Benjamin Clark

While Prospect’s podcasts are on summer break, we’re re-posting our fav eps of the year so far. Here’s @mehdirhasan.bsky.social talking independent media, censorship and Trumpism with @benjamin-clark.bsky.social:
prospectmagazine.sub...

This is very good.

LinkedIn is Schrödinger as social media. If no one can tell your perky gushing from AI slop...do you really exist?

LinkedIn is the fakest platform of them all It was meant for professionals—but it is filled with chatbots

LinkedIn, which has embraced AI with ferocious zeal, is being gradually “enshittified”, to borrow tech writer Cory Doctorow’s phrase. (@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy)

✍🏼 @benjamin-clark.bsky.social

Penny Wong warns that there may be no Palestine left to recognise.

How easily the press ignored Palestinians, including myself, who made this exact point for years. Israel didn’t kill the two-state solution alone; journalists helped them along by providing cover.

One painting at a time: ‘Yam awely’ by Emily Kam Kngwarray At the Tate’s first ever exhibition by this renowned indigenous artist, we’re given a chance to broaden our understanding of art history

Emily Kam Kngwarray “was not painting in the tradition of modernist abstraction. Rather, she was adding flourishes and innovations to the centuries-old traditions of Aboriginal art,” writes @benjamin-clark.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...

LinkedIn is the fakest platform of them all It was meant for professionals—but it is filled with chatbots

"AI seems to...have helped foster a genre of LinkedIn-speak which bears all the hallmarks of the worst AI writing on the internet"

Do read @benjamin-clark.bsky.social's excellent portrait of LinkedIn, the social media equivalent of a dull networking event www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...

LinkedIn is the fakest platform of them all It was meant for professionals—but it is filled with chatbots

On LinkedIn, vapid “thought leadership” from dull corporate drones—sometimes dubbed “LinkedInfluencers”—dominates.

It is easily mimicable—which is one of the reasons AI-generated writing is proliferating on the platform, writes @benjamin-clark.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...

On childcare, the right wants women to return to the home. This is how Albanese can fight back

If the left wants to keep appealing to working parents, who form the backbone of its electoral coalition, it’s going to have to fight for them, @benjamin-clark.bsky.social‬ writes.

Labor’s rank and file demand housing towers remain in public hands An emotive debate about social housing will shift from the floor of the state Labor conference to Jim Chalmers’ Economic Reform Roundtable.

Massive shout-out to Labor for Housing for their strong advocacy on getting CRA and GST reform for public housing on the agenda. If we want more public housing, we need to change the incentives!

www.theage.com.au/politics/vic...

Great justification for being “here” rather than “there”…

Is anyone out there? Dead Internet Theory says that you’re the only human left online. It started out as a conspiratorial joke, but it is edging ever closer to reality

Shoutout to @jamesrball.com whose excellent Prospect essay on the Dead Internet Theory I referenced:
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...

LinkedIn is the fakest platform of them all It was meant for professionals—but it is filled with chatbots

I wrote @prospectmagazine.co.uk’s Weekend Read on the explosion of AI-generated content on LinkedIn. It’s everywhere.

Why? Perhaps because the “thought leadership” of LinkedInfluencers is so predictable.

To test it, I asked ChatGPT to write me a post…
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...

Freelancers can’t be too picky about who they work for these days

I get this happening a lot with Muckrack

like they should both just do it now, plus a whole lot more, but following the UK’s lead is really the bare minimum here

There is really no excuse for Anthony Albanese not to follow suit

One painting at a time: ‘Yam awely’ by Emily Kam Kngwarray At the Tate’s first ever exhibition by this renowned indigenous artist, we’re given a chance to broaden our understanding of art history

At the Tate’s first ever exhibition by renowned Aboriginal artist Emily Kam Kngwarray, we’re given a chance to broaden our understanding of art history, writes @benjamin-clark.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...

Sign up for Prospect's daily newsletter, Lightbulb, where Prospect’s @benjamin-clark.bsky.social explores the day’s most interesting questions across world affairs, culture, politics and ideas.

Register now at www.prospectmagazine... for your daily dose of reality!

Had the privilege of writing about the new Tate Modern retrospective of Emily Kam Kngwarray. An excellent show and long overdue. 👇🏼

Prospect contributors recommend books for the beach: 2025 We asked staff members, contributors and critics to recommend books for taking on holiday this summer. Here are our contributors’ choices

📚 Need some beach reading recommendations? Our staff have got you covered.

Including recs from @benjamin-clark.bsky.social, @aloner.bsky.social, @ellenhalliday.bsky.social, @imaanirfan.bsky.social and @davidmcallister.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...

Woohoo! When @benjamin-clark.bsky.social joined the team last year, he had about 1000 ideas of things we could do to connect more with our readers. The newsletter that became Lightbulb was one of them. Congrats to Ben on making the shortlist! And if you aren't signed up, then do it now!

Our newsletter is shortlisted for best newsletter in the UK!!!!

Writing Lightbulb every day and getting feedback from our community of readers is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

If you’re not already, sign up via the link below for our daily articles/pods + my daily musings 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

The people won’t always agree with me, even if more of them vote. And it doesn’t solve media concentration, demagoguery, greed…

The Belgian Constitution states that voting is compulsory and secret.

Only 21 countries in the world. 😳

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compuls...

An important point from @dmk1793.bsky.social: under non-compulsory voting, more rich white old people turn out to vote, meaning politicians are structurally incentivised to cater to those ppl. Compulsory voting doesn’t fix this fully, but it helps

As an Aussie abroad, I’m flummoxed as to why more countries don’t implement compulsory voting. Just seems a no brainer. Elected reps should represent the whole populace, more or less. A small disincentive against non-participation helps ensure that.

Quadrant's editor-in-chief apologises for article about bombing ABC's Q&A program Keith Windschuttle says the article failed to meet Quadrant’s standards and he has ordered it be deleted from its website

It reminds me of this 2017 incident in Australia where right-wing mag Quadrant published a piece saying if there was any justice, the Manchester bombing would’ve occurred on the ABC’s headquarters. They all made grovelling apologies. Gove should do the same. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Like he does say “I’m not saying we should do this, of course” but he then says “I am merely hypothesising in a wistful kind of way”. To me, that sounds like “I’m not directly encouraging it and maintaining plausible deniability, but I would be glad if someone did it of their own accord 😉 “

If Bob Vylan is investigated for violent incitement, surely the Spectator must be too?

Counterpoint: no, we don’t