Tom Griffin
tcgriffin.bsky.social
Tom Griffin
@tcgriffin.bsky.social

Author of State-Private Networks and Intelligence Theory (Routledge 2022). Writing on intelligence history on substack. https://intelligencehistory.substack.com

Political science 30%
Sociology 27%
Can someone please respond to Stephen Miller with this message from Frank Sinatra?
Good interview in the paper, this. I think Sadiq is right: London 'needs' to be less successful than it is for a bunch of political arguments here in the UK to work, hence the fictions being invented about it:
Populists attack London because it is ‘progressive and successful’, says Sadiq Khan
Rightwing attacks on one of the world’s most visited cities at odds with reality, says mayor
www.ft.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

The Wran, the Wran, the king of all birds...the tradition lives in Dingle in West Kerry and in other part of the country where traditional music is strong. jrnl.ie/6908042t
Christmas can't hold a candle to the Wran on Stephen's Day in Dingle
Musicians in masks. straw helmets and colourful costumes will take to the streets of Dingle on Stephen’s Day to continue a centuries old tradition.
jrnl.ie
When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, creative works from 1930 & sound recordings from 1925 will enter the public domain in the US, like:

💄 Dizzy Dishes, first Betty Boop cartoon
🕵️♀️ First 4 Nancy Drew novels
🚂 The Little Engine That Could
🎩 Morocco
🍑 Georgia on My Mind
and many more!

🧵👇
The open letter is here and still open, but use the email at the top to do so. tinyurl.com/bbcwaccampaign
Left: Greta Thunberg arrested for holding a placard in London

Right: Labour's Baron Hain, "This gov is treating Palestine action as equivalent to ISIS or al-Qaeda, which is intellectually bankrupt, politically unprincipled and morally wrong. I'm deeply ashamed"

Reposted by Tom Griffin

Sigh. Really? bit.ly/4saL3fK if you’re going to dip your toe into the bitcoin stream makes sure it’s a toe you can afford to lose
British companies lose £80m after piling into Bitcoin
Businesses buying into cryptocurrency craze did so near the peak of the market, Telegraph analysis shows
bit.ly
Holy shit practically the entire Heritage legal center resigned www.nationalreview.com/news/exclusi...

Reposted by Tom Griffin

The economic data in general isn't great but there is one exception.... Investment.

Business investment has grown significantly this year.

Either (i) there is more underlying confidence than appears (latest PMI backs this up) (ii) some statistical oddity.

Would love to hear thoughts.
Pleased to see this piece. Personally, I find these uses of synthetic data v concerning and I find the traction and endorsements that this work has to be quite baffling, esp given the well-storied role of algorithmic targeting in undermining democracy
"We risk inheriting a future in which institutions answer to synthetic publics rather than real ones" rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/researc...
Research Radar: Synthetic Data Is Redefining Representation
As governments experiment with AI to simulate public opinion, new questions are emerging about who these systems truly represent. This Research Radar examines the Collective Intelligence Project’s Dig...
rebootdemocracy.ai
Via Prisoners for Palestine… take action: linktr.ee/prisoners4pal #Palestine
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
JD Vance: "When I say that I'm going to fight alongside of you, I mean all of you — each and every one. President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests."
Absolutely right.

AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there.

Let me illustrate …
Not a historian but like to research. The AI might summarize what I'm looking for, but it doesn't find what I'm *not* looking for. The book on the shelf next to the one I wanted. The insight in chapter 6 based on the quote I needed from chapter 4.
Not a historian but like to research. The AI might summarize what I'm looking for, but it doesn't find what I'm *not* looking for. The book on the shelf next to the one I wanted. The insight in chapter 6 based on the quote I needed from chapter 4.
🚨 The DOJ appears to have redacted Donald Trump’s name from the allegations made in this exhibit in the Epstein files.

Trump’s name was in the original release. Now, it’s blacked out.

See for yourself.

Reposted by Tom Griffin

Appeal to all MI5 staff for information in BBC spy case

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Appeal to all MI5 staff for information in BBC spy case
The inquiry head says it is "surprising" that new material is being uncovered years after the case began.
www.bbc.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

Every agency, under every president, has hidden or classified politically inconvenient and embarrassing information.

This is partially bc there are no ramifications for overclassification - and there should be.

Things that may help include financial penalties for willful and habitual overclass.
NEW: "The Justice Department redacted the names and identifiers of victims. Fox News Digital has learned that the same redaction standards were applied to politically exposed individuals and government officials.” www.foxnews.com/politics/eps...
Epstein files explode open as DOJ details discovery of powerful figures and more than 1,200 victims
EXCLUSIVE: More than a dozen people and government officials' names appear in the hundreds of thousands of pages of Jeffrey Epstein files made public Friday, sources said.
www.foxnews.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

Is that who I think it is……?!
🚨 "The Justice Department redacted the names and identifiers of victims. Fox News Digital has learned that the same redaction standards were applied to politically exposed individuals and government officials. "

h/t @kleinmatic.bsky.social
Epstein files explode open as DOJ details discovery of powerful figures and more than 1,200 victims
EXCLUSIVE: More than a dozen people and government officials' names appear in the hundreds of thousands of pages of Jeffrey Epstein files made public Friday, sources said.
www.foxnews.com
For Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, repeating every UAE talking point is the ultimate expression of British identity

Paul Marshall - the presiding genius of every British disaster from coalition austerity to Brexit. Blame the managerial class for failing to implement the whims of the donor class properly. Don't blame the whims.
Farage and Polanski have something in common. They are both wrong about Britain.

Thread & link at the end 🧵
Apparently Brexit is a failure because it wasn’t done properly.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
The Brexit implementation fiasco
It is not too late to reverse bad policy but that requires good governance
giftarticle.ft.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade.

The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia.

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
Major Tory donor sanctioned over role in Russian oil trade
The government sanctioning statement alleges that Murtaza Lakhani’s activities in the oil sector have supported the Kremlin
www.thetimes.com