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Mark Appleby

@markappleby.bsky.social
115 followers 246 following 40 posts

Enterprise Architect, Bristol UK

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Reposted by Mark Appleby
Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
'Watson told the podcast he would work with a Reform UK government on immigration crackdowns if the situation arose, saying: “[Palantir] don’t actually work in that sector, but yes, of course we would"' www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Palantir’s Tom Watson says ‘mob rule’ must not dictate awarding of government contracts
Former Labour deputy leader says tech firm would work with a Reform UK government on immigration crackdowns
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Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 09/10/2026
So are Ofcom just going to sit back and let US techbros live stream an execution to the UK in December? What does Burnham have to say about it?
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Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Absolute trash, by trash people who are not scientists
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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
To govern is to choose, or some such. Not difficult to see why so many see the Tories as the nasty party.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"a new mental climate". "a culture of resentment". Interesting and thought-provoking beyond France, what is belonging and society in today's extensively inter-connected world, and do politicians have answers - not obviously.
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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The UK becoming one big fossil fuel fired data centre for US hyperscalers with a few isolated housing developments with no local amenities scattered around them is certainly a vision. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tories to pledge to scrap Environment Agency and Natural England
Shadow chancellor will also promise to scrap affordable homes regulations as part of strategy to refocus on growth
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Heather Burns @heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Me, 2021: describes openly racist age verification providers licking their lips at the possibility of using their products to identify and ban foreigners from the internet in Britain 2026: Rupert Lowe is an investor in an age verification provider theuglygame.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/p...
theuglygame.wordpress.com
Prophets without profits
The government’s favourite provider of child protection software, SafeToNet – a perpetually loss-making firm run by recently born-again Christians – has finally filed its long-delayed accounts. The…
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 01/10/2026
Going to be honest this might be my favourite headline of the AI bubble
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hey, remember when engineering fields (all of them) took pride in precision, rigorous testing, safety standards, sufficient margins for error, etc? Yeah, that was nice. www.404media.co/these-tech-w... >>
404media.co
These Tech Workers Made ChatGPT Drive a Toyota Corolla
The team used frontier LLMs with no prior training data navigate a simple parking lot course.
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 29/09/2026
Reuters got some of the IPO docs. Anthropic is a total dog of a company. Spent $12.6bn to make $4.6bn in revenue in 2025, $7.33bn of which was compute costs. Operating loss of $8bn. Losses getting worse year over year. Amazing stuff www.reuters.com/business/fin...
Summary
Companies
• Anthropic IPO could value the company at more than $2
trillion
• Anthropic lost $42 billion in 2025
• Al lab spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure last year
• Operating loss widened to $8.06 billion in 2025 from $2.98 billion in 2024
• Execs, industry analysts have expressed concerns over harms of Al tech
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Anthropic is making a massive bet that Al will transform the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters.
But the cost to get there will be staggering. Anthropic reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, and plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in coming year, according to the
prospectus.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
as a satire on so-called late stage capitalism how could one beat investors pouring a trillion into a company offering to wipe out humankind
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 27/09/2026
Wow ... "X Blocks Account of National Conference of Bishops of Brasil As Catholics Back Lula" paydayreport.com/x-blocks-acc...
paydayreport.com
X Blocks Account of National Conference of Bishops of Brasil As Catholics Back Lula
Polls show Catholics backing Lula as the church denounces foreign interference.
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Mark Appleby @markappleby.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The false ”rogue” narrative rolls out again. These autonomous hacking tools have been built and released on the orders of tech bro execs who need to be prosecuted each time this happens. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/t...
nytimes.com
OpenAI’s A.I. Went Rogue and Meddled With U.S. Government Websites
The company did not learn until recently that its technology had meddled with websites for the Education and Commerce Departments and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The human intelligence atrophy aspect of AI also deserves more attention:
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Ian Birrell @ianbirrell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Big NYT investigation into how Russia uses shell companies and Tether, a crypto coin, to evade sanctions and buy arms www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/b... One of the key shareholders in Tether is Christopher Harborne - the Thai-based man who is Reform's biggest donor and bunged £5m into Farage's pocket
nytimes.com
The ‘Monster’ Behind Russia’s Global Effort to Evade Western Sanctions
A Moscow firm uses shell companies and cryptocurrency to launder money, and a custom app to forge trade records, to help Russia bypass sweeping financial restrictions.
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 24/09/2026
Open AI will have to answer for this ... "ChatGPT also discussed reloading time and potential casualties: "Assuming each shell results in one hit, you might down 1o to 20 people max, depending on spacing, density, reaction times, and chaos." www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
motherjones.com
ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals
OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As always, the party of individual liberty wants to subject the choices and behaviours of the worst off to relentless moralising control
bbc.co.uk
Tories would prevent long-term jobless spending benefits on alcohol and cigarettes
The proposals would also see benefits cut for people who are able to work but have failed to hold down a job.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 23/09/2026
I think once black clad men are interfering with rescues at sea, we are past "legitimate concerns". Once they're attacking boats, and risking the lives of everyone on board, it's just thuggery. The Home Secretary's statement is on the side of criminals. There's no other way to read it.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I did say Shabana Mahmood would be on the side of the thugs. Burnham keeping her in post was an utter disgrace. Labour supporters should be brave enough to say so. So should Labour MPs.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The British right has now descended to the point where 'the England team are not English' is becoming the consensus position
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
‘We’ll eradicate the state pension’ would be quite the proposal for Reform www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Thinktank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension
‘Radical’ report likely to influence party’s platform also proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains taxes
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
who's up for robbing banks while shouting "stop the boats" so no-one arrests us?
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 22/09/2026
Just set up a monthly donation to RNLI after reading this thread. Christ.
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Miles King @milesking.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
What a farce. As farmers fail to access funds to support sustainable farming, this will undoubtedly mean valuable wildlife habitat (recently created or much older) will be destroyed, as farmers feel they have no option but to intensify their farming systems. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Worse than the scramble for Oasis tickets’: England’s sustainable farming funds run out in just six hours
Entire £233m budget for 2026 allocated in less than a day, leaving thousands of farmers disappointed
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 22/09/2026
Hard to explain how gobsmacking this is. The government opened applications for farm subsidies this morning at 10. And closed it just before 4 because they'd run out of cash. Applying for your livelihood like it's Oasis tickets. defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/22/s...
defrafarming.blog.gov.uk
SFI26: Window 2 now closed
Window 2 of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) has now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit an application.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
From @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and me on what we should take from the 2026 summer of AI hype: www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/22/1...
technologyreview.com
Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype
Breathless claims about AGI and new capabilities fall apart pretty quickly under scrutiny.
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 20/09/2026
I don't think we disdain the center-right enough. First, they rode nativist populist tigers to power to get their tax cuts and deregulation; Then, they lost control of their own parties to those tigers; Now, they sit in lucrative jobs as columnists writing about how it's all the left's fault.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 19/09/2026
I think it should be a source of deep embarrassment – and perhaps even shame – that Rishi Sunak has spoken out on this before Andy Burnham has.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🔴 Something Tom Watson won't tell you: Five police forces in the East Midlands working with Palantir on a controversial surveillance programme are ending their involvement Exclusive by Democracy for Sale and Liberty Investigates. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-f...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Revealed: Five police forces to drop Palantir surveillance tool
Exclusive: Palantir's UK policing ambitions take a hit as East Midlands forces end their involvement in a controversial data pilot.
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Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
If you add in £130m losses on “Reform TV” (aka GB News) the effective subsidy of Farage’s party from just four men tops £200m. You just have to join the dots app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/75017/...
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk
Farage and the £130m even his detractors have missed
GB news has provided relentless positive PR for Nigel Farage while racking up tens of millions in financial losses. And now there is a new channel in the offing
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
BREAKING; The UK has lost confidence in Jim Ratcliffe. Actually, that happened when he scooted off to Monaco to avoid paying tax, tried to force fracking on Britain, and claimed the UK had been ‘colonised by migrants’. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"RNLI crew members had been forced to take their permits off their cars after their tyres have been repeatedly slashed. Most of them have been pilloried at the school gates or turned away from local pubs. One man who worked in search and rescue had been beaten unconscious and hospitalised"
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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Really excellent article. As I so often find myself saying: we gotta un-decline deference.
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 16/09/2026
The lesson from this week is that most of the UK media thinks Hot Fuzz is a horror movie about a woke city cop destroying a perfectly admirable local community.
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Very nice to hear a sane voice from Piddington. Serious respect to this woman, who is apparently already being othered by more bigoted villagers.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 16/09/2026
I'm sorry, but what on *Earth* is that quote from Lisa Nandy? Who does Labour think its voters are? Does anyone in the party have any kind of theory of how they win the next election that isn't just slammjng the "appease racists" button over and over again until it starts working?
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Mark Appleby @markappleby.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A lot of people are drunk on AI sci-fi fantasies, from tech bros wanting their cut of trillion dollar valuations, to AI-safety cultists who prefer to remain ignorant of actual systems. How do we sober them up? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Could AI really wipe out humanity – six experts spell out the risks
We examine claims and counterclaims about the risks and calls to slow down the pace of AI development
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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Excellent piece here on the doubtful loyalties of too much of the UK tech policy scene
opendemocracy.net
Matt Clifford joining Anthropic makes a joke of the UK’s Sovereign AI Strategy
British startups will now be competing against the UK’s best-connected AI lobbyist who was meant to be their champion against US tech dominance.
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
aleximas.substack.com/p/will-ai-so... The best blog ever written on AI and growth, by a clear margin. By @aleximas.bsky.social
aleximas.substack.com
Will AI soon lead to double-digit growth?
Probably not. Here is why.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Ben Delo who has just given Reform £36m is the same Ben Delo who US prosecutors said was the leader of a ‘criminal enterprise’ But hey ho, it’s fine for him- and any other crypto bro - to buy British democracy lock stock and barrel democracyforsale.substack.com/p/reforms-4m...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Reform's £4m donor "thumbed his nose at the law", US prosecutors said
Ben Delo has called his US conviction a "non-crime". Prosecutors said the Farage-backing crypto billionaire was a “leader of a criminal enterprise”.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is completely on Andy Burnham Last week Labour could have stopped this. Now we have a single person giving more money than the entire general election spending limit for a political party www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
telegraph.co.uk
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
As I keep pointing out, does no one understand Ricardian comparative advantage anymore. FACT: China produces over 1 million engineering graduates per year FACT: To date, China has not produced a single internationally marketable game show format Where does it look like our advantage lies?
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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Rarely seen a more desperate act of lobbyist pleading, to a government that *still* isn't going to provide financial help
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“The knobbly knee competition starts in ten minutes. Best feet forward, lads.”
Nazis with knobbly knees
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Yet again, it’s the satirists I feel sorriest for…
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Anthony Barnett @anthonybarnett.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Are Musk and Theil the inheritors of bin Laden’s “fundamentalist spirit-world”, armed not with hi-jacked planes but the internet itself? 25 years after 9/11. @opendemocracy.net runs Todd Gitlin, Paul Gilroy and Tom Nairn's response at the time www.opendemocracy.net/revisiting-9...
opendemocracy.net
Revisiting 9/11
openDemocracy found its purpose in the need to make sense of the world after the collapse of the twin towers. Revisit our reportage from the time.
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Rick @flipchartrick.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Great piece by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com referring to the work of Marleen Huysman. I’ve met Marleen in the course of some work I’ve been doing. Her team has been going into organisations looking at the impact of AI over time. She has found that AI is disorganising organisations.🧵
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's always the way, isn't it giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Graph shows far right support higher where the number of foreign nationals is lowest
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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This is that "vendor lock-in" problem you may have heard about Recent report from the SITC Committee committees.parliament.uk/committee/13... Particularly egregious because it's Palantir, obv #techpolicy #publicprocurement
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 07/09/2026
Speaking of plagiarism: www.scientificamerican.com/article/open...
scientificamerican.com
OpenAI’s latest math breakthroughs commit research misconduct, experts say
OpenAI released 10 AI-generated results over the weekend. Some mathematicians are unhappy with their approach
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