Strong piece. The deeper problem isn’t just algorithmic bias. - AI changes the behaviour of both sides: applicants optimise for the screeners, employers automate to handle the volume, and recruitment becomes a conversation between two systems rather than a test of capability.

Ros Taylor@rostaylor.bsky.social · 3h ago

Lot of talk at the moment about how AI recruitment discriminates against older people. I looked into just how opaque the software is for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. The firms behind it won’t talk to journalists. Meanwhile, it’s destroying people’s lives. www.thenewworld.co.uk/ros-taylor-s...

Lot of talk at the moment about how AI recruitment discriminates against older people. I looked into just how opaque the software is for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. The firms behind it won’t talk to journalists. Meanwhile, it’s destroying people’s lives. www.thenewworld.co.uk/ros-taylor-s...

Should robots decide whether or not you get a job?

Companies are using AI systems for recruitment, arguing that it’s a way of removing bias from the system. But it brings with it a whole load of other problems, some of them just as bad

thenewworld.co.uk

Tobías Ellwood has a lot of interesting things to say about defence, But sadly not in this book. www.thenewworld.co.uk/ros-taylor-t...

Tobias Ellwood’s book on defence is a total misfire

The former minister’s editors have done him no favours, and his lightweight summaries of wars would leave a GCSE history examiner unimpressed

thenewworld.co.uk

Enjoying the new Coronation St column in the Eye. Much better than the PM’s WhatsApp group under Starmer.

Me: May I have a preview of your TV show so I can review it? BBC: Sure ITV: No problem C4: Go ahead Netflix: Thanks for your interest. We'll let you know if we'll allow it.

The Reform leader’s right hand money man, who did time in the US for fraud, is surrounded by a series of deeply troubling unanswered questions ✏️ @rostaylor.bsky.social

Mr Farage, what first attracted you to multi-millionaire fraudster Posh George?

The Reform leader’s right hand money man, who did time in the US for fraud, is surrounded by a series of deeply troubling unanswered questions

buff.ly

I had to miss @ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social yesterday, much to my frustration, but I intended to say that if Farage goes, it seems to me that Rupert Lowe’s Restore is poised to step into the vacuum…

Meteorological q. Why are very hot spells not generally followed by thunderstorms this summer, and when they are, the temperature doesn’t fall a great deal?

Thanks Ros. The cover would lighten up any Airbnb...

Ros Taylor@rostaylor.bsky.social · last wk.

Anyway, Fast Track is a fun summer read. Would be pleased to find it left behind in any AirBnB!

Anyone who’s been in a care home will smile wryly at this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

'Are you the local candidate?' - 'No, I'm the PM'

An elderly man asked Andy Burnham if he is the local candidate to which Andy Burnham explained that he is in fact the new prime minister.

bbc.co.uk

As a historian of Jodrell Bank, I agree! And the reason it is important is that it has been made to mean different things to different people at different times. Who's up for a mega thread on how and why? (I'm off for lunch now, but I'll do it after. I'll need the energy...)

John Grindrod@grindrod.bsky.social · last wk.

Really one of the most important postwar sites in Britain

But the thing about the British Museum is that there isn’t a lot of British history in it - and what there is, feels perfunctory and is presented in a dull way. If you have a child who was into the Vikings (an invasion, I realise), you will struggle to engage them.

Philip Stephens@philipstephens.bsky.social · last wk.

All the hyped hype about Bayeux tapestry viewing at BM seems to miss fact that this wonderful artefact has been readily on display in Bayeux for past 40 years .. yes it’s the same tapestry ..

He is eloquent about the appalling lack of transparency surrounding HS2’s finances and especially the bat tunnel. ‘A Chief Executive paid a salary of £750,000 should have had the courage to simply say, ‘No, we are not paying this insane amount for a possible risk to a few bats. End of.’ Quite.

The New World@thenewworldmag.bsky.social · last wk.

We used to love high-speed trains – before cowardice and waste took over ✏️ @rostaylor.bsky.social

📢 CourtWatch is back - and this time we’re taking on the whole of England and Wales! We’re looking for volunteers to observe hearings in their local magistrates’ courts and report back to us. 🔗Sign up now to get info on online training sessions transformjustice.eo.page/courtwatchlo...

We used to love high-speed trains – before cowardice and waste took over ✏️ @rostaylor.bsky.social

Why did Britain forget how to build railways?

We used to love high-speed trains – before cowardice and waste took over

buff.ly

Reviewed a new book on high-speed trains by @christianwolmar.bsky.social for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. Trains probably can’t get much faster than they are now (not here, obviously, in places like China). www.thenewworld.co.uk/ros-taylor-w...

Why did Britain forget how to build railways?

We used to love high-speed trains – before cowardice and waste took over

thenewworld.co.uk

The only work experience for under-16 year olds is with their parents or their parents’ friends. The insurance requirements alone are a hurdle. And even if you offer to pay them for your child … no firm can be bothered.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · last wk.

And good luck finding businesses to offer meaningful work experience to hundreds of thousands of 14 and 15 year olds. As ever a failure to acknowledge that our big challenge with vocational ed is our labour market.

It’s over guys I have ‘impugned Count Binface’s honour’ I hereby forfeit any right to comment on British politics in perpetuity

Even in … say … the Orkneys?

Mark Pack@markpackuk.bsky.social · last wk.

Every new UK home should have air conditioning, say Liberal Democrats

We chat about Burnham’s pub snacks Insta strategy and his social care plans.

The Bunker podcast – News without the nonsense@bunkerpod.bsky.social · last wk.

🚨 START YOUR WEEK 🚨 France and Spain on fire, Burnham’s big plans for Week 2, India’s Cockroach protests and thank God there’s a Spider-Man movie coming out 🕸️ 📲 @rostaylor.bsky.social & @nndroid.bsky.social set out the stories of the week ahead. 📲 Listen – linktr.ee/bunker_pod

Usually I’m paywalled, but today you can feast on all my work for the New World for free.

The New World@thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 2w ago

Our journalism is still FREE to read today 💡 If you've been curious but haven't taken the plunge, now's the time! 🌐 buff.ly/097WE5f

Well, he can tell the country what he’s up to, so that’s a start.

Ros Taylor@rostaylor.bsky.social · last mo.

Can an English graduate govern the country? We shall soon find out.

The Resident Clerks were a Foreign Office institution. Four young bachelors lived in a flat in the FO, and did a roster of nights and weekends, fielding urgent calls and telegrams and waking people up when action was needed. I’ve just come across this fun story about Ernie Bevin. 1/2

This feels very More Jam Tomorrow ...

James Austin@jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 2w ago

I find this new bit of Labour aligned content, which is apparently getting traction on TikTok (42k views from what I can see atm, 7k likes) utterly fascinating in its messaging, music and imagery. The fact its resonating is... interesting

It’d be boring if all the critics agreed, wouldn’t it? Guardian loved Ann Droid. U thought it was sinister.

The New World@thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 2w ago

The sitcom about a robot carer is a strange and melancholy affair ✏️ @rostaylor.bsky.social

One of the comments on this piece asks: But where does he get all this money from? Indeed.

The New World@thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Reform leader’s right hand money man, who did time in the US for fraud, is surrounded by a series of deeply troubling unanswered questions ✏️ @rostaylor.bsky.social

I thought Gen X would reinvent retirement. I imagined a world that did not disdain the old and push them away, one where old people might find a place for ourselves among other generations. I don’t yet see the foundations for that kind of society. New Substack: open.substack.com/pub/rostaylo...

Will you still feed me, when I’m 67?

Reluctantly, I suspect

open.substack.com

The day’s first casualty: James Timpson resigns as prisons minister. This is a big surprise! Timpson had a long history as a prisons reformer before entering government and seen as one of Starmer’s more innovative & exciting appointments. He’s also delivered a big change programme in gov. So: why?

Prisons minister Lord Timpson quits government

The businessman said it was an "honour" to serve in the post, but the BBC understands he feels he has achieved all he can in the role.

bbc.co.uk

A big part of whether Burnham succeeds will not just be the quality of his policies and speeches, but how many Britons actually hear or know about them.

Hope Burnham’s going to scrap voter ID then. Or we’ll continue to make it hard for people who aren’t elderly, don’t drive and don’t have a passport to vote. Cannot understand the British antipathy to digital ID, but plenty will furiously disagree.