Jeremy Corbyn warns rules on council asset sales threaten allotments
Jeremy Corbyn has criticised Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, for rules that allow councils to sell allotments to fund day-to-day spending, saying it “makes the future of these precious spaces even more perilous”.Rules on council asset sales mean local authorities can sell off sites to help “deliver transformation and invest-to-save projects” they would otherwise not be able to afford.Corbyn, writing for the Telegraph, said the possible sale of allotments would fill many with “deep dismay”.“Allotments have always been under threat from developers.Now, that threat seems to have government backing, which makes the future of these precious spaces even more perilous,” he said.
The National Allotment Society (NAS) urged calm over the issue, saying there had been “no change to the legal protections that apply to statutory allotments” and that “no statutory site can be sold or developed without going through a clearly defined legal process”.The government has approved the sale of eight allotment sites, in Somerset, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, West Sussex, Derbyshire and Kent, since coming to power last year.In Storrington, West Sussex, there are plans to build 78 new houses on a former allotment site.NAS said the eight approvals represented a slight decrease in allotment disposals in recent years, and that it had not challenged any of the applications as they had all met the legal threshold with either low take-up of plots or alternative allotment space provided elsewhere.The rules date back to 2016, and councils must seek government approval for any allotment salesCorbyn, who recently launched a new leftwing party with his former Labour colleague Zarah Sultana, is well known to be devoted to his north London allotment.
He said “property developers have always had their eyes on these parcels of land”.“Together with local authorities, they construct various arguments for building over them,” Corbyn said.“Instead of contemplating sales of these wonderful spaces, the government should be encouraging the growth of allotments, or where there is insufficient land, the growth of community and school gardens.“Is this government going to put the nail in the coffin of the joy of digging ground for potatoes on a cold, wet February Sunday afternoon?”Jim McMahon, the housing, communities and local government minister, has previously said that it was “for local authorities to determine how best to use this flexibility” over asset sales, including what to sell, but that decisions should “demonstrate value for money and be in the best interests of local residents”.Cash-strapped councils are increasingly selling off assets to try to make ends meet.
Birmingham city council, which in 2013 issued a section 114 notice, in effect declaring itself bankrupt, has sold more than £56m worth of assets, including a city centre car park, a former children’s centre and a former motor racing circuit.Earlier this year, commissioners told the local authority to increase asset sales to £1bn to balance the books.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “We know how important allotments are for communities, and that is why strict criteria is in place to protect them.“The rules on the sale of assets have been in place since 2016 and have not changed.Ministerial approvals for the sale of allotments in 2024 were lower than the average for recent years.
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The dark side of cryptocurrency
Andrew Bailey is right to distance the British financial system from cryptocurrency, but he is being too polite about it (Editorial, 29 July). Cryptocurrency is evil. Being speculative in nature, it serves no purpose as a useful currency, and being secretive, it facilitates international drug dealing, people trafficking and terrorism. In addition to helping destabilise our precarious world, it has a huge, unnecessary carbon footprint. It’s time for our financial authorities to speak truth to money
OpenAI stops ChatGPT from telling people to break up with partners
ChatGPT will not tell people to break up with their partner and will encourage users to take breaks from long chatbot sessions, under new changes to the artificial intelligence tool.OpenAI, ChatGPT’s developer, said the chatbot would stop giving definitive answers to personal challenges and would instead help people to mull over problems such as potential breakups.“When you ask something like: ‘Should I break up with my boyfriend?’ ChatGPT shouldn’t give you an answer. It should help you think it through – asking questions, weighing pros and cons,” said OpenAI.The US company said new ChatGPT behaviour for dealing with “high-stakes personal decisions” would be rolled out soon
‘We didn’t vote for ChatGPT’: Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role
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Google says its new ‘world model’ could train AI robots in virtual warehouses
Google has outlined its latest step towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) with a new model that allows AI systems to interact with a convincing simulation of the real world.The Genie 3 “world model” could be used to train robots and autonomous vehicles as they engage with realistic recreations of environments such as warehouses, according to Google.The US technology company’s AI division, Google DeepMind, argues that world models are a key step to achieving AGI, a hypothetical level of AI where a system can carry out most tasks on a par with humans – rather than just individual tasks such as playing chess or translating languages – and potentially do someone’s job.DeepMind said such models would play an important role in the development of AI agents, or systems that carry out tasks autonomously.“We expect this technology to play a critical role as we push toward AGI, and agents play a greater role in the world,” DeepMind said
Should big tech be allowed to mine Australians’ text and data to train AI? The Productivity Commission is considering it
The Productivity Commission is examining whether technology firms should be exempt from copyright rules that stop companies mining text and data to train artificial intelligence models.The commission, in its interim report into “harnessing data and the digital economy”, used copyright as a case study for how Australia’s existing regulatory framework could be adapted to manage the risks of artificial intelligence.A key recommendation was that the federal government should conduct a sweeping review of regulations to plug potential gaps that could be exploited by “bad actors” using AI.Scott Farquhar, the co-founder of software company Atlassian, last week called for an “urgent” overhaul of Australia’s copyright rules, arguing they were out of step with other comparable countries.Farquhar said creating exemptions for text and data mining to train large language models “could unlock billions of dollars of foreign investment into Australia”
Dial N for nostalgia: landlines are back | Brief letters
Emma Brockes’ article threw open the door to landline memories (Worried about your child’s screentime? Get a landline, 31 July). When it rang, the enthusiasm that came with the conviction “it’s for me” v the reluctance when seemingly knowing “it’s not for me”. This was undoubtedly because the phone in a cold hallway meant no one wanted to leave the warmth and TV in the sitting room. Virginia RanscombeDerbyhaven, Isle of Man I can’t believe it has taken 40 years and a thinktank to realise the bleeding obvious about the sale of council housing (Right to buy in England ‘fuelled housing crisis and cost taxpayers £200bn’, 3 August). Wrong policy from the very beginning – and the fact it continued for so long is nothing short of scandalous
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