Richard Watkins

my thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@CatharineHoey Keep Fighting 💪

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

Who in there right mind would invest in the UK if people face these dystopian rules.

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

The UK government spyware demand means that the government decides exactly what should be censored on every mobile device. They say they will start with nude pictures (if you don’t identify yourself as an adult). But it could at any time be expanded to anything the government disapproves of. Today, 30 people are arrested every day in the United Kingdom for writing something online that the government classifies as "grossly offensive". It is obvious that they will use this tool to restrict free speech.

Currently, there appears to be no requirement to report findings outside the device. However, with both legal and technological decision-making power taken away from individuals and transferred to the government, that is only a pen stroke away.

This means that the government could also use this system for total mass surveillance.

And they can do so in secret.

The government recently, in secret, tried to pressure Apple (which is now agreeing to client-side scanning) to build backdoors into its end-to-end encrypted cloud service. They can do this under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, also known as the "Snoopers' Charter" – a law that makes it illegal for tech companies to disclose secret demands from the government.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@LBC @LauraTrottMP The consequences of this policy are REAL and citizens aren’t happy.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@TimesRadio @afneil This is simply an amateur and poorly disguised move towards the benefits of the EU Army

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@Glinner Beautifully Executed with Scottish Witt

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@sahill_og Boom 💥

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@sahill_og YESSSSSSS

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@Artemisfornow Our Government is a Joke.
With the strained relationship with the USA 🇺🇸 then Argentina 🇦🇷 will surely start to apply pressure now

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@JohnHealey_MP VERY Well Done SIR 🇬🇧

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@IntEngineering Amazing, if I can amend it to activate my muscles so I can download how to play piano, write in cursive and paint like Picasso

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@afneil Well Done Mr Healey 💪, do we just wait for the threat of invasion, the loss of Chagos to the USA 🇺🇸 and the Falklands to Argentina 🇦🇷 to Force the Government to react.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

UK innovators sold abroad:
• DeepMind (AI) → Google 2014
• ARM (chips) → SoftBank 2016
• Autonomy
• SwiftKey (AI) → Microsoft 2016
• Imagination Tech (SemiConductors)→ China 2017
•Jaguar Land Rover → Tata (India, 2008)
•GKN
•Graphcore (AI chips) → SoftBank (2024)

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@DPJHodges Keep up
Hilary Benn after 6 dodges: 'It is alien to all right-thinking people.' Glad we got there. But the culture that treats beheading as a tool isn't 'right-thinking' — and we're importing it anyway. That's the point Jim Allister made in the Commons.
https://t.co/df5wvJ51ch

[LBC @LBC]

“For the fourth time: is beheading an alien culture?”

@NickFerrariLBC presses Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

Be Like El Salvador UK:

1. Leave ECHR + Deterrence first
2. 2-strikes + long sentence for repeat violent/gang/knife
3. End early release + build prisons
4. Gang sweeps, zero knives, fast courts
5. Track reoffenders
Sentencing Reform and clear guidance
Deport Foreign Offenders

[Sarah Jones MP @LabourSJ]

Really excited to launch Police AI today with £75 million of funding.

We will use new technology to:

🦹catch more criminals
🚔put officers back on the beat
🔨tackle tool theft
🛍️ fight retail crime
👮free up the equivalent of 3000 police officers

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

Be Like El Salvador UK:

1. Leave ECHR + Deterrence first
2. 2-strikes + long sentence for repeat violent/gang/knife
3. End early release + build prisons
4. Gang sweeps, zero knives, fast courts
5. Track reoffenders
Sentencing Reform and clear guidance
Deport Foreign Offenders

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@AllisonPearson @NickFerrariLBC Hilary Benn after 6 dodges: 'It is alien to all right-thinking people.' Glad we got there. But the culture that treats beheading as a tool isn't 'right-thinking' — and we're importing it anyway. That's the point Jim Allister made in the Commons.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@RestoreBritain @RobertJenrick The Strain on the Public Purse via the ILR pipeline: Thousands from older grants will hit the 5-year mark annually → enter full benefits system. Cumulative: Potentially 150K–250K people transitioning in the next 4–5 years from recent peaks will add Billions to the Benefit Bill

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@frankwrighter @RestoreBritain @RobertJenrick So Bruce Almighty YES to process the backlog via Rapid or poorly screened asylum approvals have contributed to real societal strains in the UK, including isolated but high-profile violent incidents, community tensions, and public backlash.

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@SophyRidgeSky @Hrushworth Yup Palantir highlighted corruption and criminality…. Sadiq then blocks it

[Richard Watkins @TechManDude]

@JDBASURVIVOR @DrHoenderkamp @EileenBuck13 Musk won’t make a phone but Once starlink broadband is supported in Phones and X coin is available that will become a thing. BUT it also allows the State to have Surveillance that can’t be blocked.