz

Agreed- we have been here before! To my mind those coders who learned just before current AI have an advantage. Able to use the tools but also sufficiently skilled to check the work

I think BBC News has questions to answer about recent coverage but I had a look after reading your post and found one item from Newsround which may have been the one you refer to and I think it’s fair to give it a full watch

Did you watch the relevant bit?

It’s about US politics, isn’t it?

I see a lot of people pontificating about Venezuela who up to yesterday would have struggled to pinpoint the country on the map and knew close to zero about its history.

I accept what you say and I know that every studio now has a mini-cam. But I love that one only listens and I think the new approach detracts. As soon as you are thinking about how you look, everything changes. So I suppose I’m in the other half of the audience that you mentioned.

I think it’s a backward step. Is it because you’ve been told you have to do it?

Few wonks + pet-project pushers seem happy with this Budget, which suggests to me that Reeves may have done a reasonable job under the circumstances
The next 2 years might be as tough as the doomsters expect, in which case she’s stuffed, or they might not and she finds her coffers are suddenly full

Rachel Reeves' budget decision could help 40,000 Merseyside kids As build up to the hugely anticipated budget continues, there is one big decision that could have an enormous impact here on Merseyside

The two-child limit…

“The Liverpool Riverside constituency was the worst affected in our region last year, with a total of 4,350 children impacted by the policy. This works out at 26% of kids living in the area, among the highest rates in the country”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

Yes, no doubt, but add that to everything else pissing people off, and picture the endless stories in papers and local online rags.
I see terraces of people on average or lower incomes who would be handed annual bills of £7,000, albeit in homes now worth a lot.
Total gift to opposition canvassers

It’s half-baked and will cause endless problems and anomalies, as I said a while back.
In London it would hit Labour voters on middling pay, a lot less than the £100,000 you refer to, and pensioners.
People elsewhere will say “It’s only fair” but Reeves could regret it

It’s half-baked and will cause endless problems and anomalies.
Reform council tax (or property tax) by all means but this looks like a desperate money-raising measure, specifically designed to avoid proper reform

It’s very sensible

Laughable.
“There are growing concerns that the pension contributions are not high enough to support people through retirement, creating a ticking timebomb”
These concerns have been there for 13 years, well known to govt, providers, employers and press.
The money was never going to be enough

Classic ostrich behaviour. Make a series of policy and political mistakes, then blame the comms team

If Starmer wanted to replace her, he could. He’d just have to appoint someone promising to be as tight with the purse strings or more so. Someone with more political nous. Not sure who that would be, though, nor, plainly, is he.

Reeves’s failures are clearly political. She made misjudgements about winter fuel and benefits, as did Starmer. She could have avoided those and still maintained a tough image. Her antennae weren’t working

The markets are not political actors or “vigilantes” who get “upset” or have “tantrums”.
They are operated by people who make a living by following interest rates and flows of money.
If there is a prospect that a government will borrow more, they anticipate that the cost of money will go up.

Ottie failing to get excited about the return of pet passports. Bound to take ages, she thinks.
Despite Downing St promising she’ll “be able to travel more easily” and the stupid requirement for expensive health certificates every trip will be “eliminated”

Bring back Pet Passports! No sign of that, though
🐶🛂

Worth a read if you have the FT - be wary of claims that shares always outperform the long run

First Microsoft tries to charge me more for Office because of AI add-ons which I don’t want or need.
Now WIX is trying to do the same with its Google-run email package - a 21% hike for “access to an AI assistant”.
So AI becomes just an excuse to put up prices

Fresh out of the oven - malted sourdough round. The new marmalade behind…

This has been plain from the start and plenty of people have said it already

It’s the usual British blindspot, kidding ourselves that things happen in the UK because of things that happen in the UK.
The market gyrations are mostly the upshot of events in the US - though they do have real consequences here

Cymbeline | What's On A secret marriage changes the course of two kingdoms in Shakespeare's tragic comedy of love and rebellion, in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Very interesting take on Cymbeline - and wonderful candlelit atmosphere at the Sam Wanamaker

www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/cym...

Chilly by the Thames this morning

When you say “additional tax” on farms it might be worth taking into account that:
*IHT on farms will still not be anywhere near as much as the amount paid on other assets
*the tax will apply from a higher threshold and will then be charged at half the rate

Yes please!

Having followed the news on South Korea since last night, it strikes me how little people seem to know about the country - despite K-pop, Squid Game, Parasite, Kimchi and the huge cultural influence.
I mean, virtually nothing - and that includes most journalists who are still catching up