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David Smith

@preoccupations.bsky.social
411 followers 595 following 553 posts
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Reposted by David Smith
BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
the UK has three industries: higher education, whisky, and Games Workshop.
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
stratechery.com/2026/apple-a...
stratechery.com
Apple and a Hacker’s Future
I was happy for years in Apple’s walled garden; with AI, however, their protections feel like limitations.
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Matt Leys @mattleys.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Oh how incredibly reassuring
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Dewie @judgedewie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
OMG I had to check my work emails regarding an extra case in court tomorrow and I've just read this from an HR person. "on a knee to nose basis" A KNEE TO NOSE BASIS 😳
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Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The current situation though is an unforced error. If you sell Manchester as your entire narrative blueprint for PM, without appreciating the incoherencies in your message or reconciling the inconveniences, moments like this will bite you. And Manchester. The city quickly becomes collateral damage.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 03/10/2026
More than 20 NHS trusts in England have stopped using Palantir’s waiting list tools, according to FT analysis that casts doubt on widely cited claims about the success of the controversial data project led by the US software giant. as.ft.com/r/6c8844ae-e...
as.ft.com
Over 20 NHS trusts have ditched Palantir waiting-list tools, analysis shows
FT findings prompt fresh probe by statistics regulator into health service claims over controversial data project
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 02/10/2026
Spiegel reports that Chinese counter-drone systems seem to be in use with Russian troops. That would be a significant step-up in Chinese military support for Russia’s war. www.spiegel.de/ausland/ukra...
spiegel.de
(S+) Ukrainekrieg: Setzt Russland jetzt auf Flugabwehr aus China?
Die Ukraine greift Russland mittlerweile monatlich mit über 17.000 Drohnen an. Dort könnte die Luftverteidigung knapp werden. Fernsehbilder deuten nun auf chinesische Waffen bei den Kremltruppen hin.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 02/10/2026
"There is no reason to give these people any thought. They aren't getting any of my attention. I have little time for stupidity in real life, and none on social media either." 💕 www.bundesliga.com/en/bundeslig...
bundesliga.com
Germany coach Jürgen Klopp takes clear line against racism
New Germany coach Jürgen Klopp said football dressing rooms can inspire the world ahead of his side's UEFA Nations League clash against Serbia, after racist comments about his team were made on social...
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German Embassy London @uk.diplo.de · 02/10/2026
The German Army will establish a drone regiment in 2027. The new independent unit for unmanned systems will significantly complement and expand upon the steps already taken by the Bundeswehr to integrate unmanned systems.
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Sindre Sorhus @sindresorhus.com · 01/10/2026
Due to AI, I have disabled external pull requests on all my repos. Open source, as we have known it, was fun while it lasted. (It’s been 15 years for me) I will still maintain projects and handle issues.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"The one thing your viewers can know for sure is that we believe in controlling spending and reducing taxes, not increasing taxes," says Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, whose own government raised taxes to their highest level in more than 70 years, just two years ago.
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James Chalmers @jameschalmers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I saw the tapestry in Bayeux years ago and you had to (I think, but then I am naturally compliant) wear an audio guide, which managed the flow of people effectively because it dictated the speed at which people walked round. Without that the whole thing becomes much more difficult to manage.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 01/10/2026
The chairman of Manchester City was granted diplomatic immunity in 2020. The investigation into the club began in December 2018. www.ft.com/content/1256...
ft.com
Manchester City chair shielded by diplomatic immunity
Khaldoon al-Mubarak was granted immunity six years ago, protecting him from potential legal proceedings in the UK
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Manchester City cheated Premier League rules, the Commission found. Did it also cheat HMRC? We've examined the decision and leaked Mancini documents. We think City likely failed to pay £12m in tax. There should be a criminal investigation. Thread:
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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As a heads-up: every firm's customer service agents are about to be overwhelmed with Dots & Muses negotiating for better deals using voice/chat channels made for humans. Stories of people delegating this sort of work to their agents & saving money are popping up and are going to only go more viral.
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.bankofengland.co.uk/bank-insight...
bankofengland.co.uk
Frontier AI and the question of governance
To realise the benefits of artificial intelligence but also mitigate any risks, humans must retain the ability to intervene and set boundaries.
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Dan Holley @danholley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It was an exceptionally warm night across the UK for late September, with some stations recording 22°C during the early hours. The temperature has been rising all through the night at Edinburgh, for example. Red box highlights just how much last night stands out from individual site records.
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Current gov inherited: - Economy still flatlining - Public finances weak (debt nearly 100% of GDP vs 35% when New Labour came in) - Public services doing poorly. + public & business feel overtaxed (even if average earners really aren't). + v volatile international context. Governing on hard mode.
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Always worth remembering what different governments inherit: - New Labour: healthy economy & public finances, but public services in a poor state - Conservatives/Coalition: economy still flatlining after the financial crash & weak public finances but public services doing well
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EmDash CMS @emdashcms.com · 28/09/2026
Oh look, that's us!
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
www.ft.com/content/7af7...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We are talking about a radical transformation of the understanding of self for this to get off the ground.
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
www.ft.com/content/c768...
ft.com
Anthropic warns of ‘existential risks to humanity’ in IPO prospectus
Long-awaited S1 filing reports Claude maker lost $8bn last year on $4.6bn in revenue
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Those who think AI is going to largely automate white collar jobs in the next couple of years don’t understand the nature of work - @sarahoconnorft.ft.com nails it www.ft.com/content/4aad...
It is not obvious that AI agents could eliminate the need for this type of work, since it involves persuasion, contestation and the exchange of tacit knowledge and experience that is spread across different departments, and often exists inside people's heads rather than in a neatly codified handbook on the intranet.
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/24/...
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Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 28/09/2026
True for me too, and in the educational context I can see it emerging as a limiting factor for students. Ambitious undergrads can now do much more than they can explain; impressive half-baked projects tend to pile up.
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Simon Willison @simonwillison.net · 28/09/2026
I really like how @reckless.bsky.social described this: "The people do not yearn for automation" www.theverge.com/podcast/9170...
theverge.com
BEWARE SOFTWARE BRAIN
Software brain is changing the world, but most people still aren’t buying.
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JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I have a suspicion that the Fairford farmer who has spent all day strongly suggesting she knows more than the police and the security services is going to end up claiming asylum in Piddington.
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Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The fact that we’re being attacked by Russia doesn’t fit anyone’s narrative: if you’re a democrat, it means our spending priority is arming Ukraine, not all the nice welfare policies you really like; if you’re an authoritarian, it clarifies that the real threat to our way of life is people-like-you.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It will never not be wild to me that the Russians attacked Keir Starmer's home, successfully spread falsehoods about Starmer's love life, and this didn't changed British politics and British political elite behaviour *at all*.
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Matt TK Taylor @tk.gg · 28/09/2026
And – though I had very little to do with this – I'm very proud of what @mk.gg and the team around @emdashcms.com have created. This can genuinely now be the 'spiritual successor to WordPress', the team have built a prototype into a real 1.0 product. blog.cloudflare.com/emdash-cms-p...
blog.cloudflare.com
EmDash 1.0: the stable CMS with a secure plugin registry
EmDash 1.0 is a stable, open source CMS built for Astro, with agent-friendly workflows, secure sandboxed plugins, and a decentralized registry that keeps publishers in control.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 27/09/2026
Just for once I'd like one of these "why I quit Britain" pieces to say "I hate poor people and I want to keep all my money, it's all miiiiiine, screw you guys"
static.klipy.com
Mr Rogers' Unexpected Response
ALT: Mr Rogers' Unexpected Response
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I do find this country mad. Anyone can see that social care is in a state of devastating crisis in this country and that it is the key source of the NHS crisis as well. There is no feasible way to solve it without everyone contributing. Burnham is honest about that and is already getting pelters.
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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It is strange how much LLMs turned out to be able to solve such a wide range of hard problems that would not, instinctively, seem to be problems that a model of human language would be able to solve This is from a Stanford project that let Astra drive a robot in a kitchen tml.stanford.edu/homebody/
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
am I going mad or did Andy Burnham just tell Laura Kuenssberg that he won’t reform social care this parliament and it’ll merely be a manifesto pledge in 2029?
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Exclusive: I asked Andy Burnham about the gangs of masked thugs marauding around parts of our country and asked if he and his government should be doing more to call out their actions He called them ‘poisonous’ amongst other strong words. His condemnation was unequivocal. Full story here 👇
liverpoolecho.co.uk
Burnham slams 'poisonous' masked gangs & praises Liverpool solidarity
The Prime Minister was unequivocal in his condemnation of those sowing intimidation and division on the south coast as he arrives in his Liverpool, which he says has a proud history of fighting discri...
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Look again – there’s more to Germany’s election trends than far-right success | Cas Mudde
Defeatist narratives abound. Yet Germany’s latest elections suggest voter dissatisfaction is benefiting the left as well as the right, says the political scientist Cas Mudde
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My local "TG Jones" closes today. Might seem unimportant, but besides the OAPs lining up for the Mail & Express, it was the only place to buy The Wire, Electronic Sound, Jacobin, whatever. So one more portal into a a different world - and reading - collapses, and back to the net's moronic inferno.
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Dr Jaime Ashworth @drjaimeashworth.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I don’t think I’ve seen a more compelling endorsement of the effectiveness of a memorial project than this. Banning Stolpersteine is a deeply sinister move. www.reuters.com/business/med...
reuters.com
East German town bans future Holocaust memorial plaques
An East German town has approved a motion by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and ruling centre-right ​Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to reject future installation of brass plaques ‌comme...
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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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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
www.ft.com/content/4568...
ft.com
The cheap new AI model taking aim at OpenAI and Anthropic
Start-up TypeSafe AI’s ‘Jev’ model promises faster, more efficient AI for developers
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Colin W. 🇨🇦 🇦🇺🇩🇪🌻 @grapemanca.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
ChatGPT "advised Van Rootselaar to always frame her content as fictional or hypothetical in order to “never get flagged again” by OpenAI’s moderation systems. “Don’t use real-world locations,” ChatGPT said, later adding: “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it.”"
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
www.theverge.com/report/10001...
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“it constantly prompts the user to link it to a wider range of services and accounts, giving it increasing sway over that person’s online life. … Muse has been launched with only part of its planned privacy protections in place“ www.ft.com/content/e60b...
ft.com
The AI agent revolution has moved a big step closer
Launch of Muse by Meta has provided a glimpse of how the technology could be turned into a mass-market product
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
‘This is playing into his hands’/‘this will allow him to play the martyr card’/‘this will help with his fundraising’ are all really bad takes. Criminals should be arrested and charged with crimes.
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I mean, we've apparently lifted the ban on right wing hooliganism so what's the point keeping the stable door bolted I guess
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
April 2025 — www.theideasletter.org/essay/silico...
theideasletter.org
The New Legislators of Silicon Valley
Morozov describes a newly emerged Silicon Valley class of “oligarch-intellectuals,” billionaire tech elites who combine vast wealth, ideological ambition, and the philosophical pretense to reshape pub...
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David Smith @preoccupations.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
willd10.substack.com/p/what-hope-...
willd10.substack.com
What hope for ‘intellectuals’?
and what use were they anyway?
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