Tories must ‘get moving’ on new policies or face crisis, says Robert Jenrick
The Conservative party needs to “get moving” with new policies or risk being cut adrift in a social media-informed world where people make up their minds quickly, Robert Jenrick has said.While the shadow justice secretary did not directly criticise Kemi Badenoch for the time she is taking to formulate policies, and said he accepted there was a need for reflection after a bad election defeat, he warned that without rapid action the Tories faced an “existential crisis”.Badenoch, who defeated Jenrick in the party leadership race last year, has attracted some criticism within the party for her insistence that the Conservatives should not rush into policies but instead spend the next couple of years working to rebuild voters’ trust.Asked about generating new polices at an event in London on Wednesday evening, Jenrick said: “I do think you’ve got to get moving.That’s not a criticism.
I mean, that’s just self-evident, that we live in a highly competitive political landscape right now, and you’ve got to move fast, or else you’ll create vacuums others will step into.”Jenrick, who regularly strays beyond his brief to offer suggestions on other areas, told the event at the Institute for Economic Affairs thinktank that his own aim within justice policy was to “be as proactive as possible and highlight what’s gone wrong, bring forward solutions”.He went on: “I think we should be doing that because the public don’t just want to hear you criticising.They also want to hear that you’ve got some answers to those challenges.”Responding to such a catastrophic electoral defeat “was always going to be very challenging and slow”, Jenrick said, but he warned that the party was at risk if it waited too long, particularly now it faced the challenge from Reform UK.
“The task of regaining trust is not easy,” he said.“I do think, though, that the modern age is one where the pace at which politics moves, the pace at which people form opinions about businesses, organisations, individuals, is fast.“That’s fuelled in part by social media so that you can’t draw direct parallels with the ways in which oppositions have recovered in the past, even within our recent memory.“In no prior instance have we, the Conservative party, had serious competition on the right, and so that does mean that there is a real sense of urgency, or should be, behind our efforts.”Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionThe most direct parallel, he argued, was possibly with Labour in the 1980s when it was struggling against Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives but also faced the rise of the centrist Social Democrat party.
“That was an existential crisis for the Labour party,” he said.“And so I think we have to adopt the same approach now, which is to view this for what it is, and go out there each and every day fighting to save the Conservative party.”
‘Every person that clashed with him has left’: the rise, fall and spectacular comeback of Sam Altman
From Elon Musk to his own board, anyone who has come up against the OpenAI CEO has lost. In a gripping new account of the battle for AI supremacy, writer Karen Hao says we should all be wary of the power he now wieldsThe short-lived firing of Sam Altman, the CEO of possibly the world’s most important AI company, was sensational. When he was sacked by OpenAI’s board members, some of them believed the stakes could not have been higher – the future of humanity – if the organisation continued under Altman. Imagine Succession, with added apocalypse vibes. In early November 2023, after three weeks of secret calls and varying degrees of paranoia, the OpenAI board agreed: Altman had to go
Elon Musk claims he will step back from political donations in near future
Elon Musk claimed on Tuesday that he would decrease the amount of money he spends on politics for the foreseeable future. If true, the reduction would represent a significant turnaround after the world’s richest person positioned himself as the Republican party’s most enthusiastic donor over the last year.“I think, in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said during a video interview with Bloomberg News at the Qatar Economic Forum.Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain asked the Tesla CEO if he had decided how much to spend on midterm elections, which elicited Musk’s response. When asked why he was pulling back, Musk said flatly: “I think I’ve done enough” – drawing laughs from the audience, although it was unclear if he was joking
Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds
Almost half of young people would rather live in a world where the internet does not exist, according to a new survey.The research reveals that nearly 70% of 16- to 21-year-olds feel worse about themselves after spending time on social media. Half (50%) would support a “digital curfew” that would restrict their access to certain apps and sites past 10pm, while 46% said they would rather be young in a world without the internet altogether.A quarter of respondents spent four or more hours a day on social media, while 42% of those surveyed admitted to lying to their parents and guardians about what they do online.While online, 42% said they had lied about their age, 40% admitted to having a decoy or “burner” account, and 27% said they pretended to be a different person completely
Microsoft employee interrupts CEO’s keynote with pro-Palestinian protest
A Microsoft employee disrupted a keynote speech by the company’s chief executive with a pro-Palestinian protest at the company’s annual developer conference on Monday.Joe Lopez, a Microsoft firmware engineer who worked on parts of the company’s cloud-computing platform, Azure, was escorted out the Build conference by security nearly immediately after he confronted Satya Nadella.“Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians,” Lopez yelled. “How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?”After the disruption, Lopez sent an all-staff email explaining his decision to stage a protest.“As one of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft has immeasurable power to do the right thing: demand an end to this senseless tragedy, or we will cease our technological support for Israel,” read the email, which has also been published on Medium
How to protect your data after a cyber-attack
Another cyber-attack has hit the headlines – this one involving the personal data of hundreds of thousands of legal aid applicants in England and Wales.It comes hard on the heels of recent cyber-attacks that caused huge disruption at Marks & Spencer and the Co-op, and has prompted fresh reminders for people to be extra-vigilant for any suspicious activity.If you’re worried your data may have fallen into the wrong hands somehow, here are some tips for protecting yourself.Always make sure you have strong passwords, and don’t use the same one on more than one account.If you have had any dealings with a company or organisation that has suffered a cyber-attack, change the password that you use for that website or app immediately
Bankrupt DNA testing firm 23andMe to be purchased for $256m
The drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy the genetic testing firm 23andMe Holding for $256m through a bankruptcy auction, the companies announced on Monday.Regeneron said it will comply with 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable laws with respect to the use of customer data and that it is ready to detail its intended use of the data to a court-appointed overseer. The companies expect to close the deal in the third quarter.“Regeneron Genetics Center is committed to and has a proven track record of safeguarding the genetic data of people across the globe, and, with their consent, using this data to pursue discoveries that benefit science and society,” said Aris Baras, the senior vice-president and head of the Regeneron Genetics Center. “We assure 23andMe customers that we are committed to protecting the 23andMe dataset with our high standards of data privacy, security and ethical oversight and will advance its full potential to improve human health
UK ban on junk food adverts targeting children is delayed until next year
Australia approves new drug to treat early Alzheimer’s disease
Heavy periods affect school attendance and exam scores, study in England finds
Shabana Mahmood considers chemical castration for serious sex offenders
Extra cancer scans for women with dense breasts could save 700 lives a year – UK study
‘It’s all people wanted to talk about’: How Labour U-turned on winter fuel payment cut