@ggreig.com
Software developer wha bides i the East Neuk. He/him. Likes 28/32mm models for role-playing games, especially pulp/steampunk/scientific romance. Thinks Scotland should be a normal country - independent. http://ggreig.com, https://mastodon.scot/@ggreig
BBC headline - Wuthering Heights uni module given content warning for students
BBC iplayer, ep 4 of Wuthering Heights, neon pink banner with warning "Contains some violence and some upsetting scenes"
The BBC will be appalled to learn that the BBC also put content warnings on Wuthering Heights
Why is the robot slacking off touristing and not doing my job.
It's always "Iran is holding global economy to ransom!" and never "US & Israel plunge global economy into chaos by waging an illegal war on the nations of Iran and Lebanon"
I simply refuse to believe this isn’t a Chris Morris sketch:
Murphy: I have great sympathy for our soldiers and our military leaders they are being given directions by a senile old man who is losing his mind. And so it's no surprise that this war is going horribly
We've contracted with Evil Corp to...
It calls itself Evil Corp?
Yes, but we think it'll be fine...
Palantir Technologies does not operate within NHS Scotland. While the controversial U.S. data analytics firm holds a major £330 million contract to manage patient data for NHS England, the Scottish Government has not adopted Palantir ...
MoD *is* an issue.
A procurement crisis absolutely everyone saw coming but which the Department of Health and MoD will now have to tackle, with zero good outcomes – as they've both now signed contracts and have technical reliance on Palantir.
Palantir is such a great fit for the NHS.
Anyone who looks at what these people say, and how they say it, and thinks "yes, I will spend public money here. Britain mustn't get left behind in the race to the bright future these people are describing" does not deserve to hold public office.
I'm not a guns and bombs huy, but I think it's a matter of basic competence that the people running a state should be curious supply chains, engineering and data science. Those same leaders should also be learning lessons from teachable moments like covid and Ukraine. But I worry they are not.
Covid was a wake up call for the UK, the fact the UK had to open an amateur competition to build ventilators showed just how deeply fucked we were. Politicians didn't even know how to set up a production line to make basic face masks and PPE.
But politicians and civil servants are a big problem too. We are still run by a class of amateurs, with degrees in classics and PPE and backgrounds (like mine tbf) in charities, NGOs and law. Is there a single MP in parliament or Mandarin civil servant who was an engineer? Who ever built something?
The UK's problem is that we are so fonancialised, that hard tech skills required to do eg - chip engineering, are more likely to find a home at a hedge fund or bank speeding up financial transactions, when that skillset could be socially usefully deployed elsewhere.
Data & tech are areas where the UK should look to "buy British". We have the education and skillset to be doing all of this ourselves. It's politicians who put us in a situation where we're giving tax payer money to CIA adjacent corporates headed by authoritarians.
Much of Palantir's "genius" is not genius at all, it's just smart data science. When did UK politicians decide the UK state didn't have the intelligence and capability to build it's own systems? Why does the NHS need a Palantir? It's just data guys, not Elvish spells.
A graphic with a picture of Peter Thiel in the centre and a list of 12 government bodies that have multi-million pound contracts with Palantir
This graphic from The Nerve shows how embedded in govt they are already
It's not just defence. It's so ingrained in the government. As with most things wrong atm it's due to the inept and corrupt Tories but Labour are failing to take action to remedy and simply following down the same path
www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-t...
Media & police commonly report that “speed wasn’t a factor in a crash.” What they mean is the driver wasn’t technically breaking the speed limit, or at least not too much.
But speed is ALWAYS a factor, in how much distance is needed to stop, how well crash victims can be seen, and whether they die.
2/ "The Pentagon and [NSC] significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes ... agency analysis and forecasts that would be integral elements of the decision-making process in past administrations were secondary considerations."
As is often the case with fascists, they are malign idiots.
"Palantir CEO Alex Karp thinks his AI technology will lessen the power of 'highly educated, often female voters, who vote mostly Democrat' while increasing the power of working-class men."
Remind me again why Labour is shoving vast public contracts down its throat?
Let’s regulate teens using the bad thing, rather than regulate the bad thing. Anyone who thought that would ever work needs their head read.
I’m shocked, stunned etc.
Meanwhile, everywhere else around the world assumes Australia has cracked it and are rushing to copy their law.
What an archaeological discovery to wake up to this Friday !!
"My flabber has never been so gasted" (Peter Purves, 13/03/2026) 🤩🤩
#DoctorWho #Daleks #FindsFriday
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This is the company the UK government has embedded in the nation’s services. Seriously, fuck everyone who is excusing this.
There are other reasons for the UK government not to award or continue Palantir contracts but this statement of intent by its CEO must surely be decisive?
And the UK government is working with them in the MOD and the English NHS.
These are the people who decide for governments whose door gets kicked down and which children get dragged off to camps.
There has never been a Labour government at Holyrood facing a hostile party in power at Westminster. I think they’ve forgotten why Donald Dewar insisted on creating devolution as he did.
