Kris @krxsctr

@Keir_Starmer Will I need a VPN to watch the final?

CHALKBOARD EMMA 😭😭😭

Fuck it it’s coming home isn't it

Did no one think through putting Emma Hayes in a literal kitchen

Pre-match in Arlington, Texas. Counting down to England’s World Cup opener against Croatia

This is very good piece and begins to approach a central corruption at the heart of much of Britain’s journalism today, which is principally that the journalistic class as a whole asks Brits what they think of a contemporary issue and already have a higher status answer they want to hear but they know they won’t get. They go and visit for a by-election, do a vox pop, hope for a viral moment with a less articulate member of the public, clip it, ask local politician to respond, clip that, debate it on Sunday political shows, clip that, show that clip to the next member of the public, and the cycle continues in different forms. Very few journalists want to hear what British people think, or critically, why they think that. When asked why they are of the opinion that migration is too high or why things are too expensive, the average person doesn’t have a fully articulated, sense checked and factually correct answer. So they say something which has to usually be within the Overton Window, and if it’s slightly wrong, the journalist will ‘fact check’ them in real time or post. They don’t really pretend to care about the under-arching ‘why’ question. Why would you then engage with journalists as an ordinary person? The social costs are too high: most people inherently understand they are only one ‘got ya’ question away from losing their job or social standing. This is not applicable to all journalists, obviously, and is largely a Lobby occurrence. But for a profession that works around humans every single day, I am often struck by how poorly so many of them understand human nature - perhaps because so many of the incentive structures in Westminster are so irregular.

The New Statesman @NewStatesman

16 hours ago

MAKERFIELD DAYS by @Will___lloyd A season of superlatives was dawning over Makerfield, a collection of peri-rural suburbs, former pit villages and  towns spread beneath Wigan. The vote was seismic. Historic. Make-or-break. The chance of a lifetime. Andy Burnham had staked his

16 47 235 169K 238

@mcandidate I mean he does look like a hardened criminal to be fair

@LBC @TomSwarbrick1 Probably cynical that the only time they get listened to is when a by-election is on and someone arrives from London and shoves a microphone in their face. Just a thought.

"We didn't properly think through this ban, so we're going to try and ban more stuff next month, but we won't think through that either."

BBC Breakfast @BBCBreakfast

2 days ago

'We will make further statements in July about VPNs and further restrictions' Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told #BBCBreakfast she will outline more details next month about the social media ban on under 16s in the UK - as well as additional restrictions on Virtual Private

797 115 293 1.4M 295

@RachelReevesMP I'm all for them being treated the same way as everyone else. Stop giving them free houses in Zone 1, for starters.

Liz Kendall is another classic example of the career politician conveyor belt that dominates modern UK politics. - Born 1971 - School - History at Cambridge (ok, not PPE this is the best of her CV in my view) - Think tank / policy roles (IPPR on health/early years/child development, researcher at King’s Fund) - Special adviser (to Harriet Harman at Social Security, then Patricia Hewitt at Trade & Industry and Health) - Charity / sector roles (Director of Maternity Alliance, Ambulance Services Network) because around half Labour MPs have to come from public advocacy positions - because, reasons - MP for Leicester West (2010–present) - Shadow ministerial roles (Health/Care under Miliband - lol, later Social Care and Work & Pensions under Starmer) - 2015 Labour leadership candidate (Blairite lane, came DEAD LAST with ~4.5%) - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2024–2025) - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (2025–present) She has spent her entire adult life in the public sector, think tanks, charities, special adviser gigs, and politics with zero experience in the private sector, technology companies, engineering, computer science, startups, scaling businesses, or anything resembling building or commercialising actual technology/innovation. That she is now the government appointed minister for technology is absolutely mental but also entirely predictable. Her background is overwhelmingly in health policy, social care, maternity, welfare reform, and early years - perfectly respectable areas I guess - but entirely unrelated to leading on AI, emerging tech, digital infrastructure, R&D strategy, or innovation policy for a G7 economy. Probably the last type of person you’d want as minister for technology at this crucial time as we pivot into the AI/automation age. She has openly described herself as “a historian” rather than an engineer or computer scientist, and admitted she does not use AI in her professional work as the minister responsible for it (only personally for minor tasks). She’s doesn’t even use the tech! It’s just all so stupid. This is precisely why critics argue she is (and many like her are) unfit for the role. The Science, Innovation and Technology brief demands domain understanding of fast-moving, high-stakes technical fields critical to national security, productivity, and growth. Instead, we get another generalist reshuffled through the Fabian/public-policy/NGO carousel - floating between departments with 1-3 years per brief before being moved on, selected for political loyalty and ideological alignment over proven competence or real-world results in the sector they oversee. The UK’s chronic productivity stagnation, brain drain, and struggles in tech/innovation aren’t mysterious to me or anyone with functioning grey matter. When the system systematically promotes people with no skin in the game of markets, risk, or delivery in the actual economy - and insulates them from feedback loops that punish failure - this is the predictable outcome. Liz Kendall’s career path is textbook evidence of the problem. See many others - including my best mate Dan Tomlinson in HMT 🤣

John Wills @johndotwills

19 hours ago

I’m only occasionally harsh on Kendall talking about technology (see the £1.1bn for ‘AI Hardware’) because I thought she was being asked about things outside her brief. I now see her job is Technology Minister and I want to apologise. I should have been more harsh, more often.

19 31 355 49K 27

I’m only occasionally harsh on Kendall talking about technology (see the £1.1bn for ‘AI Hardware’) because I thought she was being asked about things outside her brief. I now see her job is Technology Minister and I want to apologise. I should have been more harsh, more often. This is a ‘Harold Shipman, Minister for the Elderly’ situation. Dangerously dim, and with objectives in opposition to the brief.

BBC Breakfast @BBCBreakfast

2 days ago

'We will make further statements in July about VPNs and further restrictions' Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told #BBCBreakfast she will outline more details next month about the social media ban on under 16s in the UK - as well as additional restrictions on Virtual Private

797 115 293 1.4M 295

@michael_riordan More than that - if there's an area where the government of the day can be said to almost guarantee a hearing for its agenda, it's broadcast media.

“we’ve heard the criticisms that you’ll be able to avoid total surveillance ID-for-internet-use system by using a VPN and have decided to go full china by formally banning those as well”

BBC Breakfast @BBCBreakfast

2 days ago

'We will make further statements in July about VPNs and further restrictions' Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told #BBCBreakfast she will outline more details next month about the social media ban on under 16s in the UK - as well as additional restrictions on Virtual Private

797 115 293 1.4M 295

@TheRealBirnbaum @unusual_whales Because "educational establishment" is doing some heavy lifting under some circumstances

@TomHCalver Brexit impact, or deliberate policy choices since Brexit impact?

@TheRealBirnbaum @unusual_whales You're correct, you don't understand the UK education system. Typically you need formal qualifications such as A Levels or equivalent to apply and get in.

@ms_samldn @DailyMail Whataboutery doesn't work anymore

@AureaLibe @brivael They can ask Claude to do it and be done in ten minutes

Il n'y a pas "un VPN" à bloquer. Vous louez un serveur à 5 euros par mois chez Hetzner, DigitalOcean ou AWS, vous installez WireGuard ou OpenVPN en trois commandes, et vous avez votre propre VPN sur une IP que personne n'a sur sa liste de blocage. Un gamin de 16 ans fait ça pendant la page de pub.

Brivael Le Pogam @brivael

2 days ago

"Interdire les VPN", c'est ne rien comprendre à ce qu'est un VPN. Un VPN, ce n'est pas un produit, c'est un principe. Un tunnel chiffré entre votre machine et un serveur que vous choisissez. Votre trafic ressort avec l'adresse de ce serveur, point final. C'est de la

182 1K 4K 549K 1K