Lotus boss calls for UK government support as it commits to Norfolk plant

The boss of the luxury sports carmaker Lotus has called for government support for its UK factory as the Chinese-owned company insisted it will not abandon its British roots.Lotus said it had extended the lifespan of the £80,000 Emira petrol-engined sports car, made by 900 employees in its factory in Norfolk, in order for the brand to continue to serve the US market.Lotus last year prompted concerns for the future of its British factory, after sources said its Chinese parent company, Geely, was considering its closure. Lotus then cut 550 jobs in August.However, Lotus on Tuesday said it wanted to increase sales in the lucrative US market, meaning it will have to rely on sports car sales from its UK factory rather than electric SUVs from its newer, larger facility in Wuhan, China, which faces prohibitive tariffs

The budget in seven graphs: no big surprises but this may be one of the most ambitious moves to fix Australia’s finances | Greg Jericho

This year’s budget is an odd affair. So much had been leaked and dropped to the media that there are barely any surprises. But that does not mean it does not live up to the billing of being ambitious – basically killing off the capital gains tax 50% discount is a huge deal.The lack of changes on gas tax, an absence of increased assistance for the unemployed and renters, and cuts to the NDIS, however, show that this is still a government where ambition is not in surplus.Jim Chalmers really should send Donald Trump a big exploding cake as an up-yours present for what the US president is doing to the global economy

Molière Ex Machina: AI used to create ‘new work’ by beloved French playwright

Molière is to the French what Shakespeare is to the English: the last word in historical literature, drama, wit and satire.Now, more than 350 years after his death, the 17th-century dramatist has been revived after scholars at the Sorbonne University in Paris used artificial intelligence to help write an experimental play in his style.L’Astrologue ou les Faux Présages (The Astrologer, or False Omens), a three-act comedy, made its debut at the Royal Opera at the Château de Versailles last week.The two-hour play tells the story of a wealthy bourgeois Parisian who, under the instruction of a charlatan astrologer called Pseudoramus, insists his daughter Lucile marry a debt-ridden and elderly wigmaker.While the theme could well have been dreamed up by Molière, the dialogue, music, costumes and scenery were all created with the help of a French AI tool called Le Chat (The Cat)

Mistaking AI behaviour for conscious being | Letter

Richard Dawkins’ reflections on AI consciousness are striking – not because they show that machines have crossed some hidden threshold into inner life, but because they reveal how readily we can be persuaded that they have (Richard Dawkins concludes AI is conscious, even if it doesn’t know it, 5 May).Many will recognise the experience: a system that responds with fluency, humour and apparent understanding. At some point, simulation starts to feel like presence. But that shift tells us more about human cognition than machine consciousness. The error is a category one

Multiple Olympic and world champion cyclist Katie Archibald retires to become nurse

Endurance specialist won Olympic gold in Rio and Tokyo‘I don’t know where I’ll get these feelings again’Katie Archibald, the Scottish track cyclist who won gold medals at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, has announced her retirement with immediate effect.The decision means the 32-year-old, who also won multiple world, European and Commonwealth titles, will not compete in July’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.Archibald said: “The draw of the real world has been pulling me for a while, but I’ve been too scared to leave the world I know and love and, ultimately, to let go of something I’m good at.”She is now retraining to be a nurse. “I’ve fallen completely in love with the whole thing,” Archibald said

Too many of us were traumatised by sport at school – but it’s never too late to change | Cath Bishop

There is a disconnect between the proliferation of reports recommending we should be more active and actual levels of activity, that are scarcely budging. Sports councils, health bodies, charities and thinktanks are piling up the evidence that sport and physical activity help us live healthier, happier lives, improve academic attainment at school and productivity at work, connect our communities and help prevent crime and reoffending. Why can’t we turn this into reality?Reports often call for better coordination, including the recent House of Commons inquiry Game On: Community and School Sport. But sport and physical activity remains poorly linked among schools, sports clubs, community organisations, parks and playgrounds. In an era of superintelligence and rockets flying around the moon, surely we could do better?Structural change and innovation is needed