UK Column News - 15th March 2024

Mike Robinson, Debi Evans and Ben Rubin with today's UK Column News.

 

Extremism Gets A New Definition: 2024 UK Makeover (Cameo Role For The Telegraph As Goveian Pravda

00:19 The Guardian: Gove faces legal action threats after suggesting Muslim groups are extremist

Evening Standard (YouTube): George Galloway hits out at Labour and Conservatives in his first speech on returning to Parliament

GOV.UK: New definition of extremism (2024)

GOV.UK: Government strengthens approach to counter extremism

Nick Lowles of Hope not Hate (on X): 

Our 2024 STATE OF HATE report focuses heavily on rise of the Radical Right, both inside and outside the Conservative Party. Tonight ⁦@hopenothate⁩ is being attacked by many of these people. Their attacks just proves we were right to profile them.

The Telegraph: The fightback against people who hate Britain has begun

None of this has legal force: it’s guidance for government. Nor is it about freedom of speech. It doesn’t ban any organisation. It doesn’t stop anyone saying anything. It just means that, on the basis of what an organisation says or does, the government can decide not to interact with it, appoint its representatives to quangos, or give it taxpayers’ money. I can’t see what is wrong with that. Indeed, I approve of it.

Ofcom: Encountering violent online content starts at primary school

 

NHS Patients Languish While Investments Are Sunk Into Vaccines

12:47 The Independent: NHS scandal exposed as elderly patients ‘treated like animals’ on overwhelmed hospital wards

Daily Express: Scientists baffled as man gets 217 Covid vaccines in three years

The Lancet: Adaptive immune responses are larger and functionally preserved in a hypervaccinated individual

GOV.UK: AstraZeneca plans £650 million investment in UK

Gresham College (YouTube): Health after Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Tsunamis—Sir Chris Whitty

Parliament.tv: Health and Social Care Committee—Monday 4 March 2024 

BBC: Earthquake on Mull felt like a 'car hit house'

SMS-Tsunami-Warning: 1755 The Great Lisbon Earthquake and Tsunami, Portugal

The tsunami took just over four hours to travel over 1,000 miles to Cornwall in the United Kingdom.

 

Tortoise AI Regulation Peeps Out Of Rothschild Shell: Work Slow, Bite Hard?

19:07 Tortoise Media: Our people

Tortoise Media: Exclusive: Tory party “sitting on” further £5m from disgraced donor Frank Hester

The Fabian Society (on X): The UK’s original left-wing think tank & membership network. The future of the left since 1884.

Tortoise Media: The Responsible AI Forum at Waddesdon 2022

Ofcom: Tech firms must clamp down on illegal online materials

Amnesty International: UK: 'Spy clause' in Online Safety Bill could lead to mass surveillance

Bloomsbury Publishing (UK): How to Be a Woman Online by Nina Jankowicz

Reid Southen (on X): 

Midjourney is banning all Stability AI employees after a midnight data heist, apparently.

No honor among thieves as these houses of cards cannibalize each other. Good.

Aria: Scaling Compute—AI at 1/1000th the cost

Rothschild Foundation: Waddesdon Manor

 

New EU Law: Artificial Intelligence Act (Unacceptable Risk)

28:32 European Parliament: Artificial Intelligence Act: MEPs adopt landmark law

The AI Office will now be set up to support companies to start complying with the rules before they enter into force.

European Parliament (2023): EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence

Calligo: EU's proposed Artificial Intelligence Act

The new rules establish obligations for providers and users depending on the level of risk from artificial intelligence. While many AI systems pose minimal risk, they need to be assessed.

Unacceptable risk: Unacceptable risk AI systems are systems considered a threat to people and will be banned.

UK Column search term: SPI-B

GOV.UK: Joint Statement to leaders from the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology and United States’ President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

National Audit Office (NAO): Use of artificial intelligence in government

National Audit Office (NAO) (YouTube): Use of Artificial Intelligence in Government

 

Updates And Announcements

34:54 Support Independent Journalism from the UK Column

Please Join Us: Access the UKC News Extra—UK Column Community

UK Column Shop: https://shop.ukcolumn.org

UK Column content: Debi Evans Blog: 12 March 2024

UK Column interview: No Smoke Without Fire: The Green King, Part 2

UK Column interview: Seeing the wood for the trees: Farming and habitat in Wales with Gareth Wyn Jones

UK Column Shop: Climate Science Masterclass Ticket

 

Life Sciences: Sir John Bell Redacted In Parliament? 

36:40 GOV.UK (2020): Life sciences industrial strategy update

University of Oxford: Regius Professor of Medicine, Sir John Bell, to step down from Oxford role

Daily Express: Ex-Covid chief makes stark admission about future: 'We'll definitely get another pandemic'

UK Column content: Debi Evans Blog: 5 March 2024

Sir John Bell has announced that he is stepping down from his role as Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford. But have no fear, he is not retiring from The Science: he will become Co-CEO of EIT Global, and President of Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT Oxford).

UK Parliament: 4 March 2024—Coronavirus: lessons learnt—Oral evidence

 

My Life My Say—Mind Your Digits

47:26 Ain Tech: Ukrainian e-government application Diia is now an open source

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov (on X): 

From now on diia.gov.ua is an open-source product. Governments interested in Ukrainian digital transformation experience are more than welcome to study, improve and implement Diia’s code. Big step for our team and Ukrainian tech community.

GovTech: The New Frontier in Digital Government Transformation (PDF)

West Midlands Combined Authority (YouTube): The Innovation Accelerator: Case Study—Osmium

Plexal: The stars are aligning for innovation clusters to fuel UK economic growth

My Life My Say: About MLMS 2.0

 

Human Vaccines In Food and Tobacco: Tennessee Bill 1894

58:00 The Lancet (2021): Mandatory UK folic acid fortification

The BMJ (2023): Folic acid: The case to rethink the UK's food fortification plans

Tennessee General Assembly: HB 1894—Tennessee General Assembly Legislation