I already have too much stuff – and every time I go online I’m being pushed to buy more. Time to channel my inner deinfluencer I am uneasily aware that around this time last year I wrote that my drive to acquire material things had somewhat subsided: I was older and wiser, had everything I …
The internet wants me to spend £500 on a jumper. How can I say no? Read More »
From Zuckerberg’s handmade $900k timepiece to gen Z’s pursuit of the authentic, analogue watches are replacing smartwatches First he ditched the grey hoodie. Then he grew out his curls. Now Mark Zuckerberg is shifting the styling focus to his left wrist. Announcing changes to Facebook and Instagram’s factchecking programmes on Tuesday, the Meta boss wore …
Tick-tock: the return of the mechanical wristwatch Read More »
A damning report shows how local news cuts stymied coverage of the riots in Plymouth. What fills the vacuum? Misinformation On 4 August 2024, the riots and disturbances that followed the killing of three children in Southport, on Merseyside, spread even further. That day, in the midst of a seething mess of far-right misinformation and …
The government has promised a crackdown on synthetic image abuse – but campaigners warn it doesn’t go far enough It began with an anonymous email. “I’m genuinely so, so sorry to reach out to you,” it read. Beneath the words were three links to an internet forum. “Huge trigger warning … They contain lewd photoshopped …
Legislation to protect children in the digital realm is essential. But if it results in the loss of small cycling and cancer-care forums, something’s gone wrong London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed (LFGSS) is an admirable online community of fixed-gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London. Sadly, this columnist does not qualify for membership: he …
Note to No 10: one speed doesn’t fit all when it comes to online safety | John Naughton Read More »
How can we publicly debate policy in the face of the rising – and polarising – influence of the X owner and others whose only aim is to serve themselves How should we as a society interact with one another, debate, come to decisions? What impels politicians to focus and act on one thing and …
Elon Musk and the new world order: the hijacking of the global conversation Read More »
The city has a long history with tropical medicine and is now home to one of the largest biotech clusters in Europe Tucked away in the village of Leasowe, near Moreton on the Wirral peninsula west of Liverpool, the US pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is building a new £35m glass-clad laboratory building. It …
From the Beatles to biologics – how Liverpool became a life science hotspot Read More »
More voters think tech tycoon’s comments on grooming gangs are unhelpful than those who back him More than half of voters think Elon Musk is having a negative effect on British politics following his criticism of Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer. The South African-born billionaire has …
Majority of Britons believe Musk having negative impact on UK politics Read More »
Senior cabinet minister promises not to dilute new measures despite Zuckerberg’s attacks on countries ‘censoring’ content Britain’s new laws to boost safety and tackle hate speech online are “not up for negotiation”, a senior government minister has warned, after Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg vowed to join Donald Trump to pressure countries they regard as “censoring” …
Tech giants told UK online safety laws ‘not up for negotiation’ Read More »
Technology secretary Peter Kyle has the task of making Britain a leading player in the AI revolution, but says economic growth will not come at the cost of online safety With the NHS still struggling, a prisons crisis still teetering and Britain’s borrowing costs soaring, there are few easy jobs going in Keir Starmer’s cabinet …
UK can be ‘AI sweet spot’: Starmer’s tech minister on regulation, Musk, and free speech Read More »
