‘We are a completely different political party’: inside the Greens’ membership boom pred 19 urami in 25 minutami With membership soaring, the Green party is grappling with logistics, culture shifts and a flood of new activistsIt is, as one Green activist put it, a never-ending series of “constantly good problems to have”. But how does a party adapt to the sudden trebling of its membership? And when a majority of people in an organisation are new, is it even the same thing anymore?The basic facts alone are startling. Before Zack Polanski took over as leader last September, the Greens in England and Wales had around 66,000 members. They are now at 215,000, and still rising at speed. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Deliberate attack’: explosion damages Jewish school in Amsterdam pred 21 urami in 57 minutami Explosion at school on the south side of Amsterdam only caused limited damage, with no reported injuries An explosion damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam early on Saturday, in what the city’s mayor described as “a deliberate attack against the Jewish community”.The explosion at the school in an upmarket residential neighbourhood on the south side of Amsterdam only caused limited damage, the mayor, Femke Halsema, said in a press release, as police and firefighters arrived at the scene quickly. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Wealthy British nationals fleeing Gulf conflict bypass UK to avoid tax bills pred 22 urami in 21 minutami High-net-worth residents of UAE heading to Ireland and France to wait out missile attacks before tax year endsWealthy UK nationals fleeing war in the Gulf are seeking sanctuary in countries such as Ireland and France to avoid hefty tax bills back home.In the face of possible demands from HM Revenue and Customs, high-net-worth individuals who had been living in the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries are hoping to wait out the missile and drone attacks elsewhere rather than return to the UK. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Shockingly bad’: Nissan Leaf drivers voice anger over app shutdown pred 22 urami in 21 minutami Carmaker’s decision to drop NissanConnect EV app on relatively recent cars fuels warnings from expertsOwners of some Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are angry after the carmaker announced it would shut down an app that lets them remotely control battery charging and other functions.Drivers of Leaf cars made before May 2019 and the e-NV200 van (produced until 2022) have been told that the NissanConnect EV app linked to their vehicles will “cease operation” from 30 March. This means they will lose remote services, including turning on the heating, and some map features. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Confidential health records from UK BioBank project exposed online pred 23 urami in 21 minutami Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds data from flagship medical research leaked dozens of timesConfidential health data has been exposed online on dozens of occasions, a Guardian investigation can reveal, raising questions about the safeguarding of patient records by one of the UK’s flagship medical research projects.UK Biobank, which holds the medical records of 500,000 British volunteers, is one of the world’s most comprehensive stores of health information and is credited with driving breakthroughs in cancer, dementia and diabetes research. But scientists approved to access Biobank’s sensitive data appear to have sometimes been cavalier about its security. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
NHS and MoD will be urged to buy British tech to drive growth amid Iran crisis pred 23 urami in 21 minutami Treasury minister Spencer Livermore trails new strategy as chancellor pins hopes on benefits of AI amid global uncertaintyThe NHS and Ministry of Defence will be urged to buy British tech, as the government pins its hopes on the benefits of artificial intelligence to kickstart growth in the face of the Iran crisis, Treasury minister Spencer Livermore has said.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will restate her economic strategy in a high profile lecture on Tuesday, just as rocketing oil prices have raised fears of higher inflation and weaker growth. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Invisible datacentres and capricious chips: is UK’s AI bubble about to burst? pred 23 urami in 21 minutami Datacentre investment boom is one of the biggest infrastructure gambles of this era, and Britain may be uniquely exposedStargate was to be the world’s biggest AI investment: a $500bn infrastructure project to “secure American leadership in AI”. Never shy of hyperbole, its key backer, the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, promised “massive economic benefit for the entire world” with facilities to help people “use AI to elevate humanity”.Now, OpenAI appears to be dropping out of a part of the deal – the expansion of a flagship datacentre stretching across a swathe of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible manifestations of a frenzy of investment in the chips and power plants required to build and run AI. There has been a breakdown in negotiations over project financing, as well as the timeline of when the expanded capacity might come online. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Could be the making of him’: Starmer’s allies praise stance on Trump and Iran pred 23 urami in 21 minutami Refusal to kowtow to US president has won public backing – and left Badenoch and Farage playing catch-upIt is not often that Keir Starmer’s allies believe he has Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch on the run – but on Iran, they think he is on the right side of history and public opinion.“It could be the making of him,” said Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, who was first out of the blocks to say she thought Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran were illegal. “You’ve not had a British prime minister say no to an American president since Vietnam. This is a big deal.” Continue reading...(The Guardian)
The escalation trap: how the Iran war could become more costly and complex pred 1 dnevom in 21 minutami Iran’s is trying to create wedges between Gulf states and the US, but Trump is very comfortable on the ‘escalatory ladder’In its current phase, the Israeli-US war against Iran and its proxies has become a proving ground for two competing concepts of military escalation, each of which threatens to become a trap.On one side, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have failed thus far in their ill-defined and shifting strategic aims. Despite killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other key leaders in the opening salvo of the campaign, the clerical regime remains and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is unsecured. Airstrikes are intensifying and hitting a greater number of targets. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
