How to talk about “AI” without adding to the anthropomorphization. Suggestions: “artificial intelligence → probabilistic automation” & “AI agent → probabilistic, unverified software manipulator”. Seems like the horse is out of the barn on this though…
We schakelen over naar Berkelland, waar gisteren een wethouder zich terugtrok wegens cancelcultuur knetterende gekte. Ton Koenderink deed hand- en spanwerk voor Duitse soevereinen, flirtte zelf met Nederlandse soevereinen, richtte een kerkgenootschap op waar Fakkelman Max lid van was, en gaf aan een opleiding aan de Universiteit Leiden te hebben gevolgd die volgens de Universiteit Leiden nooit heeft bestaan. Deze man is kortom: zo gek als een springplank. Afijn, na vijf dagen gaf-ie er onder druk de brui aan, maar omdat dit Nederland is krijgt Koenderink nu zes maanden wachtgeld, zo'n 50.000 euro. U mag drie keer raden of hij het aanneemt of niet.
Nooit de kans gekregen om bij te dragen aan verbinding, in plaats van polarisatie
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PARIJS (ANP/AFP) - De Franse radicaalrechtse politica Marine Le Pen stelt zich toch verkiesbaar bij de komende presidentsverkiezingen in Frankrijk in 2027. Dat maakte ze dinsdagavond bekend. Eerder op de dag werd Le Pen in hoger beroep veroordeeld voor misbruik van EU-geld. Ze kondigde aan tegen de uitspraak in cassatie te gaan.
Papendrecht verkeert in een politieke crisis. Na de verkiezingen voor de gemeenteraad werd met succes een coalitie gevormd, maar die heeft plotseling geen meerderheid meer. De PVV kan rekenen op tegenwerking. De partij zou een wethouder leveren en dat gaat niet meer door.
The Reform UK leader wants voters to overrule parliamentary accountability. Labour should expose the trick, then offer a politics that works
Nigel Farage, Brexit’s snake-oil salesman, is at it again. The Reform UK leader is under investigation over whether he broke parliamentary rules by failing to disclose a £5m gift from a crypto billionaire shortly before announcing he would stand for parliament. He now faces questions over claims that George Cottrell, a Montenegro-based convicted criminal and longtime associate, helped fund his security and social media operation before the 2024 general election. MPs are required to declare potentially relevant gifts or donations received in the 12 months before entering parliament. Purely personal gifts do not need to be registered.
Rather than wait for the exoneration he insists is inevitable, Mr Farage says he will resign as MP for Clacton and stand again. He hopes to pull in the crowds like a carnival barker. His argument is a con: that the “establishment” should not judge him over million-pound gifts; only the voters should. But a byelection can decide only who represents Clacton. It cannot decide whether parliamentary rules were breached, whether donations or benefits were declarable, or whether electoral law was broken. That is up to parliamentary authorities and election regulators.
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Continue reading...Drugs and violence continue at disturbing levels. But a minority of jails show that progress is possible
Prisons in England and Wales are in an appalling state. In his last annual report before stepping down, Charlie Taylor, the head of the prisons watchdog, highlights good practice where it exists. One example is a strengthened focus on reading in some jails. Another is the work done to improve staff-prisoner relationships at HMP Low Newton, County Durham. But the overwhelming impression made by the document, published on Tuesday, is of profound and shocking failure.
The criteria on which inspectors judge prisons are safety, respect, preparation for release and purposeful activity. This serves as a useful reminder of what they are for. Unfortunately, they are failing on all fronts and especially the last. Only two men’s prisons out of 35 were judged as offering “good” work and education. In most places budgets and classes have been cut and attendance is poor. Even a gritty drama such as the BBC’s Waiting for the Out could be considered rose-tinted when compared with some real jails. In a survey for the inspectorate, 34% of male prisoners reported spending more than 22 hours a day locked in their cells.
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