BY MURIEL SHORT How Musk’s Platform Is Losing Its Grip on the UK For nearly two decades, Twitter was the UK’s digital town square. It was where journalists broke news, politicians picked fights, and academics tested ideas. But since Elon Musk’s takeover and the rebrand to X, the platform has entered a state of serious decline. The numbers tell a brutal story. According to Ofcom, … Continue reading The Great British X-odus
BY SAM CHANDLER Last week, Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from using most of the major social media platforms – a landmark moment in global tech regulation. Under the new law, all “age-restricted social media platforms” will be under a legal obligation to prevent underage users from creating or maintaining accounts through tools like age verification checks, AI age estimation software, … Continue reading Australia’s Social Media Ban is Only Half the Solution
BY GARY MCGHEE The message I must convey to you is of the utmost importance. I am particularly suited to doing so given my insights and superior knowledge on my subject. Moreover, I am very experienced, popular, have a large profile, many thousands of followers, heaps of charisma. People who seek guidance and reassurance are drawn to me, I am admired, loved. Some jealous people … Continue reading I, Grifter
BY ALEX STORY After a week away from home, I walk in. Not a sound. I take a few tentative steps into the flat. I open the door to the living room. There in total silence, my four children, each with their own devices, slouch on the sofa. They barely notice me. For a second, a pair of eyes zeroes in on me, only to … Continue reading Live Life to the Full
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN The cradle used in cricket to train us to catch in the slips was somewhat useful. When, at speed, a cricket ball was fired into it, you had to be on your toes in case you needed to adjust your body position to meet unusual catching angles. You had to be alert for those ‘uncatchable’ balls which sometimes curved high or low, … Continue reading The Cradle
BY QUENTIN PIGG Twitter is one of those places where being sober puts one at an instant disadvantage. With a glass of whisky in hand, the talk seems somewhat less tedious, the company less ugly and the tweets of Femi Oluwole not so ineffably stupid. More fool me, then, for going on there as sober as a judge last week and making the – quite … Continue reading Care in the Community
BY PAUL NEWALL Recently I got called a fascist on social media. I had to chuckle despite the insult. As a former Trotskyite I must have gone full circle! Then someone mentioned on the thread that the name caller didn’t know what the term meant. When I thought about this, I visited some home truths. The word fascist is the second most overused in the … Continue reading Trot! Fascist!
BY JAMES MELVILLE “When facts change, I change my mind.”~ John Maynard Keynes Where is the bipartisanship, respectfulness, balance and empathy in our political discourse? We are moving apart rather than walking towards each other. Increasingly, it seems that on almost every political issue, binary choices of division are being made. This is increasing the levels of division and hatred. Instead, we need to find … Continue reading More Bipartisanship, Less Tribalism
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Pray tell, why do you hate so? The sneering nastiness of the tw*ts on social media is something to behold. It is understandable how those handed a rough deal in life – they could be poor, sick, or born with an eye on the end of their nose – can become acrimonious. Yet the bulk of the social media nasties tend to … Continue reading Dearest Bitterati
BY CRYPTO Humans are essentially tribal, people with similar traits and beliefs group together. You can see this played out on the Internet every day. It’s very clear. Ancient humans understood this early on and realised if you can set the base axioms for a group, the narrative, i.e. answer the mother of all questions, what’s the meaning of life. Then you can control and … Continue reading Why the Hysteria?
BY JON ALEXANDER Poor Tim Farron. When the General Election was announced, he was in the prime position of being able to hoover up disgruntled Labour voters and Remainers, thereby turning around the fortunes of the Liberal Democrats and giving them a strong chance of becoming the UK’s third largest party in Westminster again. Sadly, t’was not to be. Poor Tim has been repeatedly asked … Continue reading Your Thoughts are Ours
