“I am an extraordinarily brilliant person”

—Something no even mildly bright person would ever feel the need to say.

Donald is deeply damaged—and extraordinarily stupid.

This is important because these will become the official figures. A whitewash.

Every system that was regulated, either explicitly or implicitly, by the fact that they were effortful for humans (letters of recommendation, government filings, essays, or, as this paper finds, lawsuits) will break under a wave of AI.

Grim but useful read.

Global energy markets are on the verge of a disaster
economist.com/finance-and-...

BENNET: Do you agree that 89% of children who died from flu were unvaccinated?

RFK Jr: I don't know the exact number

BENNET: That is the exact number, Secretary Kennedy

RFK Jr: *death growls*

BENNET: You took down the HHS communications promoting the flu vaccine. Do you regret that?

Hugely well deserved. Well done!

Who could have guessed that decapitating Iran's existing leaders would create uncertainty about who on their side is actually empowered to negotiate?

Everyone.

Everyone could have guessed that.

I did not ask for this gift of prophecy, and in this case I did not need it.

Should potholing be banned?

You'll only drive it underground.

Unbelievably, Keir Starmer can now be compared to Boris Johnson The Prime Minister was once a man with a reputation for integrity and decency

It is preposterous and honestly rather shameful for Starmer to act so upset over the Mandelson affair. He is basically attacking Robbins for doing precisely what he wanted him to do inews.co.uk/opinion/unbe...

I have been using GPT ImageGen-2 for the past weeks

I didn't think that better image-generators would be a big deal but it turns out that there is a quality threshold I didn't expect, where you can now get usable text, slides, academic papers

Look at what it does with my "otter test"! (Zoom in)

Telegraph newspaper editorial on Mandelson's appointment in December 2024 versus editorial today

On reflection, I think post the Robbins appearance, KS will have to resign — OR torpedoed the government’s line to the HoC in three crucial regards.

EU ‘right to repair’ laws may save millions of phones from landfill Smartphone manufacturers make their batteries hard to replace. Tough new EU rules will change that.

EU ‘right to repair’ law

The EU will soon require smartphone manufacturers to let users replace their batteries.

The tough new rules - endorsed by the European Parliament this week - could save millions of phones from landfill.

www.euronews.com/2023/06/22/n...

Sir Oliver “Olly” Robbins is a clever, well-informed person. He’s also ambitious & diligent. Sir Keir Starmer & his team now have a potentially highly dangerous enemy. Not because Sir Oliver wants revenge (though he might) but because of the facts of the Mandelson case.

A long 🧵. Have a cuppa! /1.

mRNA vaccines continue to show major promise.

In a small Phase 1 trial led by Dr. Balachandran, some patients with pancreatic cancer (one of the deadliest cancers) reached 6-year survival.

This is why sustained investment in science & research matters.

tinyurl.com/f4n4anhk

Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later.

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

Keir Starmer knew who Peter Mandelson was when he appointed him.

The idea vetting was somehow important or even relevant is a joke: it was just a convenient excuse for Number 10 to use, so it could blame Mandelson for "lying" to pass it. Now he didn't pass it we're at a new level of silliness.

The bit I struggle with is the Cameron ‘enable the country to shoot you in the foot’ precedent — ie a referendum presents a glorious opportunity for the country to stick two fingers up at you and then of course that’s the end of your government.

I’ve been trying to work out how a Labour government might hold a EU referendum.

This is completely wrong.

There’s a really quite strong tendency on all sides to think that any future EU referendum will be kind of like the last one.

As for the overruling, I can’t believe that Starmer openly lied to Parliament and then repeated the lie yday. But nor can I believe that FCDO took it on themselves to overrule. So I bet there’s a WhatsApp somewhere to s/one in No.10 confirming the arrangement.

6

Little 🧵 on vetting:

There’s been a certain amount of chest-puffing from former holders of DV clearance about how rigorous and exacting the vetting process is and how rare for it to be overruled. The latter is definitely true. Never heard of it happening, ever.

1

Romania orders 12 hydrogen trains: Siemens Mireo Plus H to enter service - Railcolor News advertisement Romania’s Authority for Railway Reform (ARF) has awarded on 15.04 a contract to Siemens Mobility for the supply of 12 Mireo Plus H hydrogen multiple units, alongside maintenance services...

Short of cash railway chooses most expensive way to decarbonise*
railcolornews.com/2026/04/17/r...

* - assuming it’s even green hydrogen

Dutch journalists have tracked frigate HNLMS Evertsen (F805) live during combat operations in east Mediterranean.

By sending a Bluetooth tracker to a sailor with the official military post they managed to get live positions for several days.

Dutch Navy has since adjusted protocols.

So I return from Brussels to London with a renewed sense of possibility - and unfortunately a growing to-do list. But equally - a sense that my work often in effect translating Brussels to London and vice versa might not be in vain.

Gwych i weld hwn yn y Gymraeg. Diolch!

My surname makes people laugh – so I turned it into a research communication tool Having my surname is a daily trial, eliciting a range of responses from suppressed to open laughter and unsolicited comments.

One of the nicest academics you'll meet. Great piece - and I look forward to listening to the radio show (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...)

Alan Johnson, best PM we never had, featured in tonight’s Commons Confidental newsletter for @Independent subscribers

France passed a law requiring solar panels on every parking lot with more than 80 spaces.

Equals 10 nuclear reactors
Reduces heat island, shades cars

The US -- 800 million parking spaces. Most of them are uncovered asphalt sitting in direct sunlight.

Why aren't we doing this?