Fred Vasseur has given his thoughts on Ferrari’s performance in the Spanish Grand Prix, which saw Charles Leclerc finish P4 after Lewis Hamilton retired.

Met het thema Our Songs Came Through kiest BredaPhoto Festival deze editie vooral voor verhalen over troost en veerkracht. Het is opvallend in hoeveel projecten die troost gezocht wordt in wat ‘thuis’ wordt genoemd. Niet alleen in een fysiek thuis, maar ook in familie, in moeders en in vaders.

The US Supreme Court is ​still weighing the administration’s ⁠request to ​overturn a separate ​order ​blocking the ​rule

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Leaders of the Kennedy Center who have sought to add president Donald Trump’s name to the storied institution say it is facing bankruptcy and possible closure in days, the Washington Post reports.

According to documents obtained by the paper, the center’s board of trustees is expected to vote on Tuesday on whether to close the main building of Washington’s performing arts center, due to financial and safety needs.

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Recent social media lawsuits have addressed concerns about mental health. But what about its cognitive effects?

A few years ago, when I’d just started graduate work, I was waiting with a grandmother finishing a questionnaire I’d handed her about her 19-year-old granddaughter who was in the testing room next door. They were participating in a study that used brain imaging to look at adolescent development. The older woman had a soft southern accent and a warm laugh.

“What’s funny?” I asked.

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Leaders in Pando region denounce opaque deals over carbon credits as government and companies rush to monetise Amazon rainforest after 2024 ruling

In the village plazas of Pando, a remote northern Amazonian region of Bolivia, the main talk is no longer just about the next harvest. One pressing issue is the “invisible air” being sold to foreigners who regularly visit their communities.

In June 2024, the country’s constitutional court struck down the ban on a funding mechanism linked to carbon markets. Since then, Indigenous leaders of three ethnic groups – the Tacana, Ese Ejja and Cabineño – have complained about companies and foundations that arrive with offers of “climate solutions”, often during the ever more frequent droughts or floods.

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Mainstream figures have been enabling anti-Muslim racism, creating the ideal conditions for the rise of hard-right political parties

Five years ago, many Muslims wondered if the prejudices they faced were set to fade away. The “war on terror” was dwindling in prominence, and new enemies such as Russia seemed to be displacing fears of Islamic terrorism. Yet Britain’s Islamophobia has only intensified since then. A poll published in July found that two out of five Britons believe Muslims cannot integrate into British society. Earlier in the summer, it was reported that more than half of Muslims in Britain had personally experienced anti-Islam prejudice in the last year, and a quarter in a public place.

The evidence of a worsening climate for Muslims has been mounting since two summers ago, when racist riots erupted across the UK, targeting mosques and asylum hostels. Watching videos of those events, I was disturbed by the parents who brought their young children to watch while mobs attempted, with apparently murderous intent, to break into the buildings. It was not only hardened far-right activists but a much broader cross-section of British society that was willing to participate in racist violence directed at Muslims or asylum seekers assumed to be Muslim.

Arun Kundnani is editorial director of Monthly Review Press

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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You’re going to spend a lot of time in your uni room – so don’t just dump your boxes and run. Here’s how to make that space work for you

Uni means many hours cramming in the library and equally as many partying, but there is also a surprising amount of downtime – so a bedroom that is enticing to hang out in is key. Whether it’s in halls, a house share or your family home, here’s how to make even the most basic of spaces more special.

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• New track for Spanish GP frustrated drivers and fans

• McLaren’s Stella: ‘It’s impossible to attempt overtaking’

Discussions are already under way to change the layout of Formula One’s newest circuit after driver condemnation of the Madring during its inaugural Grand Prix. The race in Madrid was won by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, but it was notable for being a procession with overtakes failing to reach double digits over 57 laps. Drivers were left frustrated and disappointed at an opportunity that had been lost, resulting in a chorus of criticism.

“I don’t know how someone looks at this design and goes: ‘mint’,” said the defending world champion, Lando Norris, who finished third. “There’s a lot of opportunity. They can make it into a track that’s good for racing and I’m excited to come back here next year if they can make these changes.

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We take a look at some of our favourite snapshots from New York as Elena Rybakina and Alexander Zverev both triumphed in the final grand slam of the year

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Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 14-09-2026 13:16 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 19.1°C · Bewolkt ☁️ | Min 16.3°C / Max 21.5°C | Kans op neerslag 18%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 16.3°C, Max 21.5°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.5 mm, Kans op neerslag 18%, 🧭 1021.9 hPa ↘️ -0.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↑ 200°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 14:00: 19.6°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 96%, 🧭 1022.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 234°
• 15:00: 20.8°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 86%, 🧭 1022.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.4 km/u (2.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 246°
• 16:00: 21.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 60%, 🧭 1022.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.9 km/u (3.3 m/s), richting: → 248°
• 17:00: 21.4°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 37%, 🧭 1022.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.1 km/u (2.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 240°
• 18:00: 21.5°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, Kans op neerslag 22%, 🧭 1021.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.4 km/u (2.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 227°
• 19:00: 21.2°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 10%, 🧭 1021.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.4 km/u (2.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 237°
• 20:00: 20.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 2%, 🧭 1021.7 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.8 km/u (3.0 m/s), richting: ↗ 241°
• 21:00: 20.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1021.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 226°
• 22:00: 19.8°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1021.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.9 km/u (3.3 m/s), richting: ↗ 224°
• 23:00: 19.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1021.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 211°
• 00:00: 19.7°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1020.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.8 km/u (3.0 m/s), richting: ↗ 211°
• 01:00: 19.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1020.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.2 km/u (3.4 m/s), richting: ↗ 209°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• dinsdag 15 september: Min 17.8°C, Max 22.5°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 8%, 🧭 1016.6 hPa ↘️ -5.3 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 17.6 km/u (4.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 238°
• woensdag 16 september: Min 13.3°C, Max 18.2°C (Lichte regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 3.7 mm, Kans op neerslag 49%, 🧭 1014.8 hPa ↘️ -1.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 15.1 km/u (4.2 m/s), richting: → 286°
• donderdag 17 september: Min 13.0°C, Max 17.3°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 5.9 mm, Kans op neerslag 44%, 🧭 1010.5 hPa ↘️ -4.3 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 21.5 km/u (6.0 m/s), richting: ↗ 216°
• vrijdag 18 september: Min 12.5°C, Max 16.9°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 30%, 🧭 1008.8 hPa ↘️ -1.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 21.7 km/u (6.0 m/s), richting: ↗ 235°
• zaterdag 19 september: Min 14.6°C, Max 20.2°C (Matige motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 4.0 mm, Kans op neerslag 37%, 🧭 1013.3 hPa ↗️ +4.5 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 19.9 km/u (5.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 237°
• zondag 20 september: Min 13.7°C, Max 17.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 17%, 🧭 1024.2 hPa ↗️ +10.9 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 15.1 km/u (4.2 m/s), richting: → 268°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 13:15): 19.1°C (Bewolkt)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 21.1°C (+2.0°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↗ 203°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 23.4 km/h (6.5 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 96%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1022.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 3.4 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 3.9
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 07:14 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 19:59

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 40 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 10.1 μg/m³
• PM10: 13.8 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

LONDEN (ANP) - De nationalistische leiders van Schotland, Wales en Noord-Ierland willen intensiever samenwerken in hun streven het Verenigd Koninkrijk te verlaten en aansluiting te zoeken bij de EU. "We geloven dat de toekomst van onze landen in de Europese Unie ligt", schrijven John Swinney, Rhun ap Iorwerth en Michelle O'Neill in een verklaring. Ze stellen dat de Brexit heeft geleid tot economische schade.

De drie voerden overleg in Cardiff en stelden naderhand dat het de eerste keer is dat hun gebieden allemaal worden bestuurd door separatistische leiders. "Elk van onze landen heeft het recht om zijn eigen toekomst te bepalen, via democratische middelen", stellen de Eerste Ministers. Die roepen de Britse regering op daaraan mee te werken.

Schotland, Wales en Noord-Ierland vormen samen met Engeland, dat de grootste bevolking heeft, het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Schotland hield in 2014 een referendum over onafhankelijkheid. Daar was toen geen meerderheid voor.

SANAA (ANP/AFP) - De Jemenitische Houthi's zeggen tientallen aanvallen te hebben uitgevoerd op militaire voorzieningen in Saudi-Arabië. De groep meldt dat deze aanvallen een reactie zijn op Saudische luchtaanvallen op Jemen.

De aanvallen zijn uitgevoerd op de luchtmachtbasis King Khalid in Khamis Mushait, volgens Houthi-woordvoerder Yahya Saree. Saree beschuldigt Saudi-Arabië ervan vanuit de luchtmachtbases in Khamis Mushait en Taif honderden aanvallen te hebben uitgevoerd op Jemen.

De Saudische kroonprins Mohammed bin Salman ontmoette maandag de Amerikaanse admiraal Brad Cooper, melden Saudische staatsmedia. De twee zouden regionale ontwikkelingen hebben besproken. De ontmoeting vindt plaats enkele dagen nadat de Saudische kroonprins president Donald Trump om militaire steun had gevraagd. Dit meldden drie bronnen aan persbureau Reuters. Trump weigerde aanvallen uit te voeren op de Houthi's, maar zou wel hulp hebben aangeboden bij de inlichtingen.

Het geweld tussen de door Iran gesteunde Houthi's en Saudi-Arabië laaide in juli weer op. Sinds begin september raakten 82.000 mensen in Jemen ontheemd, volgens de Internationale Organisatie voor Migratie. Door een tekort aan noodhulp wordt minder dan 10 procent van de behoefte aan onderdak gedekt, meldt hulporganisatie CARE, die actief is in Jemen. Ook is er geen hulp voor meer dan duizend gezinnen die dringend voedsel nodig hebben, zegt de organisatie.

UTRECHT (ANP) - Schoonmakers gaan deze week van maandag tot en met vrijdag staken op Schiphol, stations en andere plekken in Nederland, kondigt vakbond FNV aan. Daarmee protesteren ze tegen een cao die vakbond CNV en werkgeversorganisatie Schoonmakend Nederland hebben afgesloten. Ongeveer 10 procent van alle schoonmakers is lid van de grootste vakbond van Nederland, zegt FNV-bestuurder Caroline Lamberts.

De zogeheten 'bevalboete' gaat niet door. Het kabinet schrapt de geplande verlaging van het maximumdagloon met 20 procent, zo blijkt uit gelekte Prinsjesdagstukken. De maatregel zou jaarlijks minstens 25.000 vrouwen treffen. Een vrouw met een modaal-plus inkomen kon tot ruim €9.000 minder ontvangen rond de geboorte van haar kind. Dat bedrag hoeft nu niet meer ingeleverd te worden.

Wat was de bevalboete?

Het maximumdagloon is de bovengrens van het loon waarmee bepaalde werknemersuitkeringen worden berekend. Het kabinet wilde dat bedrag met een vijfde verlagen. De zwangerschapsuitkering valt onder de Wet Arbeid en Zorg en wordt berekend op basis van het dagloon. Ook ziekte veroorzaakt door de zwangerschap valt onder het maximumdagloon en niet onder de reguliere loondoorbetaling, die doorgaans 100 procent is.

Veel vrouwen met een midden- of hoog inkomen zouden geen 100 procent doorbetaald verlof meer krijgen, maar slechts 90 of 80 procent. Alle vrouwen met een inkomen boven de €5.300 zouden worden getroffen, zo'n 25.000 in totaal. CNV noemde de maatregel een 'forse bevalboete'.

Voor 25.000 vrouwen per jaar was zwanger worden bijna een financiële straf geworden.

De rekening die je nu niet krijgt

Een vrouw die bruto €6.700 per maand verdient, zou tijdens haar vier maanden zwangerschapsverlof €1.300 per maand inleveren: in totaal €5.200. Wie eerder uitviel door zwangerschapsgerelateerde ziekte, kon daar nog eens €3.900 bovenop verliezen. In totaal ruim €9.000 minder inkomen. Nu de verlaging van het maximumdagloon van tafel gaat, blijven die bedragen in de portemonnee van de ouder.

Ook ouderschapsverlof was in gevaar

Naast zwangerschapsverlof zou ook het ouderschapsverlof (negen weken, 70 procent doorbetaald voor zowel vader als moeder) omlaag gaan door de verlaging van het maximumdagloon. Daardoor zouden steeds meer ouders niet 30 procent van hun inkomen inleveren, maar mogelijk 40 of 50 procent. Dat maakte het verlof voor veel gezinnen financieel onhaalbaar.

€824 miljoen voor de schatkist

Het terugdraaien van de maatregel kost volgens de begrotingsstukken €824 miljoen. Daarmee is ook de maatregel van tafel die werd bekritiseerd als de 'bevalboete'. Het besluit is onderdeel van een breder pakket, zo meldde onder meer SGXL.NL op basis van de gelekte stukken. De aangekondigde bezuiniging op de AOW van 2,8 miljard euro gaat eveneens definitief niet door. Daarnaast wordt 1,5 miljard euro uitgetrokken voor koopkrachtherstel. De geplande verkorting van de maximale WW-duur van 24 naar 12 maanden is niet geschrapt, maar een jaar uitgesteld: die maatregel zou nu vanaf 2029 moeten ingaan.

Goed begin, niet klaar

CNV noemde het schrappen van de bevalboete "een eerste goede stap." Maar de vakbonden zijn niet tevreden. CNV-voorzitter Hans Van den Heuvel noemt de bezuinigingen op WW en WIA "onacceptabel." FNV-voorzitter Hans Spekman erkent dat het kabinet beweegt, maar de bonden gaan door met acties. De vakbonden willen dat alle voorgenomen bezuinigingen op de sociale zekerheid worden geschrapt en nemen geen genoegen met uitstel.

De bevalboete is van tafel. Maar voor werkende ouders die in 2027 ook de afbouw van de IACK, het kindgebonden budget en de kinderopvangtoeslag voor hun kiezen krijgen (zoals we eerder schreven in Tweeverdieners met kinderen krijgen in 2027 een harde financiële tik: drie regelingen worden versoberd), is het slechts één klap minder in een reeks die nog niet voorbij is.

Meer weten? SGXL.NL · CNV · Salaris Vanmorgen · Flexmarkt · Dagblad070

MOSKOU (ANP/RTR) - De leiders van India en China hebben volgens het Kremlin hulp aangeboden bij het beëindigen van de oorlog in Oekraïne. Dat gebeurde tijdens de top van BRICS-landen in New Delhi, aldus een Russische regeringswoordvoerder.

President Vladimir Poetin zou daar positief op hebben gereageerd. Volgens zijn woordvoerder heeft Rusland er geen bezwaar tegen als andere landen Oekraïne aanmoedigen om "meer flexibiliteit" te tonen.

De landen voerden eerder met Amerikaanse bemiddeling vredesoverleg, maar dat leidde niet tot een doorbraak. Oekraïne weigert mee te gaan in de Russische eis dat meer gebieden in Oost-Oekraïne worden overgedragen.

Nadat de VS en Israël in februari een oorlog waren begonnen tegen Iran, kwam het vredesproces feitelijk stil te liggen. De regering-Trump wil daar verandering in brengen en stuurde deze maand gezanten Steve Witkoff en Jared Kushner naar Kyiv en Moskou voor topoverleg.

NIJKERK (ANP) - De gemeente Nijkerk wil dat het kabinet dinsdag op Prinsjesdag meer geld uittrekt voor het onderhouden van wegen, bruggen en vaarverbindingen. De A28 bij de Gelderse plaats was vorige week enkele dagen afgesloten, nadat er zand en grind bij een brug waren weggespoeld. Het verkeer tussen Zwolle en Amersfoort moest omrijden via Apeldoorn.

Nijkerk heeft maandag een oproep gedaan voor "versnelling van investeringen in onderhoud, vervanging en uitbreiding van cruciale infrastructuur". Volgens de gemeente is de infrastructuur, zoals wegen en bruggen, de basis van alles wat het kabinet wil bereiken, van verduurzaming tot defensie en van woningbouw tot economische ontwikkeling.

De gemeente stelt dat Nederland "lijkt te leven op de reservebank van zijn infrastructuur. Veel bruggen, viaducten en kunstwerken zijn ontworpen voor een ander Nederland, met minder verkeer en lagere belasting dan vandaag." Nijkerk noemt de problemen van de A28 een voorbeeld daarvan: "Als het sluiten van één brug zulke verstrekkende gevolgen heeft, is duidelijk hoe kwetsbaar het netwerk inmiddels is geworden."

Gevallen icoon uit de tijd dat politiek nog leuk was: Tara Singh Varma is dood. Eigenlijk zou ze rond 2001 al doodgaan, maar dat ze kanker had en daarom de Tweede Kamer moest verlaten was allemaal verzonnen. Daar gaf ze eerst 'extreemrechts' de schuld van, en daarna de Tros, daarna was ze zielig ('er zaten nog weinig allochtonen in de politiek') en toen was het iets als 'een angstsyndroom en een psycho-organisch syndroom, wat inhoudt dat lichamelijke klachten de psyche uit balans brengen'. Dat klinkt hartstikke normaal GroenLinks. "Toenmalig Kamerlid Femke Halsema zei later dat de partij eerdere signalen over de onwaarheid van Singh Varma's beweringen niet goed had durven onderzoeken uit angst voor het verwijt van racisme." Singh Varma, die ook meermaals in opspraak raakte door financieel geknoei, bleef na haar politieke afscheid onder de radar - zo werkte ze nog even in een Surinaamse broodjeszaak. Ze is 78 jaar oud geworden.

Once a month, Microsoft pushes a security update to all Windows users. Tomorrow’s is a new record:

Microsoft’s patch for September is a doozy, with a record number of roughly 972 vulnerabilities fixed and 112 of them meeting the high critical-severity threshold.

It was only two months ago that Microsoft patched a then-record 570 vulnerabilities. Then, last month, Microsoft patched some 620 of them. Google and other companies have also published record numbers of vulnerabilities in recent months. Two weeks ago, OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, and 100 companies and organizations published an open letter warning of a narrowing window for patching vulnerabilities ahead of an expected tsunami of AI-enabled attacks that actively exploit them first. The industry is taking the threat seriously by pumping out unprecedented numbers of patches in their software.

This is the result of AI-powered vulnerability finding, and a good example of AI helping the defenders more than the attackers.

What will be interesting to watch is how the number of vulnerabilities changes over the next few months. My prediction is that it will continue to increase as the AIs get better at finding software vulnerabilities, and then decrease as they run out of vulnerabilities to find. How high the number gets, how fast the trend reverses, and how quickly it declines after that are all unknown.

And Microsoft is right: The window to patch has shrunk to “immediately.” AIs are also good at reverse-engineering exploits from patches, which means that these vulnerabilities will be weaponized as soon as the update is published.

Today's links

• But do you use keyboard shortcuts?: AI people are WEIRD.
• Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
• Object permanence: "Changeling"; Sony Rootkit vs CD drives; Google's scumbag lobbyists; NJ's e-voting coverup; Spying sex toys; Scott Walker dark money leak; "REAMDE"; Snowden's pardon.
• Upcoming appearances: Budapest, Edmonton, South Bend, Hudson, Calgary, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa.
• Recent appearances: Where I've been.
• Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Colophon: All the rest.

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But do you use keyboard shortcuts? (permalink)

Of all the weird recurring motifs of the stories people tell me about the AI labor wars, the weirdest is when bosses demand to be reassured that their contractors and workers will absolutely use AI to get the job done.

That's weird for the obvious reason that for most people "AI" is a synonym for "low quality." No one ever said "My kid's math teacher was replaced with AI" in a happy tone of voice. No one ever said, "Oh, great, they replaced their customer service department with AI chatbots!" My teenager and her friends use "That's so AI" as a shorthand for "That's low-effort shit."

Not bosses, though. Bosses love AI and there's plenty of evidence that they're positively harassing the people who work for them with demands to use AI in their work:

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1weztw9/anyone_elses_boss_obsessed_with_chatgpt/

Beyond the widespread belief that AI is what you use if you don't care about quality, insisting that people use AI is weird for another reason: why should anyone care which tool was used to do the job? I mean, provided the job was accomplished correctly, on time and to budget, why would anyone care how it was done? My illustrator friends whose clients want to be assured that the work is being done "with AI" were never before asked "Did you use a Wacom tablet to draw these lines? Did this element start life as a vector or as rasters? Are you more into using cage transforms, or do you like to stroke the image with the warp tool?"

It's not just illustrators. I've heard this from bookkeepers. "Please tell me you got a chatbot to help you with the syntax for this Excel macro" is a genuinely weird thing to ask someone. By all means, concern yourself with whether the accounts are correct, but caring about how the macros are written is like caring about whether someone jots notes to themselves by tabbing to a new document window or by scribbling on a yellow pad by the keyboard.

I've heard this from writers, architects…all kinds of professionals. "Did you use AI to help you outline this?" What a stupid thing to ask a writer! That's like asking "Do you use keyboard shortcuts, or do you mouse over the Word ribbon and click on the little scissors icon when you want to cut some text?" The actual, finished document is right in front of you. Is it a good document? Are those good words? Why are you concerning yourself with the writer's pencil-sharpening technique?

There's precedent for this: indeed, it's the very origin of management consulting. The first management consultants were the Taylorists; these were con artists that charged bosses vast sums of money to stand over workers with stopwatches, timing each step of their jobs to the instant in order to produce a mandatory choreography of "the best way" to do the job:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management

None of these "scientists" knew anything about how to do the job, and critically, they never asked the workers why they used an "inefficient" technique to accomplish a task. Rather, Taylorists concerned themselves with getting workers to move like precision machines, transforming the factory floor into a stage upon which workers pantomimed "efficiency" for bosses who also didn't know how to do the workers' jobs.

If this produced inferior goods, or caused the workers pain by forcing them to repetitively move in injurious ways, that was a small price to pay. Bosses claimed they were buying improved efficiency, but what they were really after was reassurance: reassurance that the workers whom they relied upon were engaged in nothing more than a set of reducible, mechanical steps. Taylorized workers were required to act out a role in a play in which they were easily replaced, mindless appendages to the boss's skill, discernment and ambition. A Taylorized workplace is a colony organism whose brains are in the C-suite and whose busy workers are nothing more than drones and pismires.

AI is the apotheosis of this fantasy. A boss who lays hands upon an AI tool doesn't have to know how to draw a picture, balance books, or write technical documentation. They only have to prompt the production of these things. For bosses, AI is a great leveler: it is sold as a way to distill and package up the skill and discernment of workers and infuse them into a pliable automaton.

If you give workers instructions that reveal your ignorance, they might roll their eyes at you and make you feel bad about yourself. Even if they restrain themselves in the moment, they might make fun of you in the break-room later. To be the boss is to sit alone at your desk, haunted by the suspicion that you are not in the driver's seat, but rather, you are in the back seat playing with a Fisher Price steering wheel. AI is sold as a way to wire the toy steering wheel directly into the corporation's drive-train:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/05/fisher-price-steering-wheel/#billionaire-solipsism

Seen in this light, bosses' insistence that workers use AI makes perfect sense. Once you reassure yourself that your subordinates produce the things you need by prompting a model, you reassure yourself that you could do their jobs. At that point, you're not relying on their skill – you're doing them the favor of paying them to do a job that you're too busy and important to do, but which you could do. With AI, you can tell yourself that you're in the driver's seat, even if someone else has their hands on the wheel.

(Image: ArwinJ, CC BY-SA 3.0, modified)

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Hey look at this (permalink)

• LONG | PLAY https://longplayplatform.com/

• Prospect welcomes recognition agreement at Skyscanner Technology Ltd https://prospect.org.uk/news/prospect-welcomes-recognition-agreement-at-skyscanner-technology-ltd

• They stopped 57 shootings. Everyone was just fired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgcfcRFrMYc&list=PLFVDwNAJdY2w

• No Country for Tech Bros https://thepointmag.com/politics/no-country-for-tech-bros/#

• VC isn’t VC anymore — understanding the rise of Cancer Capital https://www.anildash.com/2026/09/02/cancer-capital/

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Object permanence (permalink)

#20yrsago Changeling, a fairy tale of contemporary New York
https://memex.craphound.com/2006/09/14/changeling-a-fairy-tale-of-contemporary-new-york/

#20yrsago Sony’s rootkit disables CD drives when combined with AOL software https://web.archive.org/web/20071006050933/http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/09/14/sony-drm-woes-continue

#20yrsago Google’s new lobbyists: lying, astroturfing, push-polling scumbags https://web.archive.org/web/20071010112656/https://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/009776.php

#15yrsago New Jersey e-voting coverup https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2011/09/13/nj-election-cover/

#15yrsago Stephenson’s REAMDE: perfectly executed, mammoth, ambitious technothriller https://memex.craphound.com/2011/09/14/stephensons-reamde-perfectly-executed-mammoth-ambitious-technothriller/

#10yrsago Class action suit: smart sex toys spy on their owners and transmit their masturbation habits https://web.archive.org/web/20160915002121/http://www.vocativ.com/358530/smart-dildo-company-sued-for-tracking-users-habits/

#10yrsago Leaked: damning Scott Walker dark money docs that judge ordered destroyed https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2016/sep/14/john-doe-files-scott-walker-corporate-cash-american-politics

#10yrsago The DoJ is using a boring procedure to secure the right to unleash malware on the internet https://web.archive.org/web/20160915072648/https://www.wired.com/2016/09/government-will-soon-able-legally-hack-anyone/

#10yrsago Edward Snowden sets out the moral case for a pardon from Obama https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/13/edward-snowden-why-barack-obama-should-grant-me-a-pardon

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Upcoming appearances (permalink)

• Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/sep/12/naomi-klein-extreme-wealth-has-a-deranging-effect-it-turns-you-into-a-supremacist

• Budapest: Brain Bar, Sep 17
  https://brainbar.com/munkatars/cory-doctorow

• Edmonton: Elbows Up (Edmonton Public Library), Sep 28
  https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/elbows-up-with-cory-doctorow/

• Boston: The Paradox of Enshittification and Reverse Centaurs (Harvard Berkman Klein), Sep 30
  https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/running-harder-falling-faster-paradox-enshittification-and-reverse-centaurs

• South Bend: An Evening With Cory Doctorow (Notre Dame), Oct 6
  https://franco.nd.edu/events/2026/10/06/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow/

• Hudson, OH: Hudson Library, Oct 7
  https://engagedpatrons.org/EventsExtended.cfm?SiteID=3850&EventID=596952&PK=

• Calgary: Wordfest, Oct 8
  https://wordfest.com/2026/show/wordfest-presents-cory-doctorow-2026/

• Winnipeg: McNally Robinson, Oct 9
  https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-18991/An-Evening-with-Cory-Doctorow

• Vancouver: Read, Resist, Repair, Rejoice (Vancouver Writers Festival), Oct 19
  https://writersfest.bc.ca/festival-event-2026/01

• Victoria: Munro's Books, Oct 20
  https://www.munrobooks.com/events/6113620261020

• Vancouver: Life After AI (Vancouver Writers Festival), Oct 22
  https://writersfest.bc.ca/festival-event-2026/46

• Ottawa: Life After AI (Ottawa Writers Festival), Oct 24
  https://writersfestival.org/event/life-after-ai

• Vancouver: BC Policy Solutions Gala, Nov 12
  https://bcpolicy.ca/gala/

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Recent appearances (permalink)

• Fascists may come after the AI bubble bursts (You&AI)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2WN64aQeYQ

• What Would a Normal Person Do (Trashfuture)
  https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture/posts/what-would-do-169247456

• Pod Save the UK
  https://audioboom.com/posts/8950533-radicalised-organised-and-thick-as-s-t-nish-has-had-it-with-far-right-protests-plus-why

• Stop Saying AI Can Do Your Job (Factually)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU3gABvwZCM

• Be Skeptical of the AI Sales Pitch (Trumponomics)
  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2026-09-09/trumponomics-cory-doctorow-questions-the-ai-hype-podcast

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Latest books (permalink)

• "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026
  https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/

• "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce

• "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025
  https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/

• "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels).

• "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org).

• "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org).

• "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).

• "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com.

• "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

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Upcoming books (permalink)

• "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027

• "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027

• "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2027

• "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027

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Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing:

• “Once Is Enemy Action,” a science fiction novel about the origins of modern technofascism. Today's words: 574 (7730 total).

• "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Fourth draft completed. Submitted to editor.

• A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

---

This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.

---

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The maintainers of CPython have backed off from making Rust a required dependency for the Python reference implementation, focusing on the less intrusive task of building an optional Rust API for internal Python development. The move “sidesteps a lot of the concerns that people brought up,” Rust Programming Manager Tomáš Šedovič explained at RustConf, held in Montréal last week. Šedovič and others from Rust have been working with the CPython core developers to smooth the integration between the two environments. CPython’s revised approach eschews a more aggressive push to use Rust in Python, an approach that roiled the Linux kernel community’s adoption of Rust last year. The tasty dish is still rejected by the unwilling palate Last November, Python programmer Emma Smith floated the idea of incorporating Rust support into Python, initially for writing extension modules, but with the overall plan of making Rust a required dependency in CPython so it could be used throughout the CPython code base. This would have been similar to the relationship between Rust and the C programming language, upon which CPython is largely built (hence the name). C brings its share of security dangers when it comes to memory, which must be allocated and deallocated manually in code. The memory-safe Rust eliminates this entire class of errors at compile time, hence its interest to the CPythonistas. But, as fellow vulture Liam Proven noted at the time, the mandatory inclusion of Rust created a number of issues. Not all Python implementations were built on platforms that supported Rust. Plus, building Rust itself requires Python, creating cyclic dependencies in the build process. And you have to factor in the usual curmudgeonly reluctance that comes with any forced upgrade. So, in May, Smith amended the proposal to drop the mandate to make Rust a required dependency for CPython, kicking that down the road for a future proposal. Instead, Smith pitched the idea of modifying CPython so its devs could write optional extension modules. They could use Rust to build the functionality if they wanted, but it’d also be cool if they chose not to opt in. Even Python creator Guido van Rossum agreed this easier approach was the way to go, commenting in the proposal: “We all know that a full rewrite in Rust won’t work, but starting to introduce Rust initially for less-essential components, and then gradually letting it take over more essential components sounds like a good plan.” The devil’s details Since then, work has continued on incorporating Rust into the build process, and designing a Rust API that would allow Rust crates, or libraries, to be used to build Python itself. The API is planned for the 3.16 Python release (due October 2027), which will also include the Rust zlib compression library as a test crate. Python and Rust will each have to make some adjustments to work happily together, Šedovič noted. Developers from each camp have been in talks about how Rust could better accommodate Python’s concerns. One element needed from Rust is support for the GCC (GNU Compiler Collection), necessary to CPython’s “long tail” of obscure platforms it supports. The two languages also differ in how they build both standard libraries and individual dynamic shared libraries, which must be reconciled. Python will need some sort of cross language “sanitizer” support to ensure unsafe memory states don’t crop up between how the two languages handle memory allocations. Fortunately, several efforts are already underway along these lines, such as BorrowSanitizer, thanks to the same problem that bedevils C/C++ integrations with Rust. The most complex challenge will be augmenting Rust's Drop trait so that Python objects can receive runtime context when being deallocated from memory. This one will take some major think-em-ups from Rust engineers, he said. Python may also borrow a few innovations from Rust. The original proposal from last November praised Cargo as an “excellent build system.” In fact, it does the work of several separate functions in the Python universe, automating the entire development lifecycle. Not only does Cargo download dependencies, it also compiles and links them to other libraries, and tests them. With Python, you need separate project initialization, build, testing, and publishing tools to do the same tasks. Python is already following Cargo’s lead here with uv, a unified packaging and project manager (written in Rust). It’ll be interesting to see what other Rust innovations Python cops over time. Van Rossum even joked that perhaps CPython may need to be renamed “CRPython.” ®