Andy Brockman

Deloitte to refund government, admits using AI in $440k report Deloitte will issue a partial refund to the government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a report littered with errors.

AIOoops!
"Deloitte Australia will issue a partial refund to the federal government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a federal court judgement."

The Council for British Archaeology has released the shortlist for the #ArchaeologicalAchievementAwards 2025.

The winners, representing a cross section of the best in UK archaeology, will be announced at a ceremony on the 28th November (2025) which will also be streamed online.

Battles on the streets and beyond I CAN’T recall when I first heard of “Cable Street” but as a child I remember my grandfather, Syd, formerly an East End amateur boxer, boasting about “Blackshirts” he had floored.By my teens, when I f...

"Some of those falling for far-right arguments are in our workplaces. We must spend more time talking to them and less time talking to each other
in safe spaces. The clock’s ticking."

Socialist historian David Rosenberg on the Battle of Cable Street of 4 October 1936 and its lessons for today.

An image of AI generated character Tilly Norwood from an article with the headline claiming the animation is the author's favourite "actress".

Does for AI Anime what JD Vance did for sofas (allegedly).

Soon to be told with the location of the prison changed to the United States...

This latest attempt by Silicon Valley Tech Bros (and it is almost entirely Bros) to convince us their AI lashups of stolen intellectual property and digital code are the equivilent of, or even superior to, human contact, talent and creativity, undermine humanity and are deeply dangerous.
Discuss.

This development begs a lot of questions and not just over the way heritage aspects have been treated.

I would also be interested in seeing the developers working when their agent claims retrofit of the existing buildings is not economically viable.

Was there any independent assessment of this?

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...

"There were the works of Graham Hancock, who claims the archaeological establishment is hiding the fact that ultra-intelligent aliens built the pyramids."

Left leaning, Reform UK voting Eddie quoted in a sensitive and illuminating essay on the appeal of Reform in Nottinghamshire by Sacha Hilhorst.

Leicester Corah factory demolition approved despite heritage loss Concerns are raised about the loss of historic buildings as part of a large regeneration scheme.

#RetrofitFirst Not: News

"This isn't regeneration, this is obliteration,"

Burt McNeil, Chair, Leicester Civic Society.

The CBA is one of the groups to protest after facadism and (quellle suprise) 18 story towers are set to replace historic Leicester textile factory.

AI designs for dangerous DNA can slip past biosecurity measures, study shows Companies that make DNA for science labs screen out any requests for dangerous bits of genetic material. But a new study shows how AI could help malevolent actors get the stuff anyway.

#AITechCosTooBigToRegulate News

"How do we get ahead of a freight train that is just evermore accelerating and racing down the tracks, in danger of careening off the tracks?"

An article in Science claims that is an AI freight train, which seems happy to turn out DNA designs for lethal toxins.

Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane likely located in lagoon, expedition team claims, citing "very strong" evidence Researchers say they believe an object in a South Pacific island's lagoon is the wreck of Amelia Earhart's lost plane.

Not as lucrative as Ancient Aliens theory or the Hancock soggy civilisation grift, but theories around Amelia Earhart's disappearance have proved enduring and entertaining. A new expedition is set to investigate, but Ric Gillespie of TIGHAR, who has long punted the Nikumaroro theory, is sceptical.

EXCLUSIVE: NARA Ousts Eisenhower Library Director Over Proposed Trump Gift to King Charles The director, a historian and Army veteran, declined to allow the Trump administration to remove a priceless artifact from the library's permanent collection

Another insight into how Trump world views heritage as Dr. Todd Arrington resigns as director, the federal Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum, “in lieu of firing,” after refusing to allow the White House to take a sword from its collection as a gift for Trump to offer King Charles.

Two dead after suspected terror attack on Manchester synagogue, police say, with suspect shot by officers – latest Keir Starmer will fly home early from Europe to chair a Cobra meeting, while Greater Manchester mayor tells people to avoid the area

We were just finishing Yom Kippur morning service when our rabbi announced this had just happened. We’d been reflecting on the atrocities in Gaza & praying for peace. Our tiny community is horrified & heartbroken

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

Q: When is PPE Medpro not PPE Medpro?

A: When it is an identically named company domiciled in the Isle of Man.

Tax expert Dan Neidle on why Douglas Barrowman and Michelle Mone's company(s) could have been set up that way and how the arrangement could help GOVUK recover that 122 million quid.

Documenting the History Trump Wants to Erase Librarians, historians, and volunteers are forming networks to chronicle signs and objects they fear could disappear from museums and national parks.

"...if it is possible to edit stories, experiences, people, and whole groups out of the past, it becomes that much easier to edit or erase them from the present or even the future.” 

Chandra Manning of Citizen Historians on the need to record historical interpretations at risk from Trump's censors.

The obvious problem with the statement from the President of the Royal Society about Elon Musk is what would the prestigious body do if, hypothetically, a Fellow is revealed as a racist, Fascist adjacent, would be eugenicist, calling for violence on the streets to oppose an elected Government?

In a statement unlikely to satisfy critics R S President criticises Elon Musk but says it is "...not the role of the Royal Society to police the personal political opinions of individual Fellows and disciplinary procedures should not be initiated because of a Fellow’s social and political views."

British Academy responds to government announcement on university maintenance grants The British Academy has issued a response to the government's announcement on using a proposed levy on international students to fund maintenance grants.

British Academy highly critical of GOVUK plan to offer grants to students on priority courses funded by levy on international students, stating it "...risks deepening the funding crisis impacting universities across the UK and may further entrench educational inequalities."

In our recent interview with Professor Umberto Albarella on #WatchingBrief we mentioned that #SheffieldUniversity UCU was balloting its members over possible industrial action.

The result is now in and the UCU has a mandate for action, including strike action.

Break: Pentagon announces the US Navy will now paint its vessels gold and retrofit them with large escalators.

Ruling Conservative group on Walsall Council defends decision while also confirming there is currently no new site for the town's Leather Museum, in spite of its relocation being announced.

Starmer asks Conservative peer to write planning bill to block judicial reviews Exclusive: One option could be to leave treaty that allows legal claims against projects such as Heathrow expansion

GOVUK could quit Aarhus Convention

"Dismantling these protections to usher in unlawful and harmful development, for example, or to silence particular sections of the public, will distort the constitutional balance of power and fundamentally undermine public trust."

Planning Lawyer Alexa Culver

'You're destroying the cultural heritage of Walsall by moving the leather museum' says MP Walsall & Bloxwich MP Valerie Vaz has described a decision to relocate a leather museum attraction to a new site as destruction of the cultural heritage of Walsall.

In the latest installment of a long running row in the West Midlands, there are allegations of rubberstamping a damaging and flawed process as a cabinet committee of Conservative controlled Walsall Council votes to move the town's established and popular Leather Museum to help balance its budget.

The #WatchingBrief has asked Sheffield University how it responds to the allegations about the treatment of the Zooarchaeology Lab which its staff and users have raised on Social Media and in our interview with Professor Albarella.

We will let you know if we get a reaponse.

YouTube video by The Watching Brief Sheffield University Zooarchaeology Lab Left Without Windows!?

Q: What do you call a Zooarchaeology lab without windows, disabled access and a third of its reference collection?

A: Sheffield University staff would love to know.

#WatchingBrief hears the latest on Sheffield's, allegedly deliberate, downgrading of its once world class archaeology provision.

Collapse in Chinese student numbers ‘highly likely’ by 2040 Long-term trends including declining birth rate mean number of students looking to study abroad set to be much lower in only 10 years’ time

Remember how all those University SMT's justified cuts to certain subjects and tailoring course offers to attract and even prioritise, those lucrative foreign students, especially those from China?

Time running out to save metal detectorist's hoard Time is running out to help Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum acquire an Iron Age hoard discovered by a metal detectorist near Henley.

“This Oxfordshire hoard, buried nearly 2,000 years ago, really belongs to all of Oxfordshire residents.'
Angie Bolton, curator of archaeology, Oxfordshire museum service

But the sad fact is, under current legislation, Treasure Hoards can be sold for private profit, broken up and never seen again.

Police seek 4 suspects after arson destroys Flag Fen Roundhouse - News for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Police have released CCTV images of four people they wish to speak to in connection with an arson attack at Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre Peterborough

#HeritageCrime News

Police in Cambridgeshire have relleased CCTV images of four people they wish to speak to in connection with July's arson attack on a replica roundhouse at the Flag Fen visitor centre.

Google "Peter Thiel Palantir Antichrist"

Syria’s Most Renowned Archaeologist Loved Palmyra More Than Life Itself A decade after the Islamic State group executed Khaled al-Asaad, his family remembers the quiet devotion and courage that bound him to his beloved ancient city until the end

Ten years on from his murder by the so called Islamic State (aka Daesh), the story of "Mr Palmyra", archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad, recalled from the perspective of his family and friends.

The sense of tragedy and futility is compounded because Palmyra remains badly damaged, with its museum closed.