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Rab Boyce

@rabboyce.bsky.social
96 followers 102 following 649 posts

Creator of scotfact.com , ex CTO of Alderstone. Proud to be a centrist dad. Wargamer. Currently doing things with data and AI in the financial services space.

PostsRepliesMedia
Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Great conference speech by Andy Burnham.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Basingstoke, famous for roundabouts and er...fascists?
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's 2026 and mainstream politicians and commentators are arguing about ethnicity and race and what it means to be truly English. How far we have fallen.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv... I agree with Nick.
bbc.co.uk
Australia launches urgent review after OpenAI program hacks government health portal
Experts believe it's the world's first known AI breach of a government system.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Honestly, they should just all walk out. This is a farce.
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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I really hate the framing of these stories as "an AI agent broke out and hacked something." No, an inadequate sandbox meant that a powerful and unpredictable computer program was set loose on the open internet by the company that designed it. The agency isn't with the "AI agent", it's with the firm
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Oh FFS. Please stop. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Uncontrolled AI could lead to 'silicon species' rivalling humans, warns Microsoft
Mustafa Suleyman says he believes rival AI firm Anthropic is in effect teaching Claude it "may be conscious".
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A Wildcat referendum in action folks. Constitutional crisis! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Piddington in Oxfordshire votes to leave UK over asylum plans
Piddington residents vote over proposals to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers nearby.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
To be fair, I do that with stuff I have actually written myself :)
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This feels irresponsible. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Westminster coming to an end, say Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish leaders
The leaders of Plaid Cymru, SNP and Sinn Fein say the UK government should prepare for constitutional change.
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Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview. IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing. Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Amazed he can get away with this sort of thing. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Trump says every adult American would get $5,000 if Republicans win midterms
Speaking at a party convention, the US president gave no details on how the plan would work or where the money would come from.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Dear Journalists of the world. Please, please, please stop blindly reporting that AI has gone rogue. It hasn't. Thanks.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
There is a 10% chance this will kill us all. 'Pah' I'll risk it. :)
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)
You cannot conduct a fair match when one side is playing with a ball and the other with bombs and, if democracy is to survive, it must be conducted according to definite and recognised rule. One of them is that no political party should resort to any weapon other than reason and argument. The introduction of private armies, as I see it, strikes at the root of democracy. I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld. … Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force. It is no argument to reply that at this or that demonstration no force is intended. It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Mac out without his collar and his look is clearly saying 'so, what you going to do about it'
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Er...ok?
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Level ++
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Level 43
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I'm old enough to remember when Silicon Valley meant hippy programmers in sandals. When it did become the abode of fascists?
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Scotfact has been updated to reflect the latest GERS report. Also check out the mcp server if you haven't already. www.scotfact.com
scotfact.com
Scotfact: An Impartial Source of Facts about the Scottish Economy
Cutting through the myths, misunderstandings, misinformation and mistruths surrounding the Scottish Independence debate. We explore economics; government statistics; memes; and claims made by politici...
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
What a world we live in. A national newspaper describing people fleeing persecution being given some basic necessities as luxuries and jaw-dropping.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
These crimes against humanity are becoming increasingly normalised. We must resist to the last.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
'Vote Tory get Nazis organising your bins'. You have to admit, it is a bold, innovative electoral strategy.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The national relying on experts as usual.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I haven't seen the Odyssey yet, but I am sure it's not as good as the original which is of course, Ulysses 31.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
It's quite warm out.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
2014 to 2019 summed up nicely ;) @kevverage.bsky.social
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Headline should really be 'Open AI hacked hugging face using a model with internet access and safeguards turned off'
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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Wired sets the frame that the model “escaped containment,” but from an accountability perspective, OpenAI left a door open by failing to properly isolate their system. Real headline: “OpenAI’s security failure leads to cyberattack against another AI company.”
WIRED headline: 
OpenAl Models Escaped Containment and Hacked
Hugging Face
Subhed: The cybersecurity-focused models, including GPT-5.6 Sol, broke out of a testing sandbox, exploited a zero-day, and gained access to the open internet to pull off the attack.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Appalling attitude by Nick Ferrari here. Clearly no understanding of the choices people in poverty have to make on a day to day basis. The mocking tone and attempt to undermine the study with plucking the cost of individual items out of a google search clearly misses the point.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Keeping Mahmood as home secretary stomps all over the positive vibes for me...disappointing choice.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Slightly topical....available now on the apple app store :) apps.apple.com/gb/app/polit...
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
BBC TV Journalists seem to have forgotten we don't have a presidential system. The Labour party's mandate to govern isn't "Keir Starmer's mandate".
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
BBC news 24 covering the World Cup final with 6 talking heads while the game is live on BBC 1 seems a bit daft. Anyone who is interested will be watching the other channel.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Anything on telly tonight?
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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I'm so disillusioned, I almost don't even care who gets the FIFA Peace Prize next year
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Is there a German word for thinking you are late for a meeting then the relief that the meeting was cancelled at the last minute then getting annoyed it was cancelled at the last minute?
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Hot take: Andy Burnham isn't from 'the North', he lives in Manchester, that's half way down the M6.
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Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Burnham to be the third prime minister in five years to sketch a ten-year ambition for power
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
If everyone in the PLP knows Burnham is going to win, let’s not have a contest just for the sake of it. That's fine in opposition, but nothing to be gained from that when in government.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I don't think this is as big an issue as we like to think it is. Outside of a few journalists, no one really cares what was in it after the first king’s speech. I am very sure the electorate don’t.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Watching the duke of Edinburgh concert from 1986 … bloody hell. The talent on stage.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
If you want to be pedantic there is only one with different ways of interpreting them, but it’s Friday and the football is on later.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
This 👇
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I suppose, given the Makerfield result, there will now be a flurry of Journalists and newspaper editors calling for Nigel Farage’s resignation as Reform leader.
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Holyrood search tool UI updated to include item of business search. You can now search for contributions, votes or items of business, filter by term, speaker date etc. Links to full transcripts available. www.scotfact.com/holyrood-off... This is also available via the scotfact MCP connector.
scotfact.com
Scotfact: Holyrood Official Report Search
A useful app to allow users to search all Scottish Parliament speeches and written submissions from the Holyrood Official Report. Search using keywords, names of the contributors, dates and political ...
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Dr Duncan Robertson @duncanrobertson.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
nb
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I have put the GERS supplemental dataset into the Scotfact MCP data sources, which allows you to use Claude or ChatGPT to interrogate the data. Like this..
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Rab Boyce @rabboyce.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I have added an MCP server to the scotfact toolset, you can plug it into Claude or ChatGPT for some stats or Holyrood search fun. Details at www.scotfact.com/mcp.
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