Reposted by Martin RobbinsAndy Bruce (Reuters) @bruceandy.bsky.social · 11hGet this - real GDP per head has grown by 1.1% over the first half of 2026. Excluding the swings caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, that's the largest increase since late 2017. 43111
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJames O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 23hHappy birthday to my YIMBY Pod co-host and Britain’s youngest Jag owner, @mjrobbins.com! 0132
Reposted by Martin RobbinsSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Every private conversation in Westminster: "Well the triple lock obviously has to go at some point". Every commentator on Burnham: "completely mad to propose getting rid of triple lock - political suicide". 39621126
Reposted by Martin RobbinsIain Roberts @slowbikeiain.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I've no idea why the Telegraph thinks the mine is being opened by Labour and not the companies that have worked hard over several years to develop it to this point, but this is very positive news for Cornwall and the UK. 1152
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 27/09/2026How is he good at travelling if it takes him that long? 080
Reposted by Martin RobbinsIan Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I could quote pretty much this entire article by @mjrobbins.com on the bizarre psychology of the AI apocalypse freaks, but you should just read it instead. Such a relief to see someone express my feelings so eloquently. martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-ai-apo... 39402110
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 25/09/2026I love The Good Place and I think inherently these lists compare apples and oranges but I’d make a case for The US Office for sheer longevity, depth, consistency, the breadth and quality of its cast, the number of careers it launched. The Cheers of its time. 110
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 25/09/2026This is a classic for players of Europa Universalis IV! (Savoy) 010
Reposted by Martin RobbinsGaia Vince @wanderinggaia.bsky.social · 24/09/2026So good! By @mjrobbins.commartinrobbins.substack.comThe AI Apocalypse is Extremely Boring NowElites are obsessed with the end of the world. Most people have bigger problems. 093
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 22/09/2026More that it’s never really made clear from a systems/domain perspective how ‘Claude 6’ materially changes the risk or the way it should be managed (or not). 000
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 22/09/2026“What if it causes a deadly virus to leak from a lab causing a global pandemic…? Okay well what if it bombards us with streams of ragebait and misinfo…? Right, well what if it disrupted global shipping leading to…“ 150
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 22/09/2026Why does every AI Doomer scenario sound like the scene where Dr Evil threatens to put a hole in the Ozone Layer 🤷♂️ 170
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 22/09/2026So the exact same premise as the plot of Dr Strangelove, 62 years ago, based on 1950s technology 371
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 22/09/2026Anyway, this has all the makings of a classic British scandal where something really bad happens, and we pretend the conditions weren't painfully obvious beforehand. 421317
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 22/09/2026Maybe we should have arrested this guy for blocking ports. 21730145
Reposted by Martin RobbinsRobert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 22/09/2026Hard 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.ukSFI26: Window 2 now closedWindow 2 of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) has now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit an application. 1415472
Reposted by Martin RobbinsMargaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 22/09/2026"I wonder to what extent these smart people are drawn to AI precisely because of its grandiosity; because fixing the boring problems of society like healthcare or inequality is beneath people as smart as them." Very interesting post from @mjrobbins.com: martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-ai-apo...martinrobbins.substack.comThe AI Apocalypse is Extremely Boring NowElites are obsessed with the end of the world. Most people have bigger problems. 021
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 22/09/2026ICYMI: my post on the sheer unhealthiness and groupthink of the culture around AI, "a community of would-be-martyrs, enmeshed in a deep paranoid fantasy that they alone can stave off the end of the world."martinrobbins.substack.comThe AI Apocalypse is Extremely Boring NowElites are obsessed with the end of the world. Most people have bigger problems. 23412
Reposted by Martin RobbinsCharlie Massey @charliecoffee.bsky.social · 21/09/2026This is excellent, and reminds me to keep picking the tomatoes before the skins split, and make sure I've got a loaf out of the freezer for lunch. 012
Reposted by Martin RobbinsKate Bevan @katebevan.com · 20/09/2026This is a bit long but a nice skewering of the arrogant twats locked in their little bubbles who are driving the "AI is going to kill us all" nonsense. 5172
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 20/09/2026I just asked Claude and copy pasted the answer into my post 🤷♂️ 110
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 20/09/2026This is extremely good, though I am less certain than Martin that superintelligence (which I take to mean more intelligent than human) can't exist, given I don't think there is anything in the laws of physics that would prevent it 072
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 20/09/2026It really hit me writing this piece that you've got this cohort of people who created the perfect excuse to justify any behaviour and the best they could come up with was a lame nerdy version of the same shit their grandparents were doing in San Francisco six decades ago. 130
Reposted by Martin RobbinsKat Arney @katarney.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Far too many quotable bits in @mjrobbins.com latest piece about the AI apocalypse doomed, so you'll just have to go read the whole thing martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-ai-apo...martinrobbins.substack.comThe AI Apocalypse is Extremely Boring NowElites are obsessed with the end of the world. Most people have bigger problems. 134
Reposted by Martin RobbinsStephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Very much enjoyed @mjrobbins.com conversation-paced rant about the supposed threat of so-called superintelligent AI. martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-ai-apo... 257
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 20/09/2026Yeah I’d be super annoyed if Claude went rogue just before I got my vibe coded HS2 game working. 120
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 20/09/2026Obviously going to regret this when Claude starts a nuclear war on Monday.martinrobbins.substack.comThe AI Apocalypse is Extremely Boring NowElites are obsessed with the end of the world. Most people have bigger problems. 85418
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 19/09/2026The other thing is video is discoverable in a way that text doesn’t seem to be and I’m not sure if that’s a function of the medium or the specific platforms (YouTube is insane for discovery, Substack is not in the same way) 010
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 19/09/2026Thinking a lot about this piece, and I think it’s crystallised for me why self driving cars are a terrible idea. 030
Reposted by Martin RobbinsRobert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 18/09/2026It's vastly more comforting to believe in an imminent robot apocalypse than the truth: the things that will destroy us are extensions of the unsexy but obvious problems all around us. We are not doomed in one grand way, but a thousand petty small ways. 803182570
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 17/09/2026I mean it’s possible but gun-to-my-head I’d be amazed if the biggest users weren’t in or adjacent to the tech industry. And we’re talking orders of magnitude difference in use. 030
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 17/09/2026Boring answer is almost none, chatting with an LLM uses virtually no tokens compared to cowork or code. The big token usage is when you’re using it to inefficiently search Slack or Confluence or JIRA or trawl through a code base. 131
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJames Ball @jamesrball.com · 16/09/2026I do think anyone who wants us to take Elizer Yudkowsky seriously as an authority on AI armageddon should be forced to testify on video that they have read the entirety of his 660,000 word rationalist Harry Potter fan fiction – written aged 30–34 – and still thinks the world needs his take. 32724122
Reposted by Martin RobbinsTracy King @tracyking.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Fascinated by this thread of what parents gave their kids for dinner tonight, and how it compares to my childhood memories of Smash and tinned hot dog sausages or Findus Crispy Pancakes and Supernoodles: www.reddit.com/r/UKParentin...reddit.comFrom the UKParenting community on RedditExplore this post and more from the UKParenting community 041
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 15/09/2026Most shows end in an unsatisfying mess and they're written by professional writers; so I'm sorry to inform you that the history of the world will have the 'How I Met Your Mother'-est of endings. 040
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 14/09/2026Omg the morons who think if you use both lanes and merge-in-turn you're 'cutting in' and try to block you. 1190
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 12/09/2026God, just imagine if an insane person ended up in control of the US arsenal 120
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 11/09/2026🚨 NEW BLOGPOST 🚨 The last week has seen multiple incidents of masked mobs trying to subvert the power of the state. Their actions have been illegal and unpleasant. But the treatment has been weak. The police haven't dealt with it, and neither has govt. open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...open.substack.comStop the LoutsThe tools exist. The will, so far, doesn't. 19440161
Reposted by Martin RobbinsSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Devolution created a natural experiment here and we have the results. bsky.app/profile/tom-... 1418338
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 05/09/2026A large group of co-ordinated, masked men blockading a piece of significant infrastructure is a security threat and should be dealt with as one. There should also be serious questions about why police/intelligence services didn't pick up on it in advance. 57945271
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 04/09/2026Tbh most planning disputes are about people vs people. People want better transport and cheaper housing and net zero and data centres and open fields and cheap food and local farming and the price of their homes to stay inflated. 110
Reposted by Martin RobbinsMax Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Millenials are the only generation who received a survivable dosage of Internet. Gen Z has only every known Internet. Boomers and Gen X didn't grow up with Internet, so they succumbed to it immediately. 918027
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 02/09/2026I mean also I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure the landlord is getting credit checked when he gets the mortgage 090
Reposted by Martin RobbinsMarie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 01/09/2026have written about this before and, given the population of this website I guess I need to make that point carefully, but at what point do we start looking at how those kids got parented? am absolutely not doubting The World is also to blame but surely it can't be just that? 8742753
Reposted by Martin RobbinsRob Blundell @blundell.eu · 31/08/2026TheGuardian still behind the curve @mjrobbins.com bsky.app/profile/mjro... 011
Reposted by Martin RobbinsJames O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 28/08/2026Any MP who signs on to Burgon's motion is not acting within the national interest. We need more data centres – and it comes down to a question of security: takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-case-f...takes.jamesomalley.co.ukThe case for Nightingale DatacentresBritain isn’t prepared for the looming AI national security crisis 104617