Indy

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #542!

The world needs a high-quality, truly open language model. I wrote about why it’s necessary and why it’s easier to build than you might think.

Literally enlisting people in using growth hacking tactics *against* the networks themselves. I don't know that this is replicable, I don't know how this changes down the line against an adversary who might be even more brazen in their interference, but it worked this time.

What's striking to me are the rules of engagement and the methodology of action here, which more or less is predicated on burying liberal delusions about "debate" or the "marketplace of ideas". The rules were ultimately very simple: amplify your own message and suppress your opponent's.

I don't know that there is a template or a "secret sauce" or a clear-cut lesson to take from this. But if there is one it's the idea of treating social media as the hostile territory that it is, of actually acting like you are a participant in propaganda warfare and not like a consumer.

What is true is that this was a conflict—and make no mistake, this was a conflict; this was a protracted battle in a hybrid war, more than anything—that was largely fought by large numbers of people laboriously working to unfuck the nation's informational environment.

Andy Haldane says Britain is "taxed out". I don't understand what this means. Here are the European countries that have grown faster than the UK in the last decade, but with higher tax/GDP ratios Cyprus Poland Croatia Slovenia Iceland Portugal Slovakia ... www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Very hard not to feel we're falling back to the Britain of my childhood, where racial abuse (and violence then, not so much now, yet) from all ages was just considered normal.

One for @celestialweasel.bsky.social

This is fucked. Really bleak how entrenched this is becoming.

One for @dsquareddigest.bsky.social

One for @sonofsuntzu.bsky.social

Protestors Criticized For Looting Businesses Without Forming Private Equity Firm First https://theonion.com/protestors-criticized-for-looting-businesses-without-fo-1843735351/

The “school for organising” mentioned sounds like it could use the VSM @dsquareddigest.bsky.social

New research from E3G out today once again showing that getting off fossil fuels lowers bills and improves quality of life www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Last week above the city of Rhenen in The Netherlands. I had been wanting to photograph this church tower with these kinds of conditions for years, and I finally managed to do so. What a morning.

One for @dsquareddigest.bsky.social

Remember when "balance of payment deficits" were the most important thing, and newsreaders, politicians and economic correspondents would solemnly intone about them every month?

REMINDER: If govt cuts heat-pump grants, the UK will have to import a lot more gas In 2023, Energy UK said that'd cost an extra £3bn over 2026-2030, but gas prices today are roughly ~2x what they were at the time of the analysis…

Top three articles on the Times website are currently a barrage of hate against funding for disabled people, including an attack on Access to Work *which is money to help disabled people find/stay in paid work*

This is depressingly on point: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reposting for the early shift

Interesting thread of organisations

Might be of interest to some in this bailiwick: ocw.mit.edu/courses/res-...

This seems sub optimal.

I think this was very apparent during the Brexit negotiations. Large financial institutions - with real economic weight - generally would have preferred to stay in the Single Market. But some very prominent Brexiteer hedge funders preferred a harder Brexit. The HFers often had more access.

'You are not fragile. You are outnumbered.' Professor @pfonagy.bsky.social, Chair of the Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism (2026), with his letter to a young person. www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

This is a great piece that unfortunately contains a lot of lessons about British politics.

Good to pair this with bsky.app/profile/sjwr...

Useful reading. Possibly it could be pinned up in the econ reporting dept at the BBC?

If you're interested in economics and are not reading Beatrice Cherrier's substack, time to subscribe: theundercoverhistorian.substack.com/p/on-the-mic...

One for @sonofsuntzu.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

Another hotel has to put out a statement following black or brown people seen entering or leaving the building. "post shared in a local Facebook community group". Ban Facebook. Regulate it to death. IT professionals attending a conference at ExCeL. thehaveringdaily.co.uk/2026/10/09/t...

Tl;dr - it is predictable right now that the Chancellor, certainly next year and perhaps this year too, will have to spend less and tax more than currently being forecast because the government's immigration outcomes and policy goals directly contradict the assumptions of OBR forecasts

Another on the list of "things that are obvious from the evidence yet ignored" is "current immigration policy will deliver a great big hole in future budgets". The OBR currently assumes net migration bottoms out at 200k then rises. That isn't going to happen

Inhumane but that's the point Likewise, the fundamental illegality of these plans plays to Reform's base. Thing is, it just wouldn't work. It'd cost far more to implement than a functioning asylum system and would turbo charge levels of undocumented migration #r4today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

cc @torstenbell.bsky.social @lizzicollinge.bsky.social

One would think this dynamic might be of interest to the Education Secretary, because HO is changing HE funding situation unilaterally; the Treasury, for similar reasons; and the Foreign Office because “we won’t take students from your country” has significant foreign policy implications

It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/?

This mess is a symptom of the cross-party consensus that being cruel to immigrants is a good thing (because 30% of the electorate really like it.)

Shades of Douglas Adams here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMOx... cc @celestialweasel.bsky.social @pmc.bsky.social