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‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at Meta’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, AI and Starmer’s half measures
August 23, 2025
When Britain’s former deputy PM took a job at Meta, nothing could have prepared him for the ‘cloying conformity’ of the tech world. So why does he still think social media is a force for good? • Read an exclusive extract from Nick Clegg’s new book here The rain is just starting to fall from…
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Angela Rayner hit with legal challenge over datacentre on green belt land
August 22, 2025
Exclusive: Campaigners complain no environmental assessment made for 90MW Buckinghamshire facility The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has been hit with a legal challenge after she overruled a local council to approve a hyperscale datacentre on green belt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire. Campaigners bringing the action are complaining that no environmental impact assessment…
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‘Shut it down and start again’: staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis
August 18, 2025
Whistleblower warns UK’s top AI research body in danger of collapse due to threats over funding and new direction When the UK government announced the creation of the Alan Turing Institute in 2014 it promised a “fitting memorial” to the renowned computer scientist and artificial intelligence pioneer. More than a decade on, Britain’s leading AI…
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Rayner says Farage ‘failing young women’ with plan to scrap Online Safety Act
August 17, 2025
Deputy PM says move would cause rise in ‘revenge porn’, as Labour launches attack ads against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is “failing a generation of young women” with his plans to scrap the Online Safety Act, Angela Rayner has said, arguing the move would cause an increase in the prevalence of “revenge porn”. The…
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I spoke to the AI avatar of a Leeds MP. How did it cope with my Yorkshire accent?
August 8, 2025
Leeds MP Mark Sewards has launched a digital assistant, but the results of my chat show MPs’ aides have nowt to worry about As anyone with even a trace of a regional dialect who has had to pay a parking fine can attest, voice recognition services struggle with accents. Now, people in Mark Sewards’ constituency…
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We’re being deafened by digital noise. Pause it and you hear the sound of democracy in crisis | Rafael Behr
August 6, 2025
Politics is struggling to cope with the pace of technological change – and that is affecting every single one of us Returning from holiday, asked where I have been, I want to say “offline”. The more precise answer is France, where the internet is available. But I tried not to use it compulsively because there…
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George Osborne says UK has been left behind in cryptocurrency boom
August 4, 2025
Ex-chancellor criticises hesitant approach to crypto and warns country in danger of missing next surge in market Business live – latest updates The UK has been left behind in the cryptocurrency boom and is in danger of missing a second wave of demand, according to the former chancellor George Osborne. Osborne, who has an advisory…
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Social media battles and barbs on both sides of Atlantic over UK Online Safety Act
August 4, 2025
Farage accuses government of being ‘so below the belt’ as right wing doubles down on censorship claims The UK’s Online Safety Act has been greatly anticipated. Amid mounting concerns about the ease of accessing harmful content online, rules were drawn up to force social platforms to protect children from posts and videos that incite hatred…
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UK Online Safety Act risks ‘seriously infringing’ free speech, says X
August 2, 2025
Elon Musk’s social media platform says lawmakers made a ‘conscientious decision’ to increase censorship Elon Musk’s X platform has said the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) is at risk of “seriously infringing” free speech as a row deepens over measures for protecting children from harmful content. The social media company said the act’s “laudable” intentions…
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