A public inquiry on Brexit might make it easier for us to rejoin the EU | Letters
Better late than never, Jonathan Freedland (Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in the roof, 21 November),Brexit was supposed to “take back control” and sort out the immigration crisis,In both respects, it failed,Polish plumbers have been replaced by Afghans in asylum hotels, and the UK has forfeited the mechanism to return them to the EU,Meanwhile, with trade, investment and labour choked off, the economy grinds along at the bottom.
The Labour government is petrified of reopening the debate for fear of losing votes to Reform UK, but responsibility for Brexit failures needs to be laid squarely at Nigel Farage’s door.Through its 2024 pact on migration and asylum, the EU has a robust, collective way of dealing with migration; on our own, we are as likely to stop the boats as Canute was to turn back the waves.A recent poll showed that 57% of voters would return to the EU.A public inquiry on the management of Brexit would set the record straight, and maybe the BBC could run an impartial series for the 10th anniversary of the vote, making it easier for the government to show the courage and leadership to take us back into the EU.Robert GildeaProfessor emeritus of modern history, University of Oxford Jonathan Freedland is right to point the finger at Brexit as the cause of much of our current economic difficulties, and has some good suggestions for addressing this.
However, I disagree with his assertion that we don’t have the money to fund our ailing public services.As the sixth-richest country in the world we absolutely do have the money.But it is in the hands of a very few powerful people and corporations, many of whom pay very little tax.It’s surely time we taxed them more fairly.The “difficult decisions” that politicians bang on about making are difficult only for the poorest and most vulnerable.
Let’s take the heat off those people and make those who wouldn’t notice the loss off a few of their millions pay their share.Rachel FoggittBrighton Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Foreign interference or opportunistic grifting: why are so many pro-Trump X accounts based in Asia?
When X rolled out a new feature revealing the locations of popular accounts, the company was acting to boost transparency and clamp down on disinformation. The result, however, has been a circular firing squad of recriminations, as users turn on each other enraged by the revelation that dozens of popular “America first” and pro-Trump accounts originated overseas.The new feature was enabled over the weekend by X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, who called it the first step in “securing the integrity of the global town square.” Since then many high-engagement accounts that post incessantly about US politics have been “unmasked” by fellow users.An Ivanka Trump fan account that posts about illegal immigration to the US was shown to be based in Nigeria
London councils enact emergency plans after three hit by cyber-attack
Three London councils have reported a cyber-attack, prompting the rollout of emergency plans and the involvement of the National Crime Agency (NCA) as they investigate whether any data has been compromised.The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), and Westminster city council, which share some IT infrastructure, said a number of systems had been affected across both authorities, including phone lines. The councils shut down several computerised systems as a precaution to limit further possible damage.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham had also reported an attack. Together the three authorities provide services for more than half a million Londoners
European parliament calls for social media ban on under-16s
Children under 16 should be banned from using social media unless their parents decide otherwise, the European parliament says.MEPs passed a resolution on age restrictions on Wednesday by a large majority. Although not legally binding, it raises pressure for European legislation amid growing alarm about the mental health risks to children of unfettered internet access.The European Commission, which is responsible for initiating EU law, is already studying Australia’s world-first social-media ban for under-16s, which is due to take effect next month.In a speech in September, the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would watch the implementation of Australia’s policy
ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot.The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine.Raine killed himself in April after extensive conversations and “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”, the family’s lawyer has said.The lawsuit alleges the teenager discussed a method of suicide with ChatGPT on several occasions, that it guided him on whether a suggested method would work, offered to help him write a suicide note to his parents and that the version of the technology he used was “rushed to market … despite clear safety issues”.According to filings at the superior court of the state of California on Tuesday, OpenAI said that “to the extent that any ‘cause’ can be attributed to this tragic event” Raine’s “injuries and harm were caused or contributed to, directly and proximately, in whole or in part, by [his] misuse, unauthorised use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT”
Europe loosens reins on AI – and US takes them off
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you from an American grocery store, where I’m planning my Thanksgiving pies.In tech, the European Union is deregulating artificial intelligence; the United States is going even further. The AI bubble has not popped, thanks to Nvidia’s astronomical quarterly earnings, but fears persist. And Meta has avoided a breakup for a similar reason as Google
Macquarie Dictionary announces ‘AI slop’ as its word of the year, beating out Ozempic face
AI slop is here, it’s ubiquitous, it’s being used by the US president, Donald Trump, and now, it’s the word of the year.The Macquarie Dictionary dubbed the term the epitome of 2025 linguistics, with a committee of word experts saying the outcome embodies the word of the year’s general theme of reflecting “a major aspect of society or societal change throughout the year”.“We understand now in 2025 what we mean by slop – AI generated slop, which lacks meaningful content or use,” the committee said in a statement announcing its decision.“While in recent years we’ve learnt to become search engineers to find meaningful information, we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop. Slop in this sense will be a robust addition to English for years to come
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