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Steve Walker

@steve-walker.bsky.social

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities". Voltaire, 1765, Questions sur les miracles

619 Posts230 Follower354 Folgt
Peter Geoghegan@petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d ago

Here’s 7k words about Palantir and the British state that @lucasamin.bsky.social and I wrote for @lrb.co.uk TLDR: it’s tech just isn’t that great, and yes the company’s avowed relationship to US state under Trump matters. Obviously. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin · ‘This looks absolutely rubbish’: Palantir and the NHS

A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds...

lrb.co.uk

Archie Hall@archiehall.bsky.social · 2d ago

BRITAIN WOULD BE BONKERS TO DITCH PALANTIR New @economist.com leader from me on Palantir. I most wanted to highlight its critics' troubling illiberalism—many seem far too blasé letting politics determine which businesses governments buy from. You can read it here: www.economist.com/leaders/202...

David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social · 3d ago

An aspect of Manchester’s history that is often overlooked. The only black person to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, for his work on economic development, was Sir Arthur Lewis who for many years was a Professor at Manchester University.

The city provided a platform for the astonishing group of Black leaders who gathered for the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Chorlton, a key moment in the struggle against British imperialism. It was a political education in Manchester that helped to provide Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana with the tools for decolonisation.
Privacy International@privacyinternational.org · 3d ago

The UK Government reportedly secretly ordered Apple to weaken the security of iCloud again, and Apple is taking the government to court. No government should be able to secretly order backdoors that destroy privacy and security.

Peterloo Memorial Campaign@peterloomemorial.bsky.social · 5d ago

(2/3) We had special guests at today's Peterloo commemoration - survivors from Tiananmen Square, which is also mentioned in the circle of the Memorial commemorating other state attacks on campaigners for democracy. They brought a scroll bearing the names of 200 protesters killed in Beijing in 1989.

A scroll of names commemorating victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, cascading down the layers of the Peterloo Memorial.A Tiananmen survivor addressing the rally, watched by Peterloo campaigners, with the arched roof of Manchester Central convention complex in the background.
Steve Walker@steve-walker.bsky.social · 5d ago

The thing about stupid people is that they want to advertise it. This evening, fireworks. After a national warning. Abd the firefighters out last night to put out a fire in the fields at the back. I can only assume they're Reform voters.

Caroline Lucas@carolinelucas.bsky.social · last wk.

Really? Is that it? If this is all that’s come from COBR, it’s pitifully inadequate. As crisis deepens, it beggars belief that there aren’t eg plans to increase resources for the fire service, support for farmers, max workplace temperature, funded community cool spaces & obvs ban on new fossil fuels

Andy Burnham warns of summer ban on disposable barbecues

Andy Burnham said he would consider if a restriction on purchasing the products during the summer months could be justified

independent.co.uk

Steve Walker@steve-walker.bsky.social · last wk.

A couple of days ago I bought a copy of Guest's 'The Shackled Continent' in a local charity shop. Opening at home, I find it also contained a flyer for some of Mandela's lithographs and two tickets to visit Robben Island.

Paul Bernal@paulbernal.bsky.social · last wk.

There’s so much romantic rubbish said about the ‘dignity’ of work in some mythical past. Reality? Most jobs were horrible, most bosses hideously exploitative and most workplaces terrible.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2w ago

Nearly 10,000 Punjabi soldiers who died in World War I for Britain have been added to casualty records for the first time — the result of bureaucratic failings that historians say reflected the views of colonial administrators toward non-British troops from its empire.

Punjabi Soldiers Who Fought for Britain in World War I Are Recognized for First Time

Nearly 10,000 Punjabi soldiers who died in World War I have been added to casualty records for the first time.

nyti.ms

Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 3w ago

Anyway, not for the first time, I'm reflecting on how insane it sounds to write, "the long-term purpose of these [Frontier AI] tools is not simply drafting better emails or reducing the time needed for a software developer to complete a task, but the creation of a different social order."

Steve Walker@steve-walker.bsky.social · 3w ago

We are in a strange world when football pundits effectively strike for Lineker's right to defend refugees and UEFA is more willing to stand up to the Trumpians. The footballers giving moral leadership that politicians won't.