Academic axed from Labour conference panel for criticising energy policy
A prominent sustainability professor had events cancelled at Labour and Conservative conferences after hosts of a panel he was on said they did not want his views on oil and gas aired in front of MPs.Prof Matthew Agarwala spoke on the fringe at Lib Dem conference for the panel organised by Total Politics but was then pulled from similar panels at subsequent Labour and Conservative conferences.Agarwala has said he was told directly by both Total Politics and the panel’s sponsor Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) that they did not want a dissenting view on the panel about the importance of North Sea oil and gas to the UK economy.“I used to think cancellation was for culture wars and comedians, not economists.But point out that North Sea oil doesn’t cut UK energy bills, and suddenly you’re censored,” he said.
Agarwala, the Bennett professor of sustainable finance at the University of Sussex, said he was “hardly a radical on these issues”.He said he had told the panel at Liberal Democrat conference that UK fossil fuel extraction did not reduce energy prices, that net zero was not the cause of high energy prices – rather they were caused by poor policy choices and failures to invest in infrastructure.The panel was given the neutral title “Secure, Skilled, Sustainable: How a successful energy and industrial transition is underpinned by people and communities.”After the panel at Lib Dem conference, Agarwala said Total Politics emailed him to say it had “made the difficult decision to adjust the panel lineup … our client felt that it was important to ensure that all messaging at the event aligns very closely with OEUK’s priorities during this particularly sensitive moment for their advocacy efforts”.Agarwala said in follow-up calls with both Total Politics and OEUK, he was told that the panels were not intended to be interesting debates, but to push a certain policy perspective to MPs at the conference.
He said he was told that panellists were meant to “agree entirely” with each other.He claims he was told by OEUK that Agarwala’s views were not ones that the organisation wanted highlighting to MPs at such a critical time for the sector.They said they wanted to be mindful of the language used in front of Labour MPs, saying that the sector was desperate for movement in the upcoming budget.Agarwala said he had wasted money on party conferences and also missed opportunities to speak on other panels, crucial for academics hoping to make the public case for their work.He said that the lobbyist-sponsored panels at party conferences have “become the pay-to-play red-light district of British democracy: sponsors literally rent the rooms by the hour”.
He said it was clear that the oil and gas lobby “can’t defend their own message” and added: “The odd thing about cancelling me is that I’m hardly a radical on these issues,I often frustrate some of my environmental and climate colleagues,“I depend on the oil industry that lets me visit my family in the US, and I support expanding aviation to boost growth and productivity in the UK,If they’d asked questions along those lines, I’d have engaged,”An OEUK spokesperson said they would invite Agarwala to another public event in the future to hear his views.
“We need healthy debate on the UK’s energy future now more than ever,” he said.“In a world that seems increasingly polarised, we believe facts and evidence underline the need to find common ground and to take a pragmatic approach.We are extending an invitation to Prof Agarwala to join a future OEUK public debate in London and hope he will accept the offer.”Total Politics has been contacted for comment.
What does the end of free support for Windows 10 mean for its users?
From Tuesday Microsoft will no longer offer free support as standard for Windows 10, an operating system that is used by millions of computer and laptop owners around the world.Figures for September suggest four in 10 of those using Microsoft Windows worldwide were still using Windows 10, despite the introduction of its successor, Windows 11, in 2021.After 14 October 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide standard free software updates, security fixes or technical assistance to Windows 10 PCs.This means computers running the software will still work but it will steadily become more vulnerable to viruses and malware as bugs and security holes are discovered.Microsoft says the more up-to-date system, Windows 11, “meets the current demands for heightened security by default”
Cyber-attacks rise by 50% in past year, UK security agency says
“Highly significant” cyber-attacks rose by 50% in the past year and the UK’s security services are now dealing with a new nationally significant attack more than every other day, figures from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have revealed.In what officials described as “a call to arms”, national security officials and ministers are urging all organisations, from the smallest businesses to the largest employers, to draw up contingency plans for the eventuality that “your IT infrastructure [is] crippled tomorrow and all your screens [go] blank”.The NCSC, which is part of GCHQ, said “highly sophisticated” China, “capable and irresponsible” Russia, Iran and North Korea were the main state threats, in its annual review published on Tuesday. The rise is being driven by ransomware attacks, often by criminal actors seeking money, and society’s increasing dependence on technology which increases the number of hackable targets.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the security minister, Dan Jarvis, and the technology and business secretaries, Liz Kendall and Peter Kyle have written to the leaders of hundreds of the largest British companies urging them to make cyber-resilience a board-level responsibility and warning that hostile cyber-activity in the UK has grown “more intense, frequent and sophisticated”
Equity threatens mass direct action over use of actors’ images in AI content
The performing arts union Equity has threatened mass direct action over tech and entertainment companies’ use of its members’ likenesses, images and voices in AI content without permission.The warning came as the union said growing numbers of its members had made complaints about infringements of their copyright and misuse of their personal data in AI material.Its general secretary, Paul W Fleming, said it planned to coordinate data requests en masse to companies to force them to disclose whether they used members’ data in AI-generated material without consent.Last week the union confirmed its was supporting a Scottish actor who believes her image was used in the creation of the “AI actor” Tilly Norwood, which has been widely condemned by the film industry.Briony Monroe, 28, from East Renfrewshire, said she believed that an image of her face had been used to make the digital character, created by the AI “talent studio” Xicoia, which has denied her claims
AI could make it harder to establish blame for medical failings, experts say
The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare could create a legally complex blame game when it comes to establishing liability for medical failings, experts have warned.The development of AI for clinical use has boomed, with researchers creating a host of tools, from algorithms to help interpret scans to systems that can aid with diagnoses. AI is also being developed to help manage hospitals, from optimising bed capacity to tackling supply chains.But while experts say the technology could bring myriad benefits for healthcare, they say there is also cause for concern, from a lack of testing of the effectiveness of AI tools to questions over who is responsible should a patient have a negative outcome.Prof Derek Angus, of the University of Pittsburgh, said: “There’s definitely going to be instances where there’s the perception that something went wrong and people will look around to blame someone
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UK MPs urged to investigate TikTok’s plans to cut 439 content moderator jobs
Trade unions and online safety experts have urged MPs to investigate TikTok’s plans to make hundreds of jobs for UK-based content moderators redundant.The video app company is planning 439 redundancies in its trust and safety team in London, leading to warnings that the jobs losses will have implications for online safety.The Trades Union Congress, Communication Workers Union and leading figures in online safety have signed an open letter to Chi Onwurah MP, the Labour chair of the science, innovation and technology committee, calling for an investigation into the proposals.The letter warns the cuts could expose children to harmful content, citing estimates from the UK’s data watchdog that up to 1.4 million TikTok users are under 13
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