Even a well-told story won’t save Big Tech from the cold hard stare of global attention January 7, 2022 On December 30th, the historian Timothy Snyder published a review of unimprovable snideness in the New York Times. His victim was an American academic, Jonathan Gottschall, whose new book, “The Story Paradox”, examines the role of stories in society. In his book, Gottschall argues that the “science” of storytelling has been understudied and its power [...]
Musk’s anarchic vision won’t help Twitter but a subscription model might April 14, 2022 In late January, an unknown investor began quietly building a stake in Twitter. A little over two months later, Elon Musk breached the surface. On April 4th, he revealed a 9.2 per cent stake. Though two days later an official filing corrected that to 9.1 per cent, Musk has become Twitter’s largest shareholder. Poor arithmetic [...]
When tech giant becomes gaming giant: Microsoft buys Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for a record £51bn January 18, 2022 Microsoft have announced that it would buy videogame publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn (£51bn) in cash, making it the largest deal in the sector.
Wuthering Heights at the NT: Emma Rice finds gold on the moors February 13, 2022 There can be little sympathy for any theatre-goers expecting a traditional retelling of Wuthering Heights in this new version at the National Theatre. Emma Rice is the controversial director who proved too ‘out there’ for Shakespeare’s Globe, her tenure as artistic director cut short after a backlash by the theatre’s more conservative members, who weren’t ready for [...]
Ukraine war day three: Kyiv under curfew as Russia continues advance to the capital February 26, 2022 Day three of the Russian invasion of Ukraine marks another day of upsetting scenes for many across the world. After a night of gunfire and explosion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a self-shot video walking around the streets of the capital. As it stands this evening, Ukrainian forces remain in control of the capital city [...]
The labyrinth of the Online Safety Bill could fall over on complexity before its begun January 26, 2022 The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee came out this week to criticise the government’s Draft Online Safety Bill, stating it is “neither clear nor robust enough to tackle certain types of illegal and harmful content”. Chair Julian Knight MP even labelled it a “missed opportunity”. As it currently stands, the bill’s duty [...]
Facebook and Twitter ‘failing to tackle fake review factories’ January 13, 2022 Facebook and Twitter have been accused of failing to tackle an online industry of fake product reviews, with new research uncovering schemes on the platforms with hundreds of thousands of members.
New York Times’ pursuit of subscribers over profit buys into a Big Tech delusion February 4, 2022 Those five, elusive letters. Only when I have found them can my day begin. Alas, they may soon become more elusive still. This week, the New York Times bought Wordle for an undisclosed, seven-figure fee. Ominously, the “Gray Lady” has promised only that Wordle will “initially remain free”. The New York Times has been unusually [...]
The spectre of entrenched inflation will soon hit loss-making start-ups hard February 18, 2022 Larry Summers was Treasury Secretary to Bill Clinton, Barack Obama’s Director of the National Economic Council, and President of Harvard University. When he offers an economic prediction, therefore, he is worth listening to. A recent one was sobering. Summers believes we are entering a period of “higher entrenched inflation”. Make no mistake: inflation is a [...]
Best of this week in our opinion pages: from the call for a more inclusive job market to flooding and big tech mergers December 4, 2021 As the tense exchanges between the UK and France over migration remain on top of the news, Eliot Wilson looks at Home Secretary Priti Patel’s management – or mismanagement – of the Channel crisis. To achieve a long-term solution and avoid further tragedies, the government should firstly stop the dangerous crossings, and secondly modernise the [...]