Thread 27 Starmer: He's a very clever cat

[DuncinToffee]

A nod to the Chief Mouser

Previous thread
www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5361166-thread-26-starmer-cats-rebels-and-orange-chaos?page=40&reply=145615445

Carole Cadwalla's take on that article

https://bsky.app/profile/carolecadwalla.bsky.social/post/3lvibimx4nk2q

The trick of politics is to get your opponents to support you.

If I believed Starmer was that clever, I would applaud the strategy of backing the Reformistas into a position where they have to support the government on digital ID if it was sold as a measure to manage the country.

However I don't believe that, and am prepared to watch an opportunity squandered.

I don’t want this myself, but the issue is that this benefits the Government enormously in theory. They already have taken powers to be able to run AI on your account if you receive benefits. It’s a hop skip and a jump to mandate a digital ID for access to public services, and it would stand to reduce a huge amount of admin staff. It will allow CS cuts to the benefit system in terms of reviewing. The ID will be the access point.

It's not "AI". It's just clever pattern matching. It will find the patterns you tell it to. So it will by definition confirm whatever you ask it.

And in our secular world, there is a hole for a supreme being which will need priests to interpret it's pronouncements and explain why when they use "AI" it is the gospel, but when you use "AI" to show their "AI" is talking bollocks it's no guest slot on GBNews for you.

Well it’s a world that is not liberal. GB News is now the UK’s most popular news channel.

I also agree that AI is not intelligent. But it has a clear use for any government; you can use to spot behaviour that you don’t like. Governments say what they want, it gets programmed. Unless there is some overweening principle of liberal freedom it will be a tool used by left and right to regulate what is acceptable.

It will be difficult to appeal against. What would be the basis? It will be able to contextualise behaviour against against millions of data points. Even if it is wrong, the chances of that being unpicked is tiny within a reasonable timeframe.

Blair couldn’t do this because of technical limitations and civil liberties. It seems to me that the technical limitations have collapsed. There is no party for civil liberties and so the whole thing, in the context of controlling immigration, cutting CS, managing systems and reducing public spending has the smell of inevitability. It suits too many people.

Have GBNews actually become a news channel ?

It’s a bit moot. It’s now watched by more people than any other as a news source. What on earth does this say about the UK? Nothing good.

I'd love to know how they measure the most watched news source, because gbeebies keep popping up with such a random range of clickable links its easy to inadvertently click one when your not paying attention. The article is usually a word salad with no resemblance to what you clicked it for thats its a pointless waste of time that you back out of quickly.

One of my concerns about sunak was the introduction of AI into the benefits system. I think it would be a poor show or Starmer to continue down this path, and will buy into the every Party is the same narrative. Labour need to wise up now and start looking at what is important to their core support, taking real account of their origins.

I don’t think it is t( most watched news source. Most watched news channel maybe (but still inexplicably). I reckon more get their news from scheduled BBC/ITV/Channel 4 broadcasts.

One of my concerns about sunak was the introduction of AI into the benefits system. I think it would be a poor show or Starmer to continue down this path,

Yes, but all the "AI" flingers have paid a lot of money to be in government. Why on earth would they allow Starmer to act against their interests ?

Can anyone use AI to suggest the next thread title?

Something non provoking and uplifting would be good

I’d suggest Refuge From the Cesspit but it doesn’t meet your first criterion.

I am taking Jane's advice from the previous thread, maybe best bbq sause for chicken is taking it too far 😅

Yes, I agree, surely there is still a place for liberties, for equality and transparency in mainstream politics. I don't we should just give in and accept imitation Reform.

😄 sorry, late to the party with this post, I can see names are being decided on here.

I've just posted on the thread about volunteering with asylum seekers. I'm awaiting the backlash having made it clear what I think Mumsnet has become.

You're brave!

I just saw t(e title but got sucked into one about helping Gazan children that I really need to walk away from.

Cardi, I have been reading and mostly resisting posting. It just is not worth it. It really is the icing on the mumsnet racism cake.

It’s hard to walk away from that. It’s getting a very heartening amount of pushback.

I think you may be right. I watch a lot of news and usually between 6 and 8. I prefer ITV actually and then CH4 for its coverage of world news. I do watch GB News and that’s for entertainment value. We all know their political stance. But once in a while they will cover the concerns of farmers which no one else bothers their arse with apart from BBC Look East.

I think the point is it will serve any government. It will give huge control, the question is the degree of control and what you ask it to consider.

For example; I am a right wing government. I use digital ID to deny access to public services at the point of use on the basis of immigration status or visa overstay. I also regulate benefit payments via this system as a hard denial. No human being involved. I track spending via your bank account which is a condition of receipt. If unusual activity is detected, an immediate stop is placed on payment. No person involved.

I am a left wing government. I also use digital ID to access services and manage the immigration system. I have the same needs to regulate spending and benefits payments. I however focus on tax and tax avoidance, and integrate the ID with HMRC for enforcement.

This genie is firmly out of the bottle. Who will argue against it? It can be adjusted to the needs of power infinitely. That is something that politicians have dreamed of but could never deliver via the CS.

I'm pushing, I'm pushing!

Starmer: Looking for sanity

I have started a couple of threads, just for observation 😀

It has to be tamper proof in the unlikely event Reform are the next Government @bombastix