maxcbc

Peripatetic code womble and omni-nerd.

Public Policy, International Relations, Physics and Tech (amongst other things)

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@ShippersUnbound Just a thought. Does this make Healey a real contender for Chancellor under Burnham.

A "Well you bloody find the money then" play.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@ShippersUnbound Will @AlistairCarns follow? Or will he take the SoS job and defend the treasury fudge.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

Principled. And lays bare the choice Starmer, and indeed the country faces.

1) Do you want to make war less likely? The best way to do that is to deter. You need to make what an adversary stands to lose in a war significantly greater that what they stand to gain. And it is important that this is clearly visible and known to them before hand.
2) If war does come, do you want our forces to be properly equipped? This isn't jingoism. If you or your family get sent to war, do you want them to be properly equipped? We may feel all out war is a far off probability, but so did many Ukrainians in early 2022. And they'd already been invaded 8 years before.

[John Healey @JohnHealey_MP]

My letter to the Prime Minister

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

One part of the argument is that AI in space is a "regulatory play":

i.e. "its hard to get data centres approved and built fast enough on earth to meet demand"

The argument being easy approvals plus cheap solar energy makes orbital data centres viable with SpaceX's cheaper space launches.

The but this applies to so much more, what other industrial processes are either energy intensive, or face so much regulatory inertia, that doing it in orbit becomes economical?

Thats the multi-trillion dollar question.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

SpaceX AI Satellites

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@DanNeidle From what I can see at least, this probably has more support on the current Labour backbenches than any viable package of pro-growth policies.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

The government should pay farmers to do the precision scanning, rather than the various environmental schemes.

The environment would gain from the reduction in fertiliser, herbicide, fungicides etc being spread. As well as reduced emissions from producing and spreading the same.

Farmers would gain from reduced input costs and in theory higher yields. Tech sector would gain from support for precision farming.

Government could gain from having a national view of soil health from submitted scans, as well as higher tax revenues if yield improves.

Seems like a win-win.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@JamesAHogg2 Can't help but sing this every time I buy them

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@WalkerMarcus Not disagreeing.

But also to my memory the UK version was always called D&I (D 'n' I), as in diversity and inclusion.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

That doesn't surprise me, nor change my mind. I take a maximalist approach on sanctions.

That said, the UK should get its own house in order before even considering this. It still has significant carve outs for aviation fuel and road diesel processed from Russian crude in a third country.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@JAHeale Just re-reading the English Constitution for the first time since I was a kid. I didn't understand then just how much it holds up, despite 150 years of constitutional 'innovation'.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@montie @KemiBadenoch

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@ShippersUnbound This feels like it should form part of a new electoral system.
With a series of challenge rounds like a Japanese gameshow.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@WilkieisBack66 Or is that one quite small sergeant standing on another quite small sergeant's shoulders.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@Ameer_Kotecha @CharlieBarleys Black pudding + British political trivia = My niche

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

Is the chain of responsibility different from if a smart munition, such as a Tomahawk is targeted at one building, veers off course and hits another?

Software is software, AI or otherwise. This isn't something new. Though I agree that we should aim for a legal framework which applies clear accountability in such cases.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

Very well written. But I also think there is a distinction between their peace time role and their wartime role, particularly for the army.

Given the capital intensive nature of the RN, and our status as a maritime nation; its peacetime establishment has to be nearer its wartime establishment. Its role is about presence and force projection, both in peace and war. The same is true of the RAF. RN/RAF lead times for platform procurement, even in an emergency, are measured in years not months.

The army is a different beast, especially for the UK. A root capability of the army its ability to surge in wartime, to scale-up its training establishment, procurement and industrial base significantly. If we are NATO/Russia focussed, its all well and good to have tripwire forces; but what comes after? And then what comes after that? Rapid scalability is key for the army in a way it isn't for the other services. I'm not sure this is being addressed.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@LoftusSteve Zia Yusuf is the Angela Rayner of Reform UK.

Defined by what they are against, aggressive, crass and uncivil. Personally lacking a positive vision for Britain.

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

Potentially opposed, depends on the detail

If a conviction is spent its spent, I'm uncomfortable with a blanket restriction.

If this is to be a criminal sanction then is should be specific, in the power of the judge, and with a fixed time period (which can be as long as is seen fit, depending on the circumstance). Happy for it to be liberally applied but some people should have the chance to get themselves on the straight and narrow without their past hanging around their necks (again depends on circumstance).

[maxcbc @maxcbc]

@HCH_Hill Nice idea, but lets go a bit further, not a lottery but a 20 round genuine ballot of backbench members.