I see it as a loss of faith in humanity - a lack of confidence that we can solve our own problems (which is daft as we already have most of the answers we need). I'll look forward to reading your piece.

The UK autumn budget announced tax cuts. I'm always truly baffled as to why governments think this is a good idea. The NI cut is saving me £7 a week. Meanwhile, I can't get good medical care and my daughter's school can't afford teachers, support staff and equipment. Grrr...

With all eyes on OpenAI, Meta drags its Responsible AI team to the recycle bin www.theregister.com/...

Meta scraps its Responsible AI team in latest reshuffle

Ethics staff shifted to generative ML and infrastructure units

"Under his eye," and all that. What an arsehole!

Watching the drama at OpenAI, I'm becoming more convinced that the tech bro's - and more broader centering commercial application - will not be restrained in any way. And that's really bad news for humans, given our current political governance.

Something I wrote a while ago (2017), which from the standpoint of today seems rather prophetic. It also shows that in a certain period of my time in Essex, I was utterly miserable, but giving it a sociological slant. politicsandinsights.org/2017/05/14/c...

Conservatism eats itself by Deborah Talbot

This article from guest author Deborah Talbot is also published on The Sociological Imagination site. Conservative politics are everywhere, but what is Conservatism and what are Conservatives really ...

I see the sacking of Braverman in the UK has triggered another around of media fash porn. Why everyone in the media is so obsessed with this useless and unpopular person is a mystery, but she certainly gets some great PR from it.

“Just five rich global north countries are responsible for the majority (51%) of planned new oil and gas extraction to 2050: the US, Canada, Australia, Norway and the UK. These countries have the responsibility to move first to phase out fossil fuel production.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Insanity’: petrostates planning huge expansion of fossil fuels, says UN report

Plans by nations including Saudi Arabia, the US and UAE would blow climate targets and ‘throw humanity’s future into question’

If you were ever considering setting up a monthly payment to Greenpeace, now might be the time. www.greenpeace.org/internationa...

Donated yesterday. Shell clearly trying to double down on its decision to abandon ESG.