British blossom (2026)

03/11/2023

Elon Musk sees an AI future where ‘no job is needed’

Elon Musk declared artificial intelligence “one of the most disruptive forces in history” in a sit down conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that dove into the dangers and opportunities of AI on Thursday, capping off the UK’s inaugural AI Safety Summit.

“AI will be a force for good most likely,” Musk said. “But the probability of it going bad is not zero percent.”

The two men spoke in an interview-style chat from a stage at Lancaster House, a government venue in central London often used for diplomatic purposes, before the conversation was opened up to questions from journalists. The conversation was then posted for streaming on Musk’s personal account on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter that he owns.

Musk was present throughout the two-day event held mainly at Bletchley Park, the headquarters for the Allied Forces codebreaking program during World War II, along with US Vice President Kamala Harris, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and other notable politicians and global tech leaders. Chinese officials were also present at the event.

“I’m glad to see at this point that people are taking AI seriously,” Musk said to Sunak on Thursday. “Thanks for this summit. I think it will go down in history as quite important.

03/11/2023

Former UK prime ministers back cross-party approach to regional mayors
John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown call for end to ‘chopping and changing’ over devolution, according to Ed Balls review

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Former UK prime ministers and chancellors have joined forces to call for an end to decades of “chopping and changing” on regional policy, in a report that warns it has led to growing inequality and “40 years of failure”.

Former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, former Conservative prime minister John Major and former Tory chancellor George Osborne are among those calling for a more consistent cross-party approach.

Ed Balls, former Labour minister, led a Harvard University and King’s College London project on UK inequality, which included interviews with those who oversaw the country’s spluttering regional policy.

“Getting John Major, Tony Blair, George Osborne and Gordon Brown to agree on something is unusual,” Balls told the Financial Times. “They say you have to build a cross-party consensus that lasts for two decades.”

Balls argued that Britain had finally found a system that was working, namely large local authorities typically headed by a high-profile mayor, and said both Labour and Conservatives should commit to building on it.

He argued that all regions of the UK should be encouraged and provided incentives to follow the example of Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Liverpool and Tees Valley and adopt the combined authority model.

03/11/2023

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joins right-wing GB News channel

GB News, a broadcaster which is no stranger to controversy, says it's proud that the disgraced politician is joining their "family".

The former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to join conservative channel GB News next year, where he will play a "key role" in covering the upcoming British and American elections.

Boris Johnson, 59, resigned his post in the summer of 2022 after a series of scandals, including parties in Downing Street in violation of anti-covid rules.

He joins several figures from the Conservative Party on the channel, which presents itself as a standard bearer for ‘freedom of expression’.

Johnson will present a series of programs which will "expose the power of Great Britain across the world", the channel announced on Friday.

“GB News is a rebel channel with a loyal and growing audience,” said Boris Johnson, adding he was “delighted” at the idea of delivering “his frank opinions on world affairs”.

The channel's editorial director Michael Booker spoke of the channel's "tremendous" pride that Boris Johnson, "the most influential Prime Minister of our generation" and "an incredibly talented journalist", was joining the GB News "family".

After his resignation as an MP in June after an investigation concluded that he had lied to Parliament in his explanations about "partygate", Boris Johnson returned to writing as a columnist for the conservative Daily Mail, in addition to his lucrative speaking activities.

Before devoting himself to politics, as mayor of London and in several governments, Boris Johnson started as a trainee journalist at The Times. He was quickly fired for fabricating quotes.

03/11/2023

British PM Rishi Sunak secures ‘landmark’ deal on AI testing

The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday said that under a new agreement “like-minded governments” would be able to test eight leading tech companies’ AI models before they are released.

Closing out the two-day artificial intelligence summit in Bletchley Park on Thursday, Sunak announced the agreement signed by Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the U.S. and the U.K. to test leading companies’ AI models.

“Until now the only people testing the safety of new AI models have been the very companies developing it. That must change,” said Sunak to a room full of journalists.

“Like-minded governments and AI companies have today reached a landmark agreement. We will work together on testing the safety of new AI models before they are released… it's made possible by the decision I have taken along with Vice President Kamala Harris for the British and American governments to establish world leading AI safety institutes with public sector capability to test the most advanced frontier models.”

Sunak said the eight companies — Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Google, Google DeepMind, Inflection AI, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI and Open AI — had agreed to “deepen” the access already given to his Frontier AI Taskforce, which is the forerunner to the new institute. The access is currently given on a voluntary basis, though under its Executive Order, the U.S. government has put binding requirements to hand over certain safety information.

Sunak also announced further details of an agreement reached with countries yesterday to establish an international advisory panel on frontier AI risks.

03/11/2023

RICHARD EDEN: It's time to promote Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie to front-line royal duties. An ageing 'Firm' needs HELP!

It’s time that an ageing British Monarchy promoted Prince Andrew’s daughters to front-line royal duties, says Richard Eden.

Because with His Majesty the King approaching his 75th birthday later this month, ‘the Firm’ is already over-stretched.

‘As I have watched the King and Queen carry out engagements in East Africa, what has struck me most is that they need help,’ writes Eden in the latest edition of his Palace Confidential newsletter.

While it is no one’s fault, there is, he says, a straightforward shortage of youth and energy at the heart of the monarchy – a situation made significantly worse by Prince Harry's unexpected departure to America.

Eden points out that the King has already been the throne for 14 months but is yet to visit any of the 14 Commonwealth realms (aside from Britain) of which he is monarch.

Kenya, a republic, is the first Commonwealth country he has visited as King.

While Charles and Camilla are friendly and enthusiastic ambassadors for Britain overseas, it is clear that long-haul foreign visits will be few and far between, he writes. Camilla, 76, is no fan of flying.

‘After his mother, Queen Elizabeth, succeeded to the throne at the age of 25, she embarked, with Prince Philip, on her longest ever Commonwealth tour, lasting six months and covering 44,000 miles.

‘There will be nothing remotely on that scale for the King and Queen.

03/11/2023

The diplomatic minefield of the royal tour – and which countries might prove most difficult

During his visit to Kenya, the King has expressed sorrow for colonial acts of violence. How will he tackle historic grievances elsewhere?

Royal tours have historically always been fraught with peril, from the pressure of correctly observing local customs to the inevitable criticism that follows a costly overseas jaunt involving private jets and diamond-encrusted tiaras.

After landing in Nairobi with Queen Camilla for the four-day tour, the King became the first royal to express sorrow over Britain’s repression of the Mau Mau uprising, following angry calls from activists for Britain to pay millions in compensation for its colonial legacy in the African state.

Expressing “the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” for the “wrongdoings of the past”, he referred to “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” committed against Kenyans during their struggle for independence, but stopped short of a full apology.

The admission came after the British government agreed to pay nearly £20 million in compensation to victims a decade ago and follows Barbados’s decision to remove the British sovereign as its head of state to become a republic in November 2021.

With the Prince and Princess of Wales having not visited another Commonwealth country since their Caribbean visit was plagued by protesters last year, royal tours are no longer as straightforward as they used to be.

In May, representatives from 12 Commonwealth countries joined forces to call on the King to acknowledge and apologise for the impacts and ongoing legacy from British “genocide and colonisation”.

So which other countries might prove tricky for the royals to visit in the new-found Carolean era? Here, we divide them into three categories: red (most hostile to the monarchy); yellow (tricky territory); and green (still loyal).

03/11/2023

What the Babylon scandal tells us about the British government ?

One of the consistent themes of Dominic Cummings’s kamikaze mission to reform the machinery of the British state was that we urgently needed more politicians with backgrounds in science, maths and engineering, and fewer with 2:1s in PPE.

As he argued, the latter sort (see also: historians like Dom, classicists like Boris Johnson and pompous English graduates like me) are very well equipped to get themselves into a position of power, what with their networks of university chums and ability to produce plausible bu****it to a deadline. But once they get there they are out of their depth amid problems that require systems thinking, numeracy, the ability to weigh probabilities, technological literacy and so forth. Reality being, as a rule, less forgiving than a hungover Ancient History tutor, and vibes being a less good guide to it than a close-up understanding of how stuff actually works.

As he argued, the latter sort (see also: historians like Dom, classicists like Boris Johnson and pompous English graduates like me) are very well equipped to get themselves into a position of power, what with their networks of university chums and ability to produce plausible bu****it to a deadline. But once they get there they are out of their depth amid problems that require systems thinking, numeracy, the ability to weigh probabilities, technological literacy and so forth. Reality being, as a rule, less forgiving than a hungover Ancient History tutor, and vibes being a less good guide to it than a close-up understanding of how stuff actually works.

Wouldn’t it make sense to say an absolute no to letting private companies mark their own homework?

I don’t find myself in agreement with everything Dom Cummings has said or done (who does?). But on this particular issue, I think he may have been onto something. And if the collapse of Babylon Healthcare isn’t what’s sometimes called a ‘teachable moment’ in this regard, I don’t know what is.

03/11/2023

Rishi Sunak’s first year as prime minister: the IfG verdict
How has Rishi Sunak fared in his first 365 days as the UK’s prime minister? The IfG expert team weigh up the progress he has – or has not – made.

Sunak has struggled to break free of Truss’s damaging economic legacy.

Sunak has taken some steps to improve standards in government, but much remains to be done

Sunak has improved relations with the EU – but has yet to get government back in Northern Ireland

Sunak's machinery of government changes: two cheers for a trio of new departments

03/11/2023

Rishi Sunak fires government aide Paul Bristow over call for Israel-Hamas cease-fire
Paul Bristow served as Tech Secretary Michelle Donelan’s parliamentary private secretary.

Rishi Sunak sacked a government aide for demanding a “permanent” cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Conservative MP Paul Bristow — who until Monday afternoon served as Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan’s parliamentary private secretary — broke ranks with the prime minister to call for a cease-fire as he warned against “collective punishment” of the people of Gaza “for the crimes of Hamas.”

In a letter sent to Sunak last week, Bristow had urged the PM to urge a “permanent cease-fire” to “save lives and allow for a continued column of humanitarian aid [to] reach the people who need it the most.” The letter was reported by the Daily Telegraph newspaper Monday.

While the U.K. government has called for humanitarian “pauses” to the conflict, Sunak has short of calling for a full cease-fire, pointing to continued bombing by Hamas from Gaza into Israel.

“Paul Bristow has been asked to leave his post in government following comments that were not consistent with the principles of collective responsibility,” a Downing Street spokesperson said Monday afternoon.

Bristow is the first frontbencher in either the government or opposition Labour Party to be fired for diverging from the respective leadership’s line on the conflict.

03/11/2023

UK Financial Conduct Authority Nikhil Rathi discusses the latest developments on the regulatory environment for crypto currencies. He speaks with Yousef Gamal El-Din on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Africa & Middle East".

Bitcoin price up 40% since October as experts predict new record
‘Bitcoin is beyond the point of no return,’ one analyst claims, ‘a bull market is inevitable’

Renewed interest in bitcoin (BTC) has seen the cryptocurrency rise nearly $10,000 in price over the last two weeks, causing it to reach its highest level in more than 18 months.

On Thursday, bitcoin reached above $35,000 for the first time since May 2022, taking its overall market cap above $700 billion. The gains have been buoyed by renewed institutional interest, as well as hopes that an upcoming “halving” event will spark another record-breaking bull run.

Scheduled to take place in April 2024, the event will see the production of bitcoin cut in half as part of an anti-inflationary measure that was hard-coded into its underlying blockchain by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

“Bitcoin is beyond the point of no return, a bull market is inevitable,” said popular Dutch analyst PlanB, whose price prediction models have previously forecasted patterns related to halving cycles of the cryptocurrency.

03/11/2023

Here’s Why Crypto Market And Bitcoin Price Are Falling Today
The crypto market and Bitcoin price falling today due to several reasons including Friday's expiry, longs liquidation, and others

The crypto market fell 3% to $1.27 trillion in the last 24 hours, with total trading volume declining more than 20%. The selloff follows a much-awaited crypto market recovery amid spot Bitcoin ETF speculations, the U.S. Fed’s two consecutive interest rates “pause” and Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish speech, easing macro and geopolitical impacts; and renewed buying by institutional investors.

The crypto market’s fear and greed index has slipped from 72 to 65 in the past 24 hours. However, the overall sentiment remains bullish.
Traders decided to book profits as a result of Friday’s expiry. As per Deribit data, 42,000 BTC options, with a notional value of $1.46 billion, are set to expire with a put call ratio of 0.58. The max pain point is $30,000. In addition, 220,000 ETH options with a notional value of $390 million, are set to expire. Put call ratio is 0.55 and max pain is $1700.

Coinglass data shows indicate massive liquidation of over $150 million in the last two days. More than 52k traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with the largest single liquidation order on BitMEX’s XBTUSD worth $2 million. As a result of the selloff, the broader crypto market is in “red” today.

03/11/2023

UK minister urges greater access to intelligence for political parties
Penny Mordaunt presses for new information-sharing framework to prevent infiltration by spies

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UK political parties should be offered greater access to intelligence about potential donors, candidates and staff to prevent infiltration by spies, a cabinet minister has urged.

Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons, wrote to Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, last month calling for a new intelligence- sharing framework between the security services and the UK’s main parties, according to people familiar with the matter.

Her intervention came after Westminster was shaken by allegations of Chinese espionage this summer, when it emerged that a parliamentary researcher with links to Tory MPs had been arrested in March under the Official Secrets Act.

The episode raised questions about the vetting of parliamentary staff, but also prompted concerns about the vulnerability of political parties — seen by some security officials as the weak underbelly of the UK’s democratic institutions — to hostile actors.

Some government insiders fear parties have too little access to sensitive information about potential donors, candidates and other individuals working closely with their representatives and officials.

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