Reposted by Oli HawkinsAatish Bhatia @aatishb.com · 23/09/2026In other news, I started a new blog. Living my best internet life like it's 2015 :) 1165
Reposted by Oli HawkinsVoilà: Francis Gagnon @chezvoila.com · 24/09/2026The results of the State of the (dataviz) Industry Survey of the @datavizsociety.bsky.social just came out. Of course, it's full of charts. 📊new.datavisualizationsociety.orgData Visualization State of the Industry 2025 ReportExecutive Summary The 2025 SOTI survey was disseminated online between December 17, 2025 and January 30, Distribution mechanisms included an email announcement and series of reminders from the… 2114
Reposted by Oli Hawkinsrax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 29/09/2026i agree with the key point here and will add to it that there IS a reward, it’s knowing you did one right thing instead of walking around plagued by the nameless shame that afflicts all men who are determined to live the most frictionless lives possible 302034301
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 29/09/2026If you are in the US and looking for opportunities to get into data journalism, the FT's New York team is recruiting a Summer Intern for 2027. job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/financialtim...job-boards.eu.greenhouse.ioData Journalism Summer InternNew York 096
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 27/09/2026Increasingly persuaded of the significance of the HuggingFace hack. Irrespective of OpenAI’s sloppiness, the behaviour of the agents is genuinely interesting. swarmtraces.orgswarmtraces.orgRevealing the details of how OpenAI agents hacked Hugging FaceWhen a swarm of 700 OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face in July, they left behind a public trail of evidence. 2238
Reposted by Oli HawkinsRobin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 02/04/2026Please gird yourself for months of shameless self-promotion, mute me on socials, feel free to avoid me in public etc, because my next book — A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World — is now available for pre-orders. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/750210... 2229446
Reposted by Oli HawkinsNathan Lambert @natolambert.bsky.social · 19/09/2026A big problem with the AI forecasting discourse is that people ask “when will AI replace X job?” When in reality, AI will slowly replace a bunch of the sub-skills needed to do the job, but rarely all of them. 4255
Reposted by Oli HawkinsAriel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026STOP QUOTE TWEETING THE POLL ACCOUNTS THAT NEVER LINK BACK TO THE POLLS THEY'RE MENTIONING thank you 141091108
Reposted by Oli HawkinsVoilà: Francis Gagnon @chezvoila.com · 10/09/2026I've just done the largest update to the #dataviz starter pack, with 30 accounts (20%) replaced. It means it will generate more content now. Might be worth re-clicking. Sadly, gender imbalance got worse. I saved 5 spots for women-run accounts. Send suggestions, including yourself! Replies or DMs. 114513
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 22/09/2026The Associated Press's three letter code for the Pirate Party is ARG. 😆 developer.ap.org/ap-elections...developer.ap.orgPolitical Party Codes 070
Reposted by Oli HawkinsDanielle Navarro @djnavarro.net · 20/09/2026Please, I am begging you. Do not use dplyr::ntile() in any serious statistical analysis in which you want to group continuous observation into quantile-based bins. Despite the name it doesn't actually do that, and the thing it actually does is very dangerous when accuracy matter. #rstatsblog.djnavarro.netThe trouble with ‘ntile()’ – Notes from a data witchPlease, please, please do not use ‘dplyr::ntile()’ in an analysis that will be submitted to a regulatory agency. It’s secretly an ill-conceived SQL tool that doesn’t do what you probably want it to, a... 68831
Reposted by Oli HawkinsEj Dickson @ejdickson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026There is a corner of the internet I had never heard of before I started reporting this story. It’s called the “burnerverse”: a network of anon burner accounts ostensibly discussing college sports. But they have another goal: destroying young girls’ lives.🧵: www.wired.com/story/burner...wired.comA College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to WorkMaddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back. 7923261009
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJack Bailey @jack-bailey.co.uk · 14/09/2026Picked up a copy of "Hyperpolitics" on a whim after seeing it promoted all over the place and I can only conclude that Verso have an amazing marketing department because there's not much substance here and the evidence base is weak. 1821243
Reposted by Oli HawkinsChris Cook @chriscook.news · 14/09/2026I think some of the stuff about cryptoassets being used for political donations is a bit muddled: a) there’s no reason a payment in crypto is hard to handle. You can easily make systems that only accept payments *after* a KYC process. 232
Reposted by Oli HawkinsNathan Lambert @natolambert.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Open-Source AI & Open Models Reading List How to get up to speed on open models and their implications. www.interconnects.ai/p/open-sourc...interconnects.aiOpen-Source AI & Open Models Reading ListHow to get up to speed on open models and their implications. 1414
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 11/09/2026At just about every level of society, on a like for like basis the English (with a relatively low life expectancy for Western Europe) comfortably outlive the Americans. Why? The NHS, yes, but also better food and workplace safety standards, a stronger welfare safety net, less reliance on cars etc. 108732
Reposted by Oli HawkinsToby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026So triage services like OpenRouter that optimise each query for cost vs quality, increasingly send stuff to open models. 13513
Reposted by Oli HawkinsToby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026How about large free open weight models? The performance gap for hard stuff is pretty slim. 1203
Reposted by Oli HawkinsToby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026🚨 How big is the open-model threat to AI hyperscalers? (Spoiler: non-trivial) www.ft.com/content/4858...ft.comHow big is the open-model threat to AI hyperscalers?Games without frontiers 57930
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 08/09/2026Been experimenting with using coding agents in my development process for the last two months. Am increasingly confident there is a way of using LLMs that improves productivity, preserves your understanding of the code, and makes you a better programmer. I realise this will make me few friends here. 4301
Reposted by Oli HawkinsAmy Borrett @amyborrett.ft.com · 08/09/2026Britain’s state-owned electricity system operator has awarded Palantir a £21mn contract without inviting rival bids, arguing critical processes are too reliant on its tech to run a competitive procurement process Latest for @financialtimes.com: as.ft.com/r/7fe6c0b7-2...as.ft.comBritain’s grid operator gave Palantir contract without inviting rival bidsNeso cited a legal exemption that removes the requirement to consider other suppliers if dependencies leave no alternative 29368217
Reposted by Oli HawkinsSunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Here @stephenkb.bsky.social seeks to remind the Labour government, old & new, that the point + purpose of recognising "legitimate concerns" about immigration was to understand how to differentiate these from *illegitimate concerns* rooted in intimidation + xenophobia www.ft.com/content/2279...ft.comLabour’s muddled migration policy won’t stop thuggeryA government that can’t distinguish between ‘legitimate concerns’ and open racism is only making things worse 1429190
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 07/09/2026I want the Prime Minister to look into a TV camera and say the RNLI are heroes, that we do not change policy by street violence in this country, and that he expects any criminal action to face the full force of the law. That's it. That's all he has to do. 632778878
Reposted by Oli HawkinsWessel van Rensburg @wildebees.bsky.social · 06/09/2026The week ahead in the EU geopolitical calendar (6 Sep to 12 Sep): the 12 highest-impact of 14 events, one post each with a link. Full calendar: geo-v.eu (BETA - can have errors)geo-v.euGeoVeu — EU-centered geo-economic watch calendarA sourced calendar of scheduled geopolitical and geo-economic events that matter for Europe: monetary policy, trade actions, EU institutions, macro releases and tech reporting dates. 232
Reposted by Oli HawkinsRobin Wigglesworth @robinwigglesworth.ft.com · 05/09/2026And lo, an essay on the the repo market and why it is like the "dark matter" of modern finance: vast, omnipresent, powerful and hidden — and therefore most easily observed through its impact on other bodies. www.ft.com/content/8a7e...ft.comThe repo market is the ‘dark matter’ of finance: powerful and perilousHow worried should we be about the multitrillion-dollar market’s influence over the cosmos of central banks, bonds, pension plans and private credit firms? 76924
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 05/09/2026One really good use of agentic coding is taking a project you already know well and saying "Find any bugs then write your findings up as a report in markdown format." I am going through all my vital packages, fixing subtle problems and finding ways to make big improvements with small fixes. 2110
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 05/09/2026Senior Data Scientist at the Treasury. Requires knowledge of Python, React/Next.js, advanced ML/AI, and the skills to train and mentor junior staff. Salary: £45-51K Delusional. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...linkedin.comSenior Data Scientist at HM Treasury — London Area, United Kingdom | LinkedIn JobsApply for Senior Data Scientist at HM Treasury in London Area, United Kingdom. Full-time Mid-Senior level role. See responsibilities, qualifications, and similar jobs on LinkedIn. 7172
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 04/09/2026Neat little exchange in the ChatGPT interface this afternoon that shows a glimpse behind the scenery. I switched the model and the new model assumed the previous answer was its own. Wonder if you can use something like this to trick or jailbreak LLMs by gaslighting them. 120
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJulian Togelius @togelius.bsky.social · 01/09/2026@smbccomics.bsky.social makes relatable content again 1142
Reposted by Oli HawkinsHenry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 01/09/2026A liberal is a conservative who just got mugged by the police 702868593
Reposted by Oli HawkinsDuncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 01/09/2026The (depressing) loneliness stuff today is another reminder that hobbies are good. People should have hobbies. And a hobby is not something you have to continually improve at unless you want to, it’s something you enjoy. 47911
Reposted by Oli HawkinsRachel Rees @rachel-rees.bsky.social · 31/08/2026As honoured as I am to see that The Times has picked up my Chagos article practically *word for word*, including my hard-gotten quotes, I’d prefer some credit — or for everyone to read my original FT piece! free link to read the evidently enviable article below (cheaper than a Times sub!) 🌴 752698760
Reposted by Oli HawkinsAaron Wherry @aaronwherry.bsky.social · 27/08/2026"Their hydronyms" is a legitimately funny punchline. 15729133
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJulia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Should public data have to pay for itself? 🤑 We think charging for data risks reducing the value of public data and locking useful datasets away for the long term. Quick summary of our response to the government’s call for evidence: www.mysociety.org/2026/08/27/t...mysociety.orgThe problem with making public data pay for itselfThe government is looking at whether public bodies should have more freedom to charge for access to their data, and we've responded to its call for evidence. There are good reasons to be cautious abo... 21921
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 25/08/2026A picture of me thinking about getting into birdwatching as a hobby while watching an actual hobby (hunting above the woods near Lostwithiel in Cornwall). 161
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 23/08/2026Exactly this. The opponents of liberalism have figured out that its weak spot is confusion around the moral obligation to respect different viewpoints. They are cynically and strategically exploiting it in an organised attempt to overturn liberal values. Do not fall for it. bsky.app/profile/beij... 13410
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJames O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 22/08/2026Reneging on open data would be an utter disaster. Don’t do this, government. 34219
Reposted by Oli Hawkinspeterkwells @peterkwells.com · 21/08/2026Did you know UK govt has published a call for evidence on charging for public sector data, w/examples like bus timetables and environment data? Well, here's a thing on how that will make a lot of things a bit worse and increase costs of providing public services peterkwells.com/2026/08/21/c...peterkwells.comCharging for public sector data is likely to cost us more than it raisesThe UK government has published a call for evidence called “The marginal cost restriction on public sector data re-use”. It proposes making it easier for the public sector to charge people for public ... 87031
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJames Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/08/2026However many times you hammer home a message, it's not enough: voters can be pretty spectacularly wrong even about the very air they breathe... 1216137
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 18/08/2026This whole thing is a category error. You can't reason about LLM token selection by analogy with the way human writers choose words. There is no original or authentic text that is being adulterated here. "This is not the way a human would choose words" was already true. bsky.app/profile/hern... 1222
Reposted by Oli HawkinsRitchie Vink @ritchie46.bsky.social · 17/08/2026We will ship the first Polars 2.0 release candidate next week. Polars 2.0 will be great for casual Polars users as it will default to the streaming engine, meaning your code will be faster without doing anything. So the first release candidate next week. Give it a spin! 073
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Intellectually I know this, but seeing it on a graph makes me wince www.ft.com/content/ec59... 8209103
Reposted by Oli Hawkinsannasophiegross.bsky.social @annasophiegross.bsky.social · 14/08/2026NEW: Nigel Farage’s long-term aide George Cottrell had a secret Polymarket account that received nearly $20mn in cryptocurrency to place bets on Donald Trump winning the US election, at a time when he was providing gifts and benefits to the Reform UK leader. w/ @miles-johnson.bsky.social 10182101
Reposted by Oli HawkinsChris Hanretty @chanret.bsky.social · 13/08/2026I have signed this petition. If you're a UK resident, I think you should do so too 65436
Reposted by Oli HawkinsLauren Leek @laurenleek.eu · 10/08/2026We have more data about ourselves than ever. So why is everything converging on the same? In my new post I use data on high streets, Billboard hits, a million films and my own AI personas to expose the algorithms behind the sameness and how to regulate them. laurenleek.substack.com/p/temperatur...laurenleek.substack.comTemperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the SameWhat 640 London shopping streets, 4,000 Billboard hits, a million films and synthetic AI personas tell us about why everything is flattening into sameness and how to regulate the algorithms behind it. 36120
Oli Hawkins @olihawkins.com · 12/08/2026This is excellent. This summer should be a wake-up call. www.ft.com/content/e16e...ft.comHow to stop global warmingThe answer is obvious to all except the real climate change zealots: the anti-net zero movement 051
Reposted by Oli HawkinsGiles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Attacking net zero as a religious obsession "is gaslighting of the highest order. The truth is, it requires dedicated ideological belief to argue against the scientific evidence that net zero is needed to stop ever more expensive and destructive warming" giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...giftarticle.ft.comHow to stop global warmingThe answer is obvious to all except the real climate change zealots: the anti-net zero movement 715563
Reposted by Oli HawkinsJonty Wareing @jonty.bsky.social · 10/08/2026I always suspected a UK government would eventually reverse course on "coding in public". So I've been backing up all government code. For six years. Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised. github.com/uk-gov-mirro... 6219134