Labour MPs will hope Starmer’s words after far-right rally signal shift in tone
If there is a cause that could be said to unite almost all Labour MPs and members from left to right, it would be equality and anti-racism.Many of them will have spent their early political lives in trade unions, student movements or charities – or working as human rights lawyers.Over the summer, MPs have agonised about their political futures and that of progressive politics.Missteps on the economy, welfare, Gaza and relations with the parliamentary party have been part of that.But what has crystallised the sense of crisis for many has been the rapid rise in far-right rhetoric and violence, as well as Nigel Farage’s perma-presence in the media and his plans for mass deportations.
“It is a progressive emergency,” one MP said.“We are at a moment in history where our kids might ask us: ‘What did you do?’”Yet, No 10 and cabinet ministers had not seemed quite able to speak to that moment – or articulate at all the fear of many MPs that the protests and language now routinely used on the streets, in the media and by some mainstream politicians had gone far beyond the pale of what would have been acceptable even a year ago.Over the summer, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson seemed unwilling to go much further than saying Farage’s plan to tear up the Human Rights Act might have bureaucratic consequences.After the UK’s biggest far-right demonstration in decades this weekend, Peter Kyle, the business secretary, suggested it showed free speech was alive and well and would be a “klaxon call” to the government.MPs were beginning to get highly agitated.
For many, it is this issue, not the reshuffle or the defenestration of Peter Mandelson, that is at the real heart of what they believe is going wrong,So, Starmer’s statement on Sunday, which said there would be “no surrender” of the St George’s flag or British values to the far right, was extremely welcome,Though it did not go as far as some MPs would have liked, including naming the billionaire Elon Musk as one of the agitators, it was unequivocal in defence of a diverse Britain,Many will hope this is the beginning of a shift in tone,Strategists in No 10 have promised that Starmer will use his speech at the party’s conference later this month to take on Farage and the hard right in the language of Labour values.
One speech that has been doing the rounds on social media and among MPs is that of Tony Blair in 2005, when the then prime minister was unequivocal about the need to tighten immigration and asylum controls but also about the need to condemn and reject racism, calling out the divisiveness of Tory messaging and praising the contribution of migrant communities,It is the perennial battle for Starmer’s ear among the confidants and strategists: should the government prioritise winning back its Reform-curious voters with a hardline crime and immigration stance, or speak louder to its progressive base to build an angry liberal coalition against Farage?Some ministers and MPs have begun to speak up louder on this issue,The communities minister, Alison McGovern, said in an interview with the Guardian last week she feared that the progressive cause was at risk of being lost,The former cabinet minister Louise Haigh called for a greater defence of diversity and migration,The decision by No 10 to put out such strong words from the prime minister on Sunday will ignite some hope that it is part of a sea change.
ChatGPT may start alerting authorities about youngsters considering suicide, says CEO
The company behind ChatGPT could start calling the authorities when young users talk seriously about suicide, its co-founder has said.Sam Altman raised fears that as many as 1,500 people a week could be discussing taking their own lives with the chatbot before doing so.The chief executive of San Francisco-based OpenAI, which operates the chatbot with an estimated 700 million global users, said the decision to train the system so the authorities were alerted in such emergencies was not yet final. But he said it was “very reasonable for us to say in cases of, young people talking about suicide, seriously, where we cannot get in touch with the parents, we do call authorities”.Altman highlighted the possible change in an interview with the podcaster Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, which came after OpenAI and Altman were sued by the family of Adam Raine, a 16-year-old from California who killed himself after what his family’s lawyer called “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”
Larry Ellison briefly overtakes Elon Musk as world’s richest person
US tech billionaire Larry Ellison is neck-and-neck with Elon Musk in the contest to be the world’s richest person after briefly overtaking the Tesla chief executive on WednesdayEllison’s wealth surged after Oracle, the business software company in which he owns a stake of 41%, reported better than expected financial results.Oracle shares rose by more than 40% in early trading, at one point valuing the business software company at approximately $960bn (£707bn) and Ellison’s stake at $393bn, just ahead of Musk’s fortune of $384bn, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index. However, Ellison’s lead was short-lived as the stock closed at $328, a rise of 36% valuing Ellison’s shareholding at $378bn and putting Musk back ahead.The pair sit comfortably ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.Ellison, 81, also has other sources of wealth, including a stake in electric carmaker Tesla, where Musk is chief executive, a sailing team, the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament, and an island in Hawaii, according to Bloomberg
Snapchat allows drug dealers to operate openly on platform, finds Danish study
Snapchat has been accused by a Danish research organisation of leaving an “overwhelming number” of drug dealers to openly operate on Snapchat, making it easy for children to buy substances including cocaine, opioids and MDMA.The social media platform has said it proactively uses technology to filter out profiles selling drugs. However, research by Digitalt Ansvar (Digital Accountability), a Danish research organisation that promotes responsible digital development, has found evidence of a failure to moderate drug-related language in usernames. It also accused Snapchat of failing to respond adequately to reports of profiles openly selling drugs.Researchers used profiles of 13-year-olds and found a multitude of people selling drugs on Snapchat under usernames featuring keywords such as “coke”, “weed” and “molly”
Skip Apple’s new iPhone – five tips to make your old phone feel new again
On Tuesday, Apple announced the iPhone 17 series with the usual spate of new features, including a thinner design, improved displays and a camera with 4x optical zoom. If you’ve been getting frustrated with your old phone, or just tired of it, the lithe new model may look exactly like the device you need to launch your budding photographic career, reconnect with long-lost friends and maybe even save your life in an emergency.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
How to Save the Internet by Nick Clegg review – spinning Silicon Valley
Nick Clegg chooses difficult jobs. He was the UK’s deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015, a position from which he was surely pulled in multiple directions as he attempted to bridge the divide between David Cameron’s Conservatives and his own Liberal Democrats. A few years later he chose another challenging role, serving as Meta’s vice-president and then president of global affairs from 2018 until January 2025, where he was responsible for bridging the very different worlds of Silicon Valley and Washington DC (as well as other governments). How to Save the Internet is Clegg’s report on how he handled that Herculean task, along with his ideas for how to make the relationships between tech companies and regulators more cooperative and effective in the future.The main threat that Clegg addresses in the book is not one caused by the internet; it is the threat to the internet from those who would regulate it
Apple debuts thinner, $999 iPhone Air at ‘awe-dropping’ annual product event
Apple debuted its latest iPhone on Tuesday, trumpeting the smartphone’s slimmest design yet. The device, named the iPhone Air, is one of several upgrades the company unveiled at its annual product showcase, promoted with the title “awe-dropping”. The event kicked off at 10am PT with the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, speaking in front of its Cupertino headquarters.“Design is at the core of everything we do,” Cook said. The CEO touted the company’s thin iPhone, which sports a width of 5
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