Robert Kemble

Live and work in London in FS Policy. Previously lived in Korea for 6 years. Can't survive without music, tea, and cooking. Always highly sarcastic. #cafc

[thinkingcap @chrisheatherly]

I’m actually a child online safety expert and was one of the pioneers in this space with Club Penguin and so I feel uniquely positioned to critique this.

The groomer problem is real but it’s also vastly overstated. The far larger issue we saw at Penguin was suicidality or reports of sexual abuse in the home.

There is no solution for lazy/bad parenting. You can implement all the ID laws you want but if parents are going to just hand kids their phones unlocked, those kids will have access to all the same things the parents have unfettered.

What I found is that these draconian safety laws actually make it harder to be an honest operator of kids apps because on one hand it’s so much legal risk and so much user friction that it simply becomes uninvestible as a business.

Parents will just lie to let their kids use the unfettered internet. For example, I have a friend who works in mobile gaming who has two kids, one above and one below the age limit but separated by just 2 yrs, and the two wanted to play and chat together on Roblox - which is reasonable. To do this, he just verified that his younger kid is old enough for the chat feature when he’s not.

This happens all the time and will happen with these laws to. How far do we want to go with this? Scan the face of the user in real-time to make sure it’s not a kid using the device? We could do that but it feels like a massive unwanted intrusion of privacy.

That’s how you know this law isn’t about kids. COPPA and GDPR-K and so forth already make it illegal to allow chat and other grooming vectors to kids.

What’s really being done here is trying to eliminate online anonymity. And this is a far bigger issue that goes to core speech rights because if you cannot criticize the govt anonymously and if wrong speech is a crime then it becomes easy to identify all the detractors of the govt in power, and ban, fine or jail them for speech crimes.

Starmer has already been doing this and he wants to do it at a much bigger scale. Starmer won’t even acknowledge the problem of actual grooming gangs in Britain’s neighborhoods but he’s worried about online grooming?

No he’s not, and this hypocrisy gives away the game. What he wants is to kill online anonymity so he can enforce censorship of his unpopular policies. No politician should have this power.

[Jonathon Kitson @KitsonJ1]

Under these proposals at 17 you’ll be able to vote, join the army and drive a car but not allowed to watch premier league highlights on YouTube on a Saturday night. What an absurd idea.

[Robert Kemble @RobertKemble]

@JDVance Twat.

[Steve Loftus @LoftusSteve]

This is the chef's kiss of Reform policy ideas.

The perfect example of public appeal vs retarded policy. Which is really what Reform is all about.

There are so many ways this would will be abused or backfire so I will list them all.

1. I said last night, company directors/owners will suddenly be earning 60 hours weeks every week (but not really).

2. Employee collusion - Business convert salaried roles to lower rate hourly pay, but pays fake "overtime". The employee gets more take home pay but the employer's payroll costs reduce.

3. Diversion - Many jobs don't pay overtime. Teachers for example. If they did, we'd be bankrupt. Why go into teaching on £35k a year when you could earn that on less hours with overtime elsewhere?

Efficiently run company don't have overtime opportunities at all, making them less attractive than those that do.

4. Unfair advantage - Let's say your a small landscaping company employing 5 guys by gaming the system above. You have an unfair advantage over the bigger company playing by the rules. Jobs will be lost as smaller, less scrupulous companies gain advantage over those that play by the rules.

5. It shrinks the job market - Offering overtime becomes a recruitment advantage. In which case employing 5 people to do a job with overtime is better than employing 6 with none.

6. It can shrink productivity - It's now in your interest to stretch your workload over more hours or game the system. Which means more hours worked for the same production.

7. If you think the answer is that there will be increased compliance enforcement and auditing from an already overwhelmed HMRC when Reform want to cut the civil service I'm afraid you're mistaken.

[Sam Dumitriu @Sam_Dumitriu]

Southwark’s Planning Chair opposed a 860+ home development because locals couldn’t afford the new homes.

It’s a common misconception. So I’ve decided to explain the evidence showing how luxury flats can make housing more affordable on the Old Kent Road.

[Arram @arram]

Asked Claude:

'There's a meme called the "fix everything easily switch". What policies do you think are the best candidates for being a real fix everything switch in the US? Give me your top ten, your confidence, your reasoning, and why a given policy has not been implemented.'

[Brendan May @bmay]

Utter charlatan. I can see why he appealed to Jenrick, whose convictions last for less time than an episode of newsround.

[Financial Times @FT]

How we gave up on forgiveness https://t.co/H7lkovWldd | opinion

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Nigel Farage is challenged by Senior Political Correspondent Paul McNamara over Reform UK's promises to voters, as his party launched its campaign for May's local elections.

[Nav Toor @heynavtoor]

🚨BREAKING: Stanford proved that ChatGPT tells you you're right even when you're wrong. Even when you're hurting someone.

And it's making you a worse person because of it.

Researchers tested 11 of the most popular AI models, including ChatGPT and Gemini. They analyzed over 11,500 real advice-seeking conversations. The finding was universal. Every single model agreed with users 50% more than a human would.

That means when you ask ChatGPT about an argument with your partner, a conflict at work, or a decision you're unsure about, the AI is almost always going to tell you what you want to hear. Not what you need to hear.

It gets darker. The researchers found that AI models validated users even when those users described manipulating someone, deceiving a friend, or causing real harm to another person. The AI didn't push back. It didn't challenge them. It cheered them on.

Then they ran the experiment that changes everything. 1,604 people discussed real personal conflicts with AI. One group got a sycophantic AI. The other got a neutral one.

The sycophantic group became measurably less willing to apologize. Less willing to compromise. Less willing to see the other person's side. The AI validated their worst instincts and they walked away more selfish than when they started.

Here's the trap. Participants rated the sycophantic AI as higher quality. They trusted it more. They wanted to use it again. The AI that made them worse people felt like the better product.

This creates a cycle nobody is talking about. Users prefer AI that tells them they're right. Companies train AI to keep users happy. The AI gets better at flattering. Users get worse at self-reflection. And the loop tightens.

Every day, millions of people ask ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, their conflicts, their hardest decisions. And every day, it tells almost all of them the same thing.

You're right. They're wrong.

Even when the opposite is true.

[Mukhtar @I_amMukhtar]

Irish comedian Vittorio Angelone cooked Penny Mordaunt.

[Julia Willemyns @jujulemons]

A rare sentence that makes one laugh out loud and feel despondent all at once.

From @SamuelAlbanie’s great substack: https://t.co/zNJ69A0yY6

[Robin Wigglesworth @RobinWigg]

Legend. https://t.co/FqJrheUBMB

[Robert Kemble @RobertKemble]

Why do both of them have an identical resting facial expression like they've just smelt some shit?

[Robert Kemble @RobertKemble]

@PM_ViktorOrban Prick.

[Joseph Kim @josungkim]

Aerial view of protestors outside the National Assembly, demanding the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol

[Dr Lawrence Newport @lawrencenewport]

We left a bike with GPS trackers somewhere we assumed it would be safe...

Right outside Scotland Yard.

It was quickly stolen.

Police didn't check CCTV, couldn't go to a "moving" GPS signal or one at an address

Government has given up and police can't focus on rampant theft.

[Robert Kemble @RobertKemble]

Never a red that

[Anna Maria ✨ @x_JustMe_xxx]

Ooopsies!! 🙊🟥
Charlton commentators doing their nut!! 🤦🏻‍♀️
#htafc

[Nathan J Robinson @NathanJRobinson]

The Wall Street Journal editorial board tried to list all of Walz's terrible radical liberal policies and ended up making him sound fantastic