I've spent a lot of time thinking about this conundrum and, about a decade ago, ran a small cross-party programme on tech literacy for MPs. A quick 🧵 about why MPs know so little about tech.
Our statement on the UK gov't's demand that all content on all devices sold or used in the UK be scanned, on the presumption of nudity, using a dystopian combination of age verification & content scanning. This proposal will not safeguard children. It endangers us all.
signal.org/blog/pdfs/20...
I cannot stress enough that this is not how one normally goes about procuring technology
From yesterday's urgent question in the Commons on the AV/CSS regime: this was a technically astute question on the details, from an MP I can personally confirm is one of the good ones on these issues. The Minister's reply does...not impress policy or legal people.
I'm telling you: if you like someone's book or article, straight up email them that. It'll make their day. There are not enough compliments in academia.
I don’t think it is Red Wall discourse, it is “the government still has the same dreadful strategy of ‘if we get to the end of the parliament without touching the three main taxes and with NHS waiting lists down, we’ll be greeted as liberators, no matter the damage done along the way’.
This, in case it needs to be said, is the teaching grant for *STEM* subjects, which we have been told are the only subjects worth supporting. Humanities haven't had a block grant in aeons. This decision makes Labour MORE damaging to HE than the Tories.