Doug Winter
@doug.winter.cx
CTO & part-time systems thinker.
Husband of @rowan68.bsky.social.
Husband of @rowan68.bsky.social.
This very watchable old video on the Brown premiership has parallels with today which are pretty striking.
RSA ANIMATE: The Economic Consequences of Mr Brown
YouTube video by The RSA
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
This very watchable old video on the Brown premiership has parallels with today which are pretty striking.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Sun up the level of rot in British police in one paragraph:
November 12, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Sun up the level of rot in British police in one paragraph:
Reposted by Doug Winter
The British government admits it is now monitoring VPNs use by UK residents. Regulator Ofcom has contracted with an AI-powered surveillance service to detect the number of citizens using VPNs to evade the Online Safety Act.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
Exclusive: Ofcom is monitoring VPNs following Online Safety Act. Here's how
Ignoring VPNs risks creating ineffective laws, but tracking them threatens people's privacy
www.techradar.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:39 PM
The British government admits it is now monitoring VPNs use by UK residents. Regulator Ofcom has contracted with an AI-powered surveillance service to detect the number of citizens using VPNs to evade the Online Safety Act.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
The UK tech minister has said a VPN ban is on the table.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Many modern technologists and computer scientists are very cogent systems thinker because any sufficiently advanced technology *is people*, all technical systems are socio-technical. The capital T Tech dipshits talking about “alpha” are mainly cosplaying finance people, regardless of their training
This is absolutely the case. Tech Guys of previous generations, to the extent that that category can be read back into the 19th and 20th centuries, were shockingly well-read by modern standards
it’s also notable how the techbros of today really don’t read *books* anymore - this was really not the case for the Tech Guys of earlier generations, far as I’ve been able to tell
November 12, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Many modern technologists and computer scientists are very cogent systems thinker because any sufficiently advanced technology *is people*, all technical systems are socio-technical. The capital T Tech dipshits talking about “alpha” are mainly cosplaying finance people, regardless of their training
Reposted by Doug Winter
There's this story about how CS Lewis was out with a friend and stopped to give a vagrant some money. Lewis's friend chided him, saying "you know he's just to buy liquor with it, right?"
Lewis responded, "Well, so was I."
Lewis responded, "Well, so was I."
The right's obsession with SNAP recipients buying popsicles is a modern version of a centuries-old tradition of scolding the poor for what they eat. It mimics verbatim Victorian complaints about the poor indulging in tea and sugar, mistaking consumption as a cause of poverty instead of a symptom.
POP(SICLE) PSYCHOLOGY | Gin and Tacos
Get more from Gin and Tacos on Patreon
www.patreon.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:30 PM
There's this story about how CS Lewis was out with a friend and stopped to give a vagrant some money. Lewis's friend chided him, saying "you know he's just to buy liquor with it, right?"
Lewis responded, "Well, so was I."
Lewis responded, "Well, so was I."
Cthonic Robert Frost
"babies are born worshipping unknown gods" is one of the most incredible dwarf fortress bugs i have heard of. its poetry.
November 11, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Cthonic Robert Frost
Prompted by Donald Trump we have just listened to Miracles by Insane Clown Posse and I'm pretty clear even if they have a shared confusion re: magnets, ICP would make a better President.
November 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Prompted by Donald Trump we have just listened to Miracles by Insane Clown Posse and I'm pretty clear even if they have a shared confusion re: magnets, ICP would make a better President.
Reposted by Doug Winter
i really really really really think we are delivering on terrible, society destroying, applications of AI at about 10x the rate of "economically useful, liberatory, activity for normies"
November 11, 2025 at 4:52 PM
i really really really really think we are delivering on terrible, society destroying, applications of AI at about 10x the rate of "economically useful, liberatory, activity for normies"
Should rename themselves the Deathwish Party.
Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston tells GB News that the BBC should "grovel" to Trump.
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
November 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Should rename themselves the Deathwish Party.
Reposted by Doug Winter
A brilliant example of what Lewis Goodall talks about when he argues why right-wing radicals keep winning. They don't play by the rules and simply don't care. Whereas the institutions they want to destroy do even when said rules are contorted to absurdity and are blatantly being used against them.
The founder of Newsmax was just on the Today programme pontificating about bias. Boy, the BBC loves to submit itself to flagellation.
November 11, 2025 at 8:45 AM
A brilliant example of what Lewis Goodall talks about when he argues why right-wing radicals keep winning. They don't play by the rules and simply don't care. Whereas the institutions they want to destroy do even when said rules are contorted to absurdity and are blatantly being used against them.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Bicycles - Why you might need more than one
Artist: Dave Walker
Artist: Dave Walker
November 10, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Bicycles - Why you might need more than one
Artist: Dave Walker
Artist: Dave Walker
Reposted by Doug Winter
Again, this isn't unique to Americans, I think it applies to most citizens of developed Western countries.
country violently allergic to acknowledging the existence of policy trade-offs, and steadfastly convinced that this allergy is virtuous and even a skeptical rejection of the powers that be instead of a prolonged temper tantrum by the most privileged people to ever live on this earth
November 11, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Again, this isn't unique to Americans, I think it applies to most citizens of developed Western countries.
Surprisingly astute for softbank?
Japanese giant SoftBank said Tuesday it has sold its entire stake in tech giant Nvidia for $5.83 billion.
Click here to read more: https://cnb.cx/49LCIs8
Click here to read more: https://cnb.cx/49LCIs8
November 11, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Surprisingly astute for softbank?
Reposted by Doug Winter
If you think that “the slow vanishing of employee benefits” is a better trade politically than “the other lot saying you broke your promise on income tax”, you are out of your tree: www.ft.com/content/1160...
November 11, 2025 at 12:16 AM
If you think that “the slow vanishing of employee benefits” is a better trade politically than “the other lot saying you broke your promise on income tax”, you are out of your tree: www.ft.com/content/1160...
Surely this is the only reasonable response? Anything else would be catastrophic.
So at the moment, despite @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social’s piece, I wonder whether a better BBC response would be the Arkell v Pressdram one. proftomcrick.com/2014/04/29/a...
Arkell v Pressdram [1971]
In April 1971, Private Eye carried the story of how James Arkell, a retail credit manager, had dispensed with the services of two bailiffs who were on bail on charges of conspiracy to create a publ…
proftomcrick.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Surely this is the only reasonable response? Anything else would be catastrophic.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Every time someone’s like “put that in the louvre,” my head now goes “and then steal it from the louvre, the security password is louvre”
November 11, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Every time someone’s like “put that in the louvre,” my head now goes “and then steal it from the louvre, the security password is louvre”
Clicking this link shows me "Unavailable Due to the UK Online Safety Act" which is very 2025.
November 10, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Clicking this link shows me "Unavailable Due to the UK Online Safety Act" which is very 2025.
The problem with this approach is that the government *also* have to be strong enough to tolerate the red tops running stories about the "undeserving poor" being given handouts.
They show no sign of being able to do this.
They show no sign of being able to do this.
They can be a good policy intervention for the tiny minority of families whose problem is having a chaotic life, whether that is mental health, drug addiction or whatever, but for most people in poverty, their problem is - wait for it - they don't have enough money!
November 10, 2025 at 1:14 PM
The problem with this approach is that the government *also* have to be strong enough to tolerate the red tops running stories about the "undeserving poor" being given handouts.
They show no sign of being able to do this.
They show no sign of being able to do this.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Objectivity, impartiality and balance are all *different things*, and the lazy tendency to treat them as synonyms, and to use partisan balance alone as a proxy for the others, is the root cause of a vast amount of nonsense.
Robbie Gibb once suggested that reporters should reflect if they were getting more retweets from one side than the other - a braindead analysis that ignores that fair and impartial reporting of education might get more Tory retweets than say, criminal justice.
Stephen really does have the best take on this. It’s not clear that the BBC Board or indeed the rest of the News team really understood the message of the previous reviews, which were about getting detail right. Instead they wanted to know what was ‘biased’ or not like they were blotting out stains.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Objectivity, impartiality and balance are all *different things*, and the lazy tendency to treat them as synonyms, and to use partisan balance alone as a proxy for the others, is the root cause of a vast amount of nonsense.
I can recommend muting "dems" and "democrats"
Okay we've got fours hours until this place is just a flood of posts about 'The Dems' again. Let's enjoy it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:29 AM
I can recommend muting "dems" and "democrats"
Reposted by Doug Winter
Okay we've got fours hours until this place is just a flood of posts about 'The Dems' again. Let's enjoy it.
November 10, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Okay we've got fours hours until this place is just a flood of posts about 'The Dems' again. Let's enjoy it.
Reposted by Doug Winter
Just occurred that the BBC is the most literal example of Conquest's third law in that it is actually run by a cabal of its enemies.
November 10, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Just occurred that the BBC is the most literal example of Conquest's third law in that it is actually run by a cabal of its enemies.
Reposted by Doug Winter
From an article in today's Financial Times. Such an obvious statement of fact. It's hard to understand why direct public investment in social rent housing - so successful for decades - is now unthinkable.
November 10, 2025 at 7:43 AM
From an article in today's Financial Times. Such an obvious statement of fact. It's hard to understand why direct public investment in social rent housing - so successful for decades - is now unthinkable.