Matt Davies

“We have to be really clear that there is no contradiction between saying clearly that antisemitism is completely unacceptable and demanding that the genocide end.”

Na'amod's Em Hilton spoke to @novaramedia.com about organising against antisemitism and for Palestinian liberation.

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

The Home Office sham "consultation" on cumulative protests closed on 29 September, so this immediate announcement shows Labour had already decided – yet again – to expand public order powers, well before the Manchester attack that is now used to justify it
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The instinct of this government is ever further restrictions on civil liberties. It is authoritarian at its core, and at this stage needs to be opposed by anyone who at all considers themselves a progressive.

BREAKING: Banner drop on Westminster Bridge ahead of the mass silent vigil taking place in Trafalgar Square today.

The banner says "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action"

As the genocide escalates in Gaza, and our rights to oppose it are under threat, we must resist.

I'll say it again. Our horror at the Gaza genocide and at the atrocity in Manchester comes in both cases from the same, inherent part of our shared humanity. We need to assert that shared humanity in the face of both these evils as loudly as possible, and in as many practical ways as we can.

New digital ID scheme to be rolled out across UK A new digital ID scheme will help combat illegal working while making it easier for the vast majority of people to use vital government services. Digital ID will be mandatory for Right to Work checks ...

I’ve worked on and off on digital identity for a decade. I have plenty of thoughts about the UK govt proposal.

Right now though, based on my work with 14-24 year olds I’m curious how a compulsory DIGITAL ID will help with extricating young people from mobile devices? 🤷🏻‍♀️

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Just under two weeks until the launch of @transitionsec.bsky.social — tickets still available, sign up for free at the link below!

We'll be launching Tom Parr's new book next week Thursday for our first LSE political theory seminar of the year. Register below!

Do today’s announcements on digital ID meet public expectations, are they deliverable, and will they work? — Careful Industries Do today’s announcements on digital ID meet public expectations, are they deliverable, and will they work?

Blog post on today's digital ID announcement. Most important issue is what the impact will be on people with low and no income - will the new rules create a new barrier for employment?
www.careful.industries/blog/2025-9-...

Setting a 'Tech Agenda' for Climate Week | TechPolicy.Press A conversation with The Maybe's Alix Dunn, Data & Society's Tamara Kneese, and the Enabled Emissions Campaign's Holly Alpine.

On the @techpolicypress.bsky.social podcast, D&S Climate, Technology, and Justice Program Director @tamigraph.bsky.social is among the experts exploring what a “tech agenda” for Climate Week might look like. www.techpolicy.press/setting-a-te... ]

Inside the Tony Blair Institute Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

Illuminating read on the Tony Blair Institute: "an organisation unusually close to the British government, able to lobby ministers directly, and which holds joint retreats with Oracle and is willing to engage in “tech sales” with governments in the rest of the world."

The most successful novelist of her generation can't actually enter this country to accept an award for fear of arrest, someone tell the BBC

I'll have more to say on Reform's proposals to scrap ILR at some point but for now I'll just note this - anyone telling you this is a popular idea doesn't know the polling. Overwhelming majority of public back giving people who work and pay taxes most or all rights after 5 years or less

The thing is "digital ID" as a category is absolutely freaking enormous. It could mean *all sorts* of things, which are all quite different to one another, but it cannot usefully include every single technology imaginary that is being bandied around in think tank papers and op eds

Lessons from Nairobi: Why we must not forget the material realities of AI - Global Government Forum For Imogen Parker of the Ada Lovelace Institute, a Nairobi event on the global labour supply chains involved in AI and its environmental impacts re-anchored her mental image of the […]

"In terms of its impacts on people and planet, AI is as physical as any other industry."

Thoughtful piece by @imogen-parker.bsky.social reflecting on last week's Global Fund for a New Economy convening in Nairobi:

www.globalgovernmentforum.com/lessons-from...

On Thursday 2 October, we'll be kicking off our 2025-26 LSE poltiical theory seminar with a book launch of Tom Parr's "Empowering Workers in an Age of Automation". The event will be followed by a reception at the George IV pub. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/empowering...

The UK’s £31bn tech deal with the US might sound great – but the government has to answer these questions | Matt Davies The big firms making these pledges are not charities. We know there will be a quid pro quo; we just don’t know what it is yet, says Matt Davies of the Ada Lovelace Institute

The US and UK have signed a Technology Prosperity Deal. But will it deliver public benefit or private profits? Is the UK an AI taker or an AI maker?

@halcyene.bsky.social, our Economic and Social Policy Lead, outlines the challenges for the UK's approach.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“The success of China’s DeepSeek demonstrates the potential for the UK of a “fast follower” model whereby instead of begging for scraps from big tech’s table, we wait and see what innovations will yield the most value, and pursue cost-effective ways of doing it ourselves.” - @halcyene.bsky.social

The UK’s £31bn tech deal with the US might sound great – but the government has to answer these questions | Matt Davies The big firms making these pledges are not charities. We know there will be a quid pro quo; we just don’t know what it is yet, says Matt Davies of the Ada Lovelace Institute

The headlines — £31bn in investment, new jobs, faster medical treatments — sound almost too good to be true. What are we giving up in return?

Me in @theguardian.com on today's US-UK Tech Deal:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reform’s aesthetics of industry Renewal 33.2_HilhorstRenewal 33.2_Hilhorst.pdf110 KBdownload-circle In North Nottinghamshire, Reform UK present themselves as the party of workers, community and coalmining heritage. But this image...

So much talk about Reform voters, but I'm yet to read much about their lives beyond tropes and excuses ('legitimate concerns').

I've been back in the midlands to interview people and learn more. Here's my piece on them and Reform's attempts to present itself as a community-minded, pro-worker party:

Our strategy Our strategy highlights the need to understand how AI and data can support a positive vision for society, and the policy choices this will require

Ada’s new strategy for 2025-28 highlights the need to understand how AI and data could support a positive vision for society, and the policy choices and institutions this will require.

Read our strategy here:
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/about/our-st...

If you want to know what the UK government's position is on its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to its support for Israel, here's what it argued in court this summer.

Who Owns Britain? How the radical experiment of privatisation transformed society and reshaped our lives.

Today, it’s the defenders of privatisation who are clinging to an out-of-date ideology. They’re out of touch & out of time.

Let’s end the rip-off & take back our future.

Explore our new project — Who Owns Britain? — at the link below.

www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

I went home, to one of Labour’s safest seats, and it felt like a newly minted Reform constituency | Kirsty Major Knowsley is a Labour stronghold. But judging by the polls and the people I spoke to, the messages of the right are truly cutting through, says deputy Opinion editor Kirsty Major

"In the absence of any meaningful change or any narrative to grasp on to, the right and Reform UK have shaped the story."

Difficult — but essential — reading from @kmaj0r.bsky.social:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"You can't just call people racists" is disingenuous strawmanning at the best of times. But invoked in reference to a *far right rally*? Farcical.

What it amounts to now is "you can't identify racism when its staring you in the face". And well, we tried that approach didn't we? And here we are.

🚨 ONLINE EVENT

Join us for a free panel on the war economy, the climate impacts of war & the geopolitics of the climate transition.

Speakers: @stephensemler.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social, chaired by @lalehkhalili.bsky.social

📅 16 Oct 6PM BST
🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL

M365 Copilot fails to up productivity in UK government trial : AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complex

UK government report based on internal civil service trial finds Copilot doesn’t increase productivity, and indeed makes Excel take longer and with more errors, and requires Powerpoint users to have ‘corrective action’ applied to their outputs. www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/m...

AI and animals | Balancing risks and opportunities 6.30pm Tues 30 Sept | Kristin Andrews, Jonathan Birch, Leonie Bossert Jane Lawton, Jeff Sebo | Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE

My new Centre for Animal Sentience will launch on 30 Sept with a public event on "How AI is helping - and harming - animals" and you can register for a free ticket now. Please join us! www.lse.ac.uk/events/how-a...

Lea Ypi: How to think about surveillance A picture of her grandmother posted on social media sent the author to the archives of Albania’s former security services — and raised difficult questions about who watches us today

My weekend essay for @financialtimes.com on grandmothers from lost worlds, dignity and surveillance (then and now)…