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William Cullerne Bown

@williamcb

Technology and politics. Newsletter https://bit.ly/3AELZDu Foundations of AI https://bit.ly/3WiYJab Law https://bit.ly/40YL1fU Research Fortnight https://bit.ly/4i0 https://signal.me/#eu/xNzjw2P7XIGjBfdQicHbMp0V5SuVpgCQOeUZNpDRqH-mkt2Tan9G6Y0ZitEKsVkN

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Latest posts by William Cullerne Bown @williamcb

It is only in the strangeness of today that this view seems plausible. How did India get its independence? Because Brits in Britain weren't up for violent suppression of peaceful nationalists. Trump is working super hard to tutor Americans out of their natural compassion.

06.03.2026 23:42 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

He should call it 'The Fuehrerdome'. Though I guess the name will inevitably have 'Trump' in it. And probably something about gold. 'The Donald J Trump Goldenbowl', perhaps. Just the thing for impromptu little Nuremberg-style rallies.

06.03.2026 23:35 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

That is our tragedy

06.03.2026 23:20 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Lesson 1. Give your audience a reason to watch. I have no idea what your ESRC project is or why I should care.

06.03.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Tweet

Claude Code wiped our production database with a Terraform command.
It took down the DataTalksClub course platform and 2.5 years of submissions: homework, projects, and leaderboards.
Automated snapshots were gone too.
In the newsletter, I wrote the full timeline + what I changed so this doesn't happen again.
If you use Terraform (or let agents touch infra), this is a good story for you to read.

Tweet Claude Code wiped our production database with a Terraform command. It took down the DataTalksClub course platform and 2.5 years of submissions: homework, projects, and leaderboards. Automated snapshots were gone too. In the newsletter, I wrote the full timeline + what I changed so this doesn't happen again. If you use Terraform (or let agents touch infra), this is a good story for you to read.

Back in my day you needed a senior engineer for this sort of thing

06.03.2026 16:54 πŸ‘ 1716 πŸ” 240 πŸ’¬ 63 πŸ“Œ 110

Mediocrity is part of it though, all the way back to the fascists of 100 years ago.

06.03.2026 22:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

His inner circle just does not seem sufficiently competent for a job that big.

In a functioning democracy, they would have been impeached. In a functioning autocracy, they would have been purged.

The U.S. is somehow neither atm, so here we r.

06.03.2026 22:19 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
It’s time to end Britain’s first-past-the-post election lottery The Gorton and Denton by-election confirmed just how capricious our electoral system has become

I think there is a vg case for the Alternative Vote (pluralist majoritarianism) UK's evolving party system - not least as of balanced use for voters on different sides of political spectrum. It allows sincere voting by every voter + strategic choices by those who care
www.ft.com/content/38d8...

06.03.2026 21:57 πŸ‘ 74 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 4
Preview
DOJ releases Epstein files with accusations against Trump Over the course of four interviews in 2019, a woman told the FBI that Epstein and Trump sexually abused her in the 1980s.

Julie K Brown: FBI releases interviews with woman who alleges Donald Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a minor... "A DOJ source told the Miami Herald that agents found her to be credibleβ€”and that they would not have interviewed her four times if they thought she was lying."

06.03.2026 21:55 πŸ‘ 278 πŸ” 156 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 9

Should you wish to know how the AI at @thedatacity.bsky.social works, but not so well you can copy us, please do come to Applied AI at Parallax in Leeds on 17 March at 6pm where I'll be giving a talk on exactly that! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/applied-ai...

06.03.2026 21:55 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yes, those networks are centred on X. You really can’t understand the British Right today without looking at that pit of vile.

06.03.2026 21:59 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah again with the caveat that I am 0% knowledgeable about this sort of thing it’s really hard to see any non-political solution that isn’t β€œtotal conquest of Iran around the strait,” which a. will take a long time and make things worse until it’s done, and b. probably still doesn’t fully secure it

06.03.2026 21:20 πŸ‘ 98 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Have faith in the people on the street in Minnesota. Determined and switched on.

06.03.2026 21:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I think it’s a measure of the centrality of US influencers (aligned with Trump) to the online networks that shape British right discourse at this point.

Oh, and money.

06.03.2026 21:20 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Yes. He seems in fact insufficiently ruthless to achieve the kind of regime change in the US he seems to want.

06.03.2026 21:17 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

bsky.app/profile/will...

06.03.2026 21:08 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Well, as Glasman puts it, it is part of β€œthe MAGA square”.

06.03.2026 21:06 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

@france24.com

06.03.2026 19:35 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be much more obvious among many more of the Democrats in Congress?

06.03.2026 19:31 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I think there will be trouble before, during and after. But I think Minnesota has shown that the opposition is now determined and switched on. I am fearful but optimistic if that is possible.

06.03.2026 19:29 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I am finding France24 great background to this war. Just a succession of very well informed guests who are invited to give their view.

06.03.2026 19:28 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I’m not sure about. They let him walk away from Jan 6. He’s an oligarch in an oligarchic system.

06.03.2026 19:26 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Right. The question is how far he’ll be able to go in that direction.

06.03.2026 19:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

How is he going to approach them?

06.03.2026 19:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

There is literally no limit to how much damage Trump could inflict on the global economy. He is driven by motives that are completely disconnected from the wellbeing of his own country, let alone the rest of the world. If he thinks it will help in November, he will bankrupt us all.

06.03.2026 19:13 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

But our initial view is that early intervention is better fiscal policy - both because it dampens the inflation spike, and because it reduces the need for any EPG style intervention.

Regardless bond yields will rise as many countries borrow at the same time. New debt issuance could be tricky

06.03.2026 17:09 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Paymasters

06.03.2026 15:41 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ruhroh

06.03.2026 14:33 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The main question about this purchase is ideological. There is a clear split between Reform and Conservative voters on principles. Is Springer on one side of that line or t’other, or doesn’t care.

06.03.2026 14:32 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

But why have we done those things? And built a new base there? What is the point of it all? You seem to be saying we just have a soft spot for sultans.

06.03.2026 14:23 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0