Steve
@smeath.bsky.social
Reposted by Steve
‼️ Russia: “The Central Bank: to fulfill the borrowing plan, it is necessary to place OFZ bonds worth 2.5 trillion rubles.”
1. It depends on the definition of “place”
2. The Ministry of Finance still hasn’t announced it, but the Central Bank is?
www.kommersant.ru/doc/8193582
1. It depends on the definition of “place”
2. The Ministry of Finance still hasn’t announced it, but the Central Bank is?
www.kommersant.ru/doc/8193582
November 10, 2025 at 9:03 PM
‼️ Russia: “The Central Bank: to fulfill the borrowing plan, it is necessary to place OFZ bonds worth 2.5 trillion rubles.”
1. It depends on the definition of “place”
2. The Ministry of Finance still hasn’t announced it, but the Central Bank is?
www.kommersant.ru/doc/8193582
1. It depends on the definition of “place”
2. The Ministry of Finance still hasn’t announced it, but the Central Bank is?
www.kommersant.ru/doc/8193582
Reposted by Steve
I’m working on the OFZ thread, and after taking a just a week off, I forgot how much work it takes to put one together. 😵💫
Fun Fact: With just 7 auction days remaining, the Russian government STILL hasn’t raised enough revenue cover JUST their bond expenses for the year
Fun Fact: With just 7 auction days remaining, the Russian government STILL hasn’t raised enough revenue cover JUST their bond expenses for the year
November 10, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I’m working on the OFZ thread, and after taking a just a week off, I forgot how much work it takes to put one together. 😵💫
Fun Fact: With just 7 auction days remaining, the Russian government STILL hasn’t raised enough revenue cover JUST their bond expenses for the year
Fun Fact: With just 7 auction days remaining, the Russian government STILL hasn’t raised enough revenue cover JUST their bond expenses for the year
Reposted by Steve
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
Reposted by Steve
Huh? How do you do a "balancing" program when one candidate did an insurgency trying to overturn the election and the other...didn't?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Michael Prescott was ‘“shocked” that after an hour-long Panorama documentary dealing with Trump and the January 6 insurgency, there was no “similar, balancing” programme about Kamala Harris.’
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
More read about the machinations between the BBC resignations, the more worrying it becomes
The departure of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness means the BBC is leaderless when it needs leadership more than ever. Where are the people at the head of the BBC standing up for it?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 9, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Huh? How do you do a "balancing" program when one candidate did an insurgency trying to overturn the election and the other...didn't?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Would Prescott have been satisfied with an hour of people telling BBC journalists why they didn't try and stoke a riot to overturn Trump's second win?
Reposted by Steve
So how can you travel between Spain and Portugal (mostly) by rail? There are several similarly unattractive options. I have tried two of them! #CrossBorderRail
October 31, 2025 at 12:24 PM
So how can you travel between Spain and Portugal (mostly) by rail? There are several similarly unattractive options. I have tried two of them! #CrossBorderRail
Reposted by Steve
Very poor from the government: it won't review suitability of X for its communications, and insists on keeping secret its previous review.
October 31, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Very poor from the government: it won't review suitability of X for its communications, and insists on keeping secret its previous review.
Reposted by Steve
A national newspaper journalist went on a British TV channel to claim police stats showed asylum-seekers committed 44% of sex crimes in Dorset.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
November 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
A national newspaper journalist went on a British TV channel to claim police stats showed asylum-seekers committed 44% of sex crimes in Dorset.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
This shocking claim was treated as fact by the channel which promoted the clip on social media where it was amplified by AI.
Except... it's bollocks.
Reposted by Steve
Reposted by Steve
Nice to see this exclusive report in the Guardian, breaking the news that I reported 3 years ago in "The Decade In Tory" (one of dozens of lucrative, mostly wasted COVID contracts via direct connection to senior Tories).
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Revealed: the billion-pound PPE contractor with a Tory MP on site
Special report: Uniserve was paid £1.4bn for Covid contracts that included supply of £178.5m in never-used equipment
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Nice to see this exclusive report in the Guardian, breaking the news that I reported 3 years ago in "The Decade In Tory" (one of dozens of lucrative, mostly wasted COVID contracts via direct connection to senior Tories).
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Steve
You should ignore any political analysis that fails to consider how the right wing has captured both legacy and social media to spread propaganda in lockstep with the Trump regime.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
November 9, 2025 at 2:34 PM
You should ignore any political analysis that fails to consider how the right wing has captured both legacy and social media to spread propaganda in lockstep with the Trump regime.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Reposted by Steve
Checking in on how a focus on "personal liberties and free markets" is going at the Washington Post.
Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani? Oh OK.
Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani? Oh OK.
November 8, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Checking in on how a focus on "personal liberties and free markets" is going at the Washington Post.
Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani? Oh OK.
Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani? Oh OK.
Reposted by Steve
The premium this week is the precursor to something I'm working on coming out in the next week or two (which will be free). But one thing I can't stop thinking about - how has nobody else simply added up all the funding and revenues and costs? Hell, I should've done it months ago.
In an analysis of OpenAI's costs, revenues and funding from 2023 to 1H 2025, it raised $28.6bn in cash ($10bn rev included), and had $13.7bn in cash losses.
Reports say OpenAI ended 1H 2025 with $9.6bn. It should have $14.9bn in cash. There's a $4.1bn+ hole.
www.wheresyoured.at/where-is-ope...
Reports say OpenAI ended 1H 2025 with $9.6bn. It should have $14.9bn in cash. There's a $4.1bn+ hole.
www.wheresyoured.at/where-is-ope...
![A Brief History of OpenAI’s Revenues and Costs
If there are other articles reporting OpenAI's revenues or costs, please do get in touch. But I don't think anybody has ever done a full run-down. Behold!
On February 9, 2024, The Financial Times said that “OpenAI’s revenues have surpassed $2bn on an annualised basis,” with the company apparently hitting it “In December 2023,” according to “two people with knowledge of its finances.”
There was no mention of any comment related to OpenAI in this article.
On June 12, 2024, The Information reported that “OpenAI has more than doubled its annualized revenue to $3.4 billion in the past six months or so, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has told staff.” This amounts to around $283m in revenue a month at the end of calendar year Q2 2024.
This appears to be sourced from something that Sam Altman told staff.
Curiously, this is the only time I’ve seen OpenAI comment on one of these stories, with “...an OpenAI spokeswoman [saying] the financial details were “inaccurate,” without elaborating.” I have read every single one of these and I cannot find another instance of this happening. This makes me believe, along with other information from sources, that these numbers are particularly accurate.
This article also confirms that OpenAI gets a “roughly” 20% revenue share cut from Microsoft selling its models.
On July 24, 2024, The Information published that OpenAI “could lose as much as $5 billion” in 2024, “according to an analysis by The Information, based on previously undisclosed internal financial data and people involved in the business.”
Spokespeople for Microsoft and OpenAI did not have a comment.
On September 27. 2024, the New York Times reported that “OpenAI’s monthly revenue hit $300 million in August…and the company expects about $3.7 billion in annual sales [in 2024],” according to a financial professional’s review of documents.
That’s $300m in revenue in the month of August 2024. Details are important. OpenAI declined to comment.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qc6xzgctorfsm35w6i3vdebx/bafkreidkp2ogtpvnrhevelg4cudtu3u33wbmlsmfgnvqq76yzoxt3s6qbq@jpeg)
![On October 9, 2024, The Information reported that “OpenAI burned $340 million in the first half of 2024” and that its “cash burn was lower than previously thought,” based on “OpenAI financial documents viewed by The Information.”
These documents also “project [OpenAI’s] total losses between 2023 and 2028 to be $44 billion” not including stock compensation, and, laughably, that OpenAI would “make $14 billion in profit [based on the analysis] in 2029.”
OpenAI also, in this document, said that “model training costs could rise sharply in the next couple of years, to as high as $9.5 billion a year in 2026.”
This same piece included projections that OpenAI would make $12bn in 2025, $26bn in 2026, $44bn in 2027, $69bn in 2028, and $100bn in 2029.
There was no mention of any comment related to OpenAI in this article.
On February 21, 2025, The Information reported that OpenAI forecasted that “one-third of [its] revenue growth would come from spending by SoftBank to use OpenAI’s products across its companies,” with SoftBank spending $3bn per year. It took until November 5, 2025 for the joint venture involving this spend to actually form.
This is sourced to disclosures by OpenAI to its investors.
This piece also asserts that $3bn from SoftBank would get OpenAI to $12.7bn in revenue for 2025.
There was no mention of any comment related to OpenAI in this article.
In this piece, The Information reports that “...[OpenAI’s] spending on Microsoft-owned data centers should ramp up significantly in the next few years, more than doubling from $13 billion this year to $28 billion in 2028.”
On March 26, 2025, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI “expects to more than triple its revenue to $12.7 billion in 2025,” and that it generated “$3.7 billion in annual revenue last year,” according to a person familiar with the matter who “spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications.
In the piece, Bloomberg states that “OpenAI does not expect to be cash-flow positive until 2029, t…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qc6xzgctorfsm35w6i3vdebx/bafkreib5hbzqr6m6semfdbw4c53q3y2sfkajjiag5ymourhb3rf5uul3vi@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 9:56 PM
The premium this week is the precursor to something I'm working on coming out in the next week or two (which will be free). But one thing I can't stop thinking about - how has nobody else simply added up all the funding and revenues and costs? Hell, I should've done it months ago.
Reposted by Steve
69% of adults find it unacceptable that there may still be cars in the UK with #Dieselgate emissions defeat technology fitted.
A decade on, we're still breathing the emissions from these cars. "Where illegal activity is shown, the government needs to enforce recalls, paid for by manufacturers."
A decade on, we're still breathing the emissions from these cars. "Where illegal activity is shown, the government needs to enforce recalls, paid for by manufacturers."
Public do not trust car manufacturers as new Dieselgate case begins in High Court | ClientEarth
New polling shows the British public want accountability.
www.clientearth.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:03 PM
69% of adults find it unacceptable that there may still be cars in the UK with #Dieselgate emissions defeat technology fitted.
A decade on, we're still breathing the emissions from these cars. "Where illegal activity is shown, the government needs to enforce recalls, paid for by manufacturers."
A decade on, we're still breathing the emissions from these cars. "Where illegal activity is shown, the government needs to enforce recalls, paid for by manufacturers."
Reposted by Steve
Going down a rabbit hole of mistaken prison releases. They've definitely got up recently, but between 40 and 115 offenders were incorrectly released *every year* from 2011 to 2024 (so over 800 while the Tories were in government).
It just doesn't normally make the news
news.sky.com/story/how-ma...
It just doesn't normally make the news
news.sky.com/story/how-ma...
How many prisoners are released by mistake?
Politicians and the public have reacted with fury after it emerged a second and third prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth - but it's not as rare as some might think.
news.sky.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Steve
Trump layers lies on top of each other: "Of the 8 wars I ended, I would say 5 or 6 were ended because of tariffs."
November 6, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Trump layers lies on top of each other: "Of the 8 wars I ended, I would say 5 or 6 were ended because of tariffs."
Reposted by Steve
China bought 22,130,000 tons of soy beans from the US last year. This year they bought zero because of the tariffs.
Trump: "We made a wonderful deal for everybody. Our farmers, as you know, with the soybeans at levels that nobody has ever seen before. If we didn't have the tariffs, we wouldn't have been able to do that."
November 6, 2025 at 6:47 PM
China bought 22,130,000 tons of soy beans from the US last year. This year they bought zero because of the tariffs.
Reposted by Steve
⚡️Ukraine has begun mass production of STING—an interceptor drone built to hunt Russian Shaheds.
Meet STING: Ukraine’s Mass-Produced Drone That Hunts Russian Shaheds
Ukraine has launched mass production of the STING interceptor drone, designed as an economical solution against Iranian loitering munitions.
united24media.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:06 PM
⚡️Ukraine has begun mass production of STING—an interceptor drone built to hunt Russian Shaheds.
Reposted by Steve
I'll be on BBC R4's The World Tonight c.10.30pm talking about trees, national forests & rainforests tropical + temperate
The PM, on his way to the Amazon, has a golden opportunity to help save tropical rainforests AND talk about Britain's own temperate rainforests... & yet: bsky.app/profile/guys...
The PM, on his way to the Amazon, has a golden opportunity to help save tropical rainforests AND talk about Britain's own temperate rainforests... & yet: bsky.app/profile/guys...
This is absolutely appalling.
"The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit."
Absolutely pathetic.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
"The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit."
Absolutely pathetic.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests
Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:11 PM
I'll be on BBC R4's The World Tonight c.10.30pm talking about trees, national forests & rainforests tropical + temperate
The PM, on his way to the Amazon, has a golden opportunity to help save tropical rainforests AND talk about Britain's own temperate rainforests... & yet: bsky.app/profile/guys...
The PM, on his way to the Amazon, has a golden opportunity to help save tropical rainforests AND talk about Britain's own temperate rainforests... & yet: bsky.app/profile/guys...
Reposted by Steve
Nice one Birmingham City Council!
It’s good to see Brum leading the way on raising awareness about fireworks and air quality. Let’s celebrate without polluting our city 🎆💨 #ClearTheAir #FunWithoutFireworks #BrumBreathes
It’s good to see Brum leading the way on raising awareness about fireworks and air quality. Let’s celebrate without polluting our city 🎆💨 #ClearTheAir #FunWithoutFireworks #BrumBreathes
November 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Nice one Birmingham City Council!
It’s good to see Brum leading the way on raising awareness about fireworks and air quality. Let’s celebrate without polluting our city 🎆💨 #ClearTheAir #FunWithoutFireworks #BrumBreathes
It’s good to see Brum leading the way on raising awareness about fireworks and air quality. Let’s celebrate without polluting our city 🎆💨 #ClearTheAir #FunWithoutFireworks #BrumBreathes
Reposted by Steve
UK energy companies made £30bn profit.
Gas extractors £10.8bn
Electricity generators £9.7bn
Transmission/Distribution £6.8 bn
Retail suppliers £2.8 bn
£500 a yr profit from average household
Bills up 42% since 2021.
Direct cause of inflation and poverty.
128,000 people a year die in fuel poverty.
Gas extractors £10.8bn
Electricity generators £9.7bn
Transmission/Distribution £6.8 bn
Retail suppliers £2.8 bn
£500 a yr profit from average household
Bills up 42% since 2021.
Direct cause of inflation and poverty.
128,000 people a year die in fuel poverty.
www.unitetheunion.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:45 AM
UK energy companies made £30bn profit.
Gas extractors £10.8bn
Electricity generators £9.7bn
Transmission/Distribution £6.8 bn
Retail suppliers £2.8 bn
£500 a yr profit from average household
Bills up 42% since 2021.
Direct cause of inflation and poverty.
128,000 people a year die in fuel poverty.
Gas extractors £10.8bn
Electricity generators £9.7bn
Transmission/Distribution £6.8 bn
Retail suppliers £2.8 bn
£500 a yr profit from average household
Bills up 42% since 2021.
Direct cause of inflation and poverty.
128,000 people a year die in fuel poverty.
Reposted by Steve
Historical evidence indicates that beyond the immediate impacts of climate change, societal order disintegrates, then starvation and sickness arrives. What are we doing to save our children and grandchildren from this fate? @yorkshirebylines.co.uk @bylinesnetwork.co.uk @zackpolanski.bsky.social
Climate change – the world after tomorrow
Records of chaos following historical climate change offer a warning to contemporary global society
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Historical evidence indicates that beyond the immediate impacts of climate change, societal order disintegrates, then starvation and sickness arrives. What are we doing to save our children and grandchildren from this fate? @yorkshirebylines.co.uk @bylinesnetwork.co.uk @zackpolanski.bsky.social
Reposted by Steve
Huge wins for the Democrats in state elections across the US last night.
Chaotic authoritarianism is not popular.
Chaotic authoritarianism is not popular.
A 15-point win for VA gov. A 5-point win for VA AG in a race he was expected to lose. A 13-point win for NJ gov, in a race that was expected to be close. An outright majority in NYC in a three-way race. A 30-point win for Prop 50 in CA. #BlueWave #Election2025
November 5, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Huge wins for the Democrats in state elections across the US last night.
Chaotic authoritarianism is not popular.
Chaotic authoritarianism is not popular.
Reposted by Steve
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 5, 2025 at 7:58 AM
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
Reposted by Steve
In case you missed it
Immigration, indecency, and incompetence. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. The ever-more indecent terms of the immigration 'debate' are another failure of Brexit, which links to the ever-more obvious incompetence of Reform in local government: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/immi...
November 2, 2025 at 10:37 AM
In case you missed it