iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 17h

The other point about 'washing' is that it assumes Westerners are the target audience. There is a high likelihood that non-Western audiences are the real target, and the point is to establish a reputation, not clean one up.

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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Having long been aware of those tech bros who read my work as utopian porn, where they’ve taken that doesn’t exactly surprise me.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Same (except I use PocketCasts). It's very sticky to the platform you started listening on, especially as it has the listening history which can't be moved easily.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Who would make a good senior defensive assistant for this team. Chuck Pagano seems to be enjoying being on McAfee; is there anyone else?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I think the flip side is making services that the wealthy would want to use would also be expensive. Means testing also allows for a reduction in service quality. No one above 30-40% of median income would ever think about going to a Jobcentre, for example.

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 06/10/2026

Basically all European states have financial issues and basically all are discussing (further) restricting social services/support/etc for the wealthier. See UK re childcare above £100 000. I totally get it. However: we need to acknowledge that this is creating a social contract problem.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Has there ever been a Tyneside merger proposal—to make the two LAs one?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

From what I can tell the London mayor was based on the same idea (New York & Paris were models) just more thought through institutionally. Berlin, Hamburg & Bremen are city-states in German federalism and have the same powers as other states.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I get you. I guess I wonder what would happen in places where the distinction is less clear (e.g. Yorkshire). Executive mayors could work at a lower level though more thought needs to be given to how they held accountable.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I just wonder if the GLA or present urban combined authorities like Greater Manchester would be better run in a parliamentary way rather than as Madisonian entities. This won't be reversed so might as well improve the structures.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Why not parliamentary cities (like Berlin or Hamburg)?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Large German cities like Berlin and Hamburg are parliamentary (the governing mayor is the same as a first minister); not sure much thought was put into the model here other than direct election. The London Assembly is flawed as a scrutiny model but still better than combined authorities.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Did Northern win as well, or are you referring to Central?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What more does Whiteside need to do to have a shot? Has Townsend said anything about this?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I agree, but present events remind you that there are limits to what Russian elites will tolerate in terms of separatism and humiliation. If not the Chechen wars there may well have been conflicts elsewhere.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This would have meant a long stagnation though (like UA) and would probably have lost Russia the Caucasus.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I just wonder what would have happened had the Duma prevailed over Yeltsin in 1993, or would the revanchism still have prevailed.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Is there a convenience store nearby? There tend to be 711 or similar in the Nordics.

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Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This adds way more color: "it is essential for lawmakers, and the public, to understand that none of the reported incidents actually involved loss of control at any time, or arguably even “rogue agents,” or any kind of humanlike agency on the part of AI models." aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...

aiguide.substack.com

Misleading Metaphors, Real Risks

What To Fear from AI Agents and How to Reclaim Our Human Agency

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Now the question is where will he be based? I don't think he'll be in Marsham Street...

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

You said (further up the thread) that it was not the response to this, when it was re-released and used in stories in the Guardian and Times (which Declan quoted). Just trying to clear things up.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The statement is ten days old, but it was re-released in response to this. So you're both right.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Another question, sorry: if the Lions beat the Saints and upset the Bills in week 2, what chances would you give for being 5-0 through the bye week?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Thanks. I just wondered if Yeltsin se the seeds for the present-day Russian state, not that the US had any say over that.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

A counterfactual question: how would Baker or Scowcroft have handled the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993? It feels like much of what we see now is based on indelicate handling of the early 1990s.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Is the secondary meant to be a stopgap until Branch and Joseph get back or do the Lions have faith in it?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Unrelated question inspired by the thumbnail: why aren't chest-high PEDs used outside of Asia?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Thanks. Network Rail just consulted on Castlefield and they have a recent study of central Birmingham and improving capacity through it. The big policy/political challenge is resourcing the necessary improvements.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Have you looked at whether those stations can increase passenger loadings? Just wondering if there is enough capacity to accommodate more suburban density, and things like the Castlefield Corridor in Manchester or the lines through New Street do need upgrade to handle more frequent/longer trains.

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Christina Holland @mortalwombat.info · 31/08/2026

Data centers aren't new but the concept of a data center that can exist in the real world near you is new to a lot of people because they used to go up with no more fanfare then a warehouse but now they announce them as "your town's chance to be part of the AI revolution" which is kinda an own goal

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Room [gap] blur [enormous gap] corporate.

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Isaiah Bishop @isaiahbishop.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Most manufacturing outside of electronics and pharma makes like no gross margin. in textiles its 2%, food 5%, motor vehicles 5%. The idea that like the problem here is distribution of profits is pretty wild

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I agree; I just wonder if this is declining over time. I also wonder if the social circles of British policymakers and corporate leaders overlap with companies being less 'tied' to the UK—you still see (say) a grand écoles overlap in French political and business elites but less of a British one.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I also wonder if much of this has to do with current British corporate structures. The largest British firms are often 'true' multinationals, not really national firms, and are run by transnational executives. What do they gain by actively lobbying the British government?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Isn't this because during the financial crisis they wanted to unilaterally adopt the Euro (like Montenegro) and the Commission/ECB said that they wouldn't provide a backstop if they did?

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This was the original sin - designing a standalone high speed network, including stations, with some concessions to the classic network. A West Coast relief line is what was/is needed and the best possible new line was chosen.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Despite protests to the contrary now there was some desire to have the "best" high speed line in the world, and a lot of the design decisions were taken with that goal in mind. Having parkway stations rather than designing for conventional approaches into cities was a case in point.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This likely didn't happen because of the loading gauge—the desire to run UIC GB+ trains meant that the Watford DC tunnels couldn't be used and new tunnels would have been needed anyway. (You can question using a wider loading gauge at all for compatibility with the classic network.)

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

My column this week is the product of my frustration at a series of myths that I think have grown up at Westminster that provide comfort to the various parties (not all of which I had space to grumble about) to avoid confronting the real choices we actually have:

ft.com

Austerity denial and the mystery of Britain’s shrunken state

There is a ready supply of explanations on offer at Westminster

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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Anyway, just leaving that there with the observation that all of tech policy is just basically different flavours of men being emotional about things and really what am I doing with my life

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Welcome to the United Kingdom.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Possibly. I wouldn't do much of this without a vague 'tax reform' pledge in a manifesto tbh, but cutting the headline rate would probably be a necessary concession.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I think the IFS calculator shows that if you ended zero rating and lowered the business threshold you could raise up to £100 billion. The challenge here is political, not revenue-raising potential.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

True - it would have to be part of a broad tax reform and probably phased in when inflation conditions are more benign. It has potentially a higher yield than the basic rate, though, if zero rating is phased out and the based is as broad as in New Zealand or Denmark.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Well, there is also broadening the VAT base, but that involves alienating a lot of different interests.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Isn't this more Nordic-style holiday houses and cottages than the existing building stock? There is an opportunity for more second homes (and amenities serving them) than for a revival of seaside towns of old.

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Damien Smith @indysmith.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

In Birmingham at the moment (been volunteering for the Athletics). There is a big demand problem in the centre in that big companies don't seem to be there anymore. Corporation St. is a shadow of what it was pre-pandemic. Not sure what to do but more jobs in the centre are needed.

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