Notices by Emeritus Prof Christopher May (chrismayla6@zirk.us)

And so, at a time when defence spending is an issue, as is how the UK defends itself, our security policy has entered (not for the first time) the realm of declaratory politics...

BBC Verify have counted 184 sanctioned, Russian-linked vessels passing through UK national waters yet, there is little evidence the UK has taken any action, despite Keir Starmer's explicit statement that such actions were possible (and likely?).

Is any action actually taking place?

#politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8pvgw802no

Good morning

This is the clearest graphic on global temperature rises I have ever seen - made by Ed Hawkins (U Reading).

Might not telll you anything you don't know but its clarity focusses the mind.

#ClimateChange #environment

So, Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) has some sage advice for the Labour Party & its attitude to voters who have rejected them for the Green Party of England & Wales:

'To denigrate somebody voting Green or to denigrate the Green Party, calling them extremists, is not going to enamour us to them'...

Its simple advice that the Right-hugging Labour Party has completely lost sight of.... Indeed, my guess is they'll attack Khan for making such an argument!

#LabourParty #politics
h/t FT

For those concerned about Palantir's access to NHS patients' data the news that the soon to be closed NHS England is about to grant Palantir & its associated contractors 'unlimited access' to patient data in the NHS Federated Data Platform which includes the anonymisation function.... suggesting that Peter Thiel's firm will have the ability to access patient information prior to it being made anonymous.

More evidence that patient data privacy is not a priority at NHS-E

#palantir #NHS
h/t FT

@tomgauld.bsky.social sums up my life concisely.... wherever I am, you can bet a book is not far away & soon I'll be reading it!

#books @books

Before we take at face value much of the commentary this weekend on the continuing political ascendance of the Facist Frog & ReformUK Ltd, its worth just putting their vote in the local elections in some context.

As many have noted even with their success ReformUK Ltd still on control a very small proportion of *all* local councils, but its also worth noting than less than 10% of eligible voters cast a vote from the Frog & his associates.

#politics #ReformUK

h/t Dan Södergren/LinkenIn

The NHS effectively subsidises private health care by picking up the pieces when patients become too ill for the private clinics/hospitals to deal with.

The Centre for Health & the Public Interest finds up to 6,000 patients a year are transferred from private to NHS facilities due to complications (& these are only the direct transfers, not those after treatment) costing the NHS at least £250m a year.

The NHS should be (at the very least) paid for these 'rescues'!

#health #NHS
h/t Observer

Two obvious trends from Thursday's elections:

The Fascist Frog & ReformUK Ltd have gained most in areas where the Brexit vote was most evident;

The Green Party of England & Wales has done best where voters are younger.

(Given that the Brexit vote itself was quite strongly age-determined a decade ago, we might conclude that the GPEW is in a better demographic position than Reform?)

#politics #Brexit

Four economic sectors are doing particularly well from the US/Israeli attacks on Iran & Lebanon:

Oli & gas (profiting from windfall price rises);

Banks (generating fees from increased trading as investors seek 'safer' assets);

Defence (that is gaining investment as countries look at a new global security environment); and

Renewables (which is benefiting form the hardening of the logic of energy diversification).

Capitalists love a crisis!

#politics #MiddleEast
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8pyyz5e0ro

We'll find out the full scope of Labour's losses later today but early signs are that things will be every bit as bad for Labour (and good for the 'insurgents') as many predicted.

Here is the picture just after 6.00 this morning as reported by the FT

However, these results are currently skewed by the English councils early to report & may not indicate the overall pattern of gains & losses... more results later.

#LocalElections #politics

Having had a little password difficulty on my wife's tablet this evening... this @tomgauld.bsky.social cartoon came to mind.... sometimes, trying to recall your password under pressure is just counterproductive!

#computers #SocialMedia #passwords

Having noted that there will be a desire to read national voting intentions (and judgments) in English local elections this week, we should also be wondering what the two sets of devolved elections in Scotland & Wales might tell us about the plight of the mainstream parties against both new & existing opposition parties.

If a new plurality of parties is revealed, will this then strengthen the case for voting reform?

Might the pressure mount for an end to First Past the Post?

#politics

Commentary on the bond market (traders) claims Gilts' yields (the price of servicing public debt) may rise if Labour's prospective losses in this week's local elections prompt either a shift to the Left (in fiscal terms) or a change of leadership (or both).

'Threats' of adverse market reaction by traders to shifts in fiscal policy are really aimed at the Green Party of England & Wales, suggesting Zack Polanski needs a clear bond market strategy to deal with such pressure.

#BondMarkets #Greens

Those non-doms who decamped to the UAE after the UK changed its tax rules on their earnings, seem to be suffering buyers' remorse (if a report in the FT is to be believed)... having found that low-tax locations don't offer quite the same social & personal advantages (and security!!) as living in London (or elsewhere in the UK).

They may have discovered an uncomfortable truth - actually those tax payments did provide some benefits to them.

Oh well, live & learn, huh?

#wealth #tax #politics

This week the Court of the Tangerine Tyrant accused the Chinese of stealing the intellectual property of US AI-labs 'on an industrial scale'...

I mean really you couldn't make it up.... the development of AI has been built on the wholesale use & theft of intellectual property as part of its 'training' - I guess no-one has ever pointed out to them the old truism: 'live by the sword, die by the sword'.

It's just one more incidence of the US' rampant political hypocrisy!

#AI #China #US
h/t FT

You'll have seen the Fascist Frog's (faux) outrage at being called a racist and his company (masquerading as a political party) ReformUK Ltd being similarly depicted.... well The Bear has had enough of the Frog's bluster & has gathered together recent cases of racism & xenophobia, to make the point that the Fascist Frog & his fellow travellers *are* racists whatever the public image is they are attempting to present before the imminent local elections!

#Reform #racism
https://www.bearlypolitics.co.uk/p/deep-dive-how-does-reform-show-its-87d

ben Jennings (Guardian) on the news that the Metropolitan Police in London are looking to use Palantir's AI technology to help criminal investigations....

#Palantir #police #politics

I agree with Teachers that education has become too obsessed with exams (including universities where exams are uses to combat the corrosive use of AI), not least as it results in an anti-humanist education, but blaming schools for not preparing young people for work (and rise in economic inactivity among the young), approaches victim blaming;

the problem reflects the UK's low-wage economy, where workers are seen as a cost & not invested in.

#workers #education #NEETs

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/apr/20/exam-obsessed-school-system-unprepared-work-alan-milburn

The inside traders at the heart of the Court of the Tangerine Tyrant will unlikely ever to be prosecuted (despite US insider trading laws of the 1930s having been extended to explicitly cover Govt. officials a decade ago)... but its all too clear what is going on.

We may not be surprised that the Tangerine Tyrant & those around him are enriching themselves, but that doesn't mean we should ignore it or assume that's just the way of the world!

#trump #InsiderTrading

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cge0grppe3po

Its likely to be another rubbish week so why not take 5mins to view this wonderful video of young people teaching each other their favourite dance moves - five minutes of unadulterated joy.

#dance #politics

h/t @Karolina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqz7rZ3Ys4E&t=69s