I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
Thankfully we have no one like that on this board.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
Thankfully we have no one like that on this board.
Yeah, no-one throws about legal threats if someone calls their hero an anti-Semite...
My own views on this may seem odd. I quite like Boris Johnson - his cheeky chappy personae is appealing, as we saw in 2019. But I never voted for him, and would never vote for him. Whereas I don't find Starmer appealing in the least, but might well vote for him at the next GE, depending on what candidates Labour and the Lib Dems put forward.
When I had a work related Twitter account, which was a bit shit, I nevertheless got to 4,500 followers just by adding #ukemplaw to all my Tweets. That’s three times as many as “Stop Starmer”. He needs a snappy hashtag.
The future of Britain, the world, humanity, depends on who wins this race to AGI and how they exploit their victory
Britain should be piling virtually all of its chips on AI. Bet the house. Bet everything. If we win we might solve nearly all of our problems at once - from productivity to the NHS to crime. If we lose we’re fucked but then if we are fucked so is everyone, probably, so it doesn’t matter
The world needs to focus on controlling AI and ensuring it does not eliminate jobs without replacement and does not fall into the wrong hands, especially criminal elements and rogue states. That needs international co operation not just us piling in on AI, although obviously London and Cambridge etc can play a key role in leading it here
Part of the reason we have had sluggish productivity growth over the last 15 years may be a lack of disruption in our economy and labour market. We should welcome stuff like AI, but be aware that dramatic shifts in the economy can leave some people behind.
A large proportion of productivity growth in the 20th century translated into weekends and the 8 hour day. AI for rich countries might just mean a huge increase in human welfare.
High IQ people may well be fine doing highly paid creative projects from time to time and spend their leisure time in the arts for the rest. The rest of society if AI takes most of the jobs (and certainly the full time and permanent jobs) are not going to sit around all day on a UBI (which would have to be funded by a robot tax on corporations anyway) without being more disruptive
"the devil makes work for idle hands" is one of those old sayings that has a lot of truth in it. A society that doesn't have meaningful work for most of its population is soon going to find itself in big trouble. People are not going to just sit around writing poetry or painting pretty pictures.
The future of Britain, the world, humanity, depends on who wins this race to AGI and how they exploit their victory
Britain should be piling virtually all of its chips on AI. Bet the house. Bet everything. If we win we might solve nearly all of our problems at once - from productivity to the NHS to crime. If we lose we’re fucked but then if we are fucked so is everyone, probably, so it doesn’t matter
The world needs to focus on controlling AI and ensuring it does not eliminate jobs without replacement and does not fall into the wrong hands, especially criminal elements and rogue states. That needs international co operation not just us piling in on AI, although obviously London and Cambridge etc can play a key role in leading it here
Part of the reason we have had sluggish productivity growth over the last 15 years may be a lack of disruption in our economy and labour market. We should welcome stuff like AI, but be aware that dramatic shifts in the economy can leave some people behind.
A large proportion of productivity growth in the 20th century translated into weekends and the 8 hour day. AI for rich countries might just mean a huge increase in human welfare.
High IQ people may well be fine doing highly paid creative projects from time to time and spend their leisure time in the arts for the rest. The rest of society if AI takes most of the jobs (and certainly the full time and permanent jobs) are not going to sit around all day on a UBI (which would have to be funded by a robot tax on corporations anyway) without being more disruptive
"the devil makes work for idle hands" is one of those old sayings that has a lot of truth in it. A society that doesn't have meaningful work for most of its population is soon going to find itself in big trouble. People are not going to just sit around writing poetry or painting pretty pictures.
Eloi and Morlocks, with AI Morlocks.
Hopefully the Morlocks will find a reason to keep us, but I cannot see why myself.
Further proof Scots are too wee, too poor, too stupid to be an independent nation.
Scottish census cost three times as much per person than in England
Scotland’s botched census cost far more per person than the equivalent survey in England and Wales after it was delayed for a year, figures have shown.
Scotland’s census cost about £25 a person for its 5.5 million people. This compares with £8 a person for the 59.6 million people in England and Wales.
The overall outlay is forecast to be £140 million for the first census to be carried out separately north of the border, more than double the £63.5 million spent on the 2011 project in Scotland.
National Records of Scotland (NRS), the Scottish government agency, said £135 million had been spent on the research up until March with a further £5 million expected to be spent over the next two financial years.
The Office for National Statistics, which ran the England and Wales census, said its research cost about £600 million, up by 25 per cent on the £480 million spent a decade ago.
Last year Audit Scotland called on the archives agency to establish why Scotland’s initial return rate was lower than other parts of the UK.
The Scottish government decided to break away from the rest of the UK and carry out the survey alone in 2022, a year later than England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Critics claimed that unlinking Scotland’s census from the exercise in England and Wales led to confusion and the low returns.
The Kremlin has cancelled its 2023 military tattoo — which Moscow models on the event in Edinburgh — as drones continue to rain on the Russian capital.
Military bands had been scheduled to march through Red Square this month. They would have included men from the elite VDV paratroop units that have been heavily involved in the war in Ukraine.
With weeks to go President Putin’s administration has announced that the high-profile annual event will next be held in 12 months’ time.
The decision was not explained but came as Ukraine stepped up aerial attacks on military targets in and near Moscow. Last week an explosion injured dozens of people and damaged a defence factory in Sergiyev Posad. The Kremlin has been targeted but was not seriously damaged.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's the true believer crap. If the reason for your very existence is that you are appalled at the chaotic and occasionally uncaring way society works and you have this brilliant analysis (or bizarre collection of propositions and failed theories, according to taste) as to how people would be "improved" if they would only do what is good for them the enemy is not really the evil Tories who just can't help themselves. The enemy is those who say, you know what , this is fine if we can just tweak it a bit. SKS is a tweaker par excellence.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
I know. He should have gone for a more popular job, like in a hedge fund.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
Theres this bloke called Blair,,,,,,
Most successful Labour leader ever.
Clem was a lawyer, so was Thatcher.
Oooh being a lawyer almost certainly guarantees an election win.
As with so many others my position on Starmer is that I find him deeply boring but I will vote for him.
However, there is just one thing I really admire about him, and that is the way he so comprehensively trounced the Corbynites. It’s actually quite funny.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
Theres this bloke called Blair,,,,,,
Most successful Labour leader ever.
Clem was a lawyer, so was Thatcher.
Oooh being a lawyer almost certainly guarantees an election win.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
Theres this bloke called Blair,,,,,,
Most successful Labour leader ever.
Clem was a lawyer, so was Thatcher.
Oooh being a lawyer almost certainly guarantees an election win.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
Theres this bloke called Blair,,,,,,
Most successful Labour leader ever.
Clem was a lawyer, so was Thatcher.
Oooh being a lawyer almost certainly guarantees an election win.
I shall do a thread on this.
The country loves lawyers.
Boris was a lawyer as was Hitler
Trump too.
He's got so many indictments its cheaper for him to do it all in house
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
I know. He should have gone for a more popular job, like in a hedge fund.
People who work for hedge funds are all marvelous people, salt of the earth and overflowing with the milk of human kindness.
NGL, reading this has given me an almost sexual thrill.
Georgia’s Rico law carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in jail and a maximum of 20 years. None of the charges Trump has faced in his other indictments so far carries a mandatory minimum sentence.
Unlike the federal charges he faces over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents seized at his Florida home, Trump could not pardon himself for a state conviction in Georgia if he is re-elected as president next year.
Wasn't expecting Rudy G and Mark Meadows to be charged.
Trial within six months.
I'll believe that when I see it. We are struggling to get a Saturday night domestic to the court in that timescale.
Didn’t realise the trial was going to be in Scotland.
Nah, we have enough of our own. But I am not aware of any criminal justice system post Covid that could achieve a timescale like that. The disclosure obligations alone will take longer to deal with with that many defendants.
NGL, reading this has given me an almost sexual thrill.
Georgia’s Rico law carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in jail and a maximum of 20 years. None of the charges Trump has faced in his other indictments so far carries a mandatory minimum sentence.
Unlike the federal charges he faces over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents seized at his Florida home, Trump could not pardon himself for a state conviction in Georgia if he is re-elected as president next year.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
I know. He should have gone for a more popular job, like in a hedge fund.
People who work for hedge funds are all marvelous people, salt of the earth and overflowing with the milk of human kindness.
Ideal Prime Ministers, who understand the importance of their chopper.
NGL, reading this has given me an almost sexual thrill.
Georgia’s Rico law carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in jail and a maximum of 20 years. None of the charges Trump has faced in his other indictments so far carries a mandatory minimum sentence.
Unlike the federal charges he faces over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents seized at his Florida home, Trump could not pardon himself for a state conviction in Georgia if he is re-elected as president next year.
I imagine that Georgia will be on his mind.
Can they find a jump suit that will match his hair?
NGL, reading this has given me an almost sexual thrill.
Georgia’s Rico law carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in jail and a maximum of 20 years. None of the charges Trump has faced in his other indictments so far carries a mandatory minimum sentence.
Unlike the federal charges he faces over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents seized at his Florida home, Trump could not pardon himself for a state conviction in Georgia if he is re-elected as president next year.
I imagine that Georgia will be on his mind.
But it’s not somewhere he’ll be taking a midnight, or any, train to soon. Voluntarily anyway.
But for Szilard, the Manhattan program might not have happened when it did. He was, of course, one of the first to flee Germany when Hitler rose to power, and urged friends and family to do the same.
(Fermi was indeed a former member of the Italian Fascist party, but implacably opposed to what it became.)
August 13, 1940. This anti-Semitic and xenophobic report by Army Intelligence called Leo Szilard “very pro-German” and Enrico Fermi “undoubtedly a Fascist.”
A year where people start to feel a bit better off would do a hell of a lot more for the Tories than nonsense like this video.
The article isn't very clear, but when they quote "the position on people's real pay is recovering and now looks a bit better than a few months back.", they mean real wages are falling less than they were before.
As with so many others my position on Starmer is that I find him deeply boring but I will vote for him.
However, there is just one thing I really admire about him, and that is the way he so comprehensively trounced the Corbynites. It’s actually quite funny.
Yes, the demolition of the crank left has been rapid and absolute. Whats more, having largely been purged from the party we have seen it practically disappear electorally.
I go back to that recent black country council byelection where BJO was "Kid Starver fans please explain" as the LibDems took the seat. The crank left got FIVE votes.
I wonder when the likes of Novara Media and Shitebox will run out of cash or pivot off to agitate for a global general strike or something. Because nobody is listening any more.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's bizarre, I've never known a lawyer attract such opprobrium, normally it is a usually admired profession.
Theres this bloke called Blair,,,,,,
Most successful Labour leader ever.
Clem was a lawyer, so was Thatcher.
Oooh being a lawyer almost certainly guarantees an election win.
The future of Britain, the world, humanity, depends on who wins this race to AGI and how they exploit their victory
Britain should be piling virtually all of its chips on AI. Bet the house. Bet everything. If we win we might solve nearly all of our problems at once - from productivity to the NHS to crime. If we lose we’re fucked but then if we are fucked so is everyone, probably, so it doesn’t matter
But it isn't a race.
Whether we invest in it or not won't influence who else does.
Idiotic. This is like becoming the First Nation to industrialise. The USA and China are marching ahead but there’s no reason we cannot nimbly follow. If we don’t we will get flattened by competitors - and some of them might be happy to use AI with absolute malignance
It stupefies me how so many apparently smart people still don’t understand what is happening
Considering there aren't any major UK semiconductor companies we've already 'lost'. You can be as nimble as a flighty scarlet ibis but if you don't make the chips you're not competing in this race.
And no ARM doesn't count. 1. Not UK owned 2. Not the right sort of chips
The Saudis and UAE don’t make chips either. But they’re buying them up - the particular kind of chip required for LLMs. And - as the article says - they’ve already made impressive strides in AI
So chips are important, but they can be bought. It is, then, what you do with them
The First Nation to reach self-improving AI will potentially dominate the world, unless several nations get there near-simultaneously
Let's just game this out for a second.
The UK government buys GPU chips from NVidia so as to give the UK an edge. (Presumably these chips are available to British firms to acquire from the government, with very strict rules about not reselling them on.)
This is great for NVidia. They will sell massive numbers of chips to the UK. They will also contract additional foundry capacity so they can also sell to other people.
How exactly is this scheme supposed to benefit the British people?
Right now, I'm currently running some simple (GPU based) ML modelling in Google Colab. This is an area where 99.99% of people are going to be renting capacity.
Work is happening in the UK, in Israel, the US, etc. The Deep Mind guys (and I know Demis) will I'm sure be great - albeit Google will accrue most of the benefits.
But this is also a space where people are mobile and secrets rare.
Within weeks of seeing the initial AI generated images, there were a dozen models. There are now half a dozen decent LLM models, most of which are open source. There are content libraries online (The Pile) that will help you train them up.
It's coming. It will change our lives. But it's highly unlikely the nation state is going to have anything to do with it.
With the Atom Bomb, the secret was not really how to make one, it was that it worked at all.
Once that rather hard to hide secret was out, all bets were off.
Same applies here, except it won't be in the hands of governments.
Uh oh.
Indeed and the reason very few nations own bombs is not because they don't know the science, its because they lack the skills, expertise and more importantly resources and infrastructure to do it. Which are all complex, with physical materials and volatile chemicals that need to be handled just right.
Not bits that can be copied and pasted online.
Nope.
Take a look at the South African bomb program. Didn’t even cost very much money.
And gun type uranium weapons are the ultimate proliferation nightmare - you can make them, once you have the uranium, trivially.
Which is why the South Africans chose them.
The Iranians are more deterred by the consequences of completing their project than held up by technical difficulties.
Edit; for plutonium implosion weapons, it’s got a lot easier as well. Now that the 2 point geometry is known about. And high speed x ray machines to analyse your implosion tests are commercially available.
I don't get the hate for Starmer. I don't like him - but there's a world of difference between 'not liking' someone and 'hating' them. Starmer's a bit meh! to me - he comes across as having zero character, not much belief, and not many ideas.
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
It's the true believer crap. If the reason for your very existence is that you are appalled at the chaotic and occasionally uncaring way society works and you have this brilliant analysis (or bizarre collection of propositions and failed theories, according to taste) as to how people would be "improved" if they would only do what is good for them the enemy is not really the evil Tories who just can't help themselves. The enemy is those who say, you know what , this is fine if we can just tweak it a bit. SKS is a tweaker par excellence.
Comments
But the hate he gets from some who should be on his side is quite bewildering. Especially when many of those same people seem to love the anti-Semite who preceded him.
My own views on this may seem odd. I quite like Boris Johnson - his cheeky chappy personae is appealing, as we saw in 2019. But I never voted for him, and would never vote for him. Whereas I don't find Starmer appealing in the least, but might well vote for him at the next GE, depending on what candidates Labour and the Lib Dems put forward.
Hopefully the Morlocks will find a reason to keep us, but I cannot see why myself.
Scottish census cost three times as much per person than in England
Scotland’s botched census cost far more per person than the equivalent survey in England and Wales after it was delayed for a year, figures have shown.
Scotland’s census cost about £25 a person for its 5.5 million people. This compares with £8 a person for the 59.6 million people in England and Wales.
The overall outlay is forecast to be £140 million for the first census to be carried out separately north of the border, more than double the £63.5 million spent on the 2011 project in Scotland.
National Records of Scotland (NRS), the Scottish government agency, said £135 million had been spent on the research up until March with a further £5 million expected to be spent over the next two financial years.
The Office for National Statistics, which ran the England and Wales census, said its research cost about £600 million, up by 25 per cent on the £480 million spent a decade ago.
Last year Audit Scotland called on the archives agency to establish why Scotland’s initial return rate was lower than other parts of the UK.
The Scottish government decided to break away from the rest of the UK and carry out the survey alone in 2022, a year later than England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Critics claimed that unlinking Scotland’s census from the exercise in England and Wales led to confusion and the low returns.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scottish-census-cost-three-times-as-much-per-person-than-in-england-gb83ls0bx
The Kremlin has cancelled its 2023 military tattoo — which Moscow models on the event in Edinburgh — as drones continue to rain on the Russian capital.
Military bands had been scheduled to march through Red Square this month. They would have included men from the elite VDV paratroop units that have been heavily involved in the war in Ukraine.
With weeks to go President Putin’s administration has announced that the high-profile annual event will next be held in 12 months’ time.
The decision was not explained but came as Ukraine stepped up aerial attacks on military targets in and near Moscow. Last week an explosion injured dozens of people and damaged a defence factory in Sergiyev Posad. The Kremlin has been targeted but was not seriously damaged.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kremlin-cancels-moscow-version-of-edinburgh-military-tattoo-cw5sbg0z3
Trial within six months.
Clem was a lawyer, so was Thatcher.
Oooh being a lawyer almost certainly guarantees an election win.
I shall do a thread on this.
The country loves lawyers.
However, there is just one thing I really admire about him, and that is the way he so comprehensively trounced the Corbynites. It’s actually quite funny.
Georgia’s Rico law carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in jail and a maximum of 20 years. None of the charges Trump has faced in his other indictments so far carries a mandatory minimum sentence.
Unlike the federal charges he faces over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents seized at his Florida home, Trump could not pardon himself for a state conviction in Georgia if he is re-elected as president next year.
When inflation falls to around 7% next week it will be even more so.
A year where people start to feel a bit better off would do a hell of a lot more for the Tories than nonsense like this video.
Might help the rearguard action though.
And keep an eye on those unemployment and participation rate figures. If those currently not in the labour supply start returning to work...
been indicted
He was, of course, one of the first to flee Germany when Hitler rose to power, and urged friends and family to do the same.
(Fermi was indeed a former member of the Italian Fascist party, but implacably opposed to what it became.)
August 13, 1940. This anti-Semitic and xenophobic report by Army Intelligence called Leo Szilard “very pro-German” and Enrico Fermi “undoubtedly a Fascist.”
Szilard’s family weren’t “wealthy merchants.”
https://twitter.com/GeneDannen/status/1690767147138707456
I go back to that recent black country council byelection where BJO was "Kid Starver fans please explain" as the LibDems took the seat. The crank left got FIVE votes.
I wonder when the likes of Novara Media and Shitebox will run out of cash or pivot off to agitate for a global general strike or something. Because nobody is listening any more.
Take a look at the South African bomb program. Didn’t even cost very much money.
And gun type uranium weapons are the ultimate proliferation nightmare - you can make them, once you have the uranium, trivially.
Which is why the South Africans chose them.
The Iranians are more deterred by the consequences of completing their project than held up by technical difficulties.
Edit; for plutonium implosion weapons, it’s got a lot easier as well. Now that the 2 point geometry is known about. And high speed x ray machines to analyse your implosion tests are commercially available.