Mastodawn

Also: for years, I used to pay the TV licence fee, even though I didn't have a TV, because I thought the BBC was worth having. I'll grant you that that's weird, but I'd say no weirder than aggressively seeking out obscure tax avoidance schemes like the sorts Richard Tice likes.

Sam Kington 5d ago

When Reform deputy leader Richard Tice asks "How many friends and family do you have who voluntarily choose to pay more tax than they are legally obliged to do ...?" the answer is "almost all of them".

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/mar/16/britons-should-strive-to-pay-minimum-tax-legally-possible-richard-tice-reform

Maybe not by much! But we understand that taxes are there so we can all get decent public services, and constantly being a rules lawyer over taxes is a dick move. So unless something looks really off, we pay our fucking taxes.

Britons should strive to pay minimum tax legally possible, says Richard Tice

Reform UK’s deputy leader comments came as he was responding to questions raised about his own tax affairs

The Guardian

Sam Kington Mar 13

Ricky Mondello Mar 12

This is a beautiful post that I recommend reading. https://samhenri.gold/blog/20260312-this-is-not-the-computer-for-you/

“This Is Not The Computer For You” · Sam Henri Gold

Sam Henri Gold is a product design engineer building playful, useful software.

Sam Kington Mar 6

Mark Atwood Mar 5

The “human in the loop” AI job isn’t an oversight role. It’s a liability seat. The people sitting in it mostly don’t know that’s what they were hired to be. Here’s the architecture. https://markatwood.substack.com/p/the-warm-body-problem

The Warm Body Problem

You were hired to get blamed for things. Not to stop them.

Words about Thoughts

Sam Kington Feb 24

JA Westenberg Feb 23

Every AI company knows they're building the wrong thing.

And they can't stop.

Because the competitive structure specifically punishes anyone who slows down long enough to build the right thing.

The race is real. The destination is fake.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/everyone-in-ai-is-building-the-wrong-thing-for-the-same-reason/

Everyone in AI is building the wrong thing for the same reason

Every AI founder I talk to is on an accelerating treadmill, burdened by a nagging suspicion that the entire industry is moving too fast in a direction that doesn't quite make sense, with no idea about how to get off. There is an overwhelming feeling that if everyone stopped and

Westenberg.

Sam Kington Feb 10

Lili Saintcrow Feb 9

"What’s more, the non-existent zombie paper isn’t only being cited as a single publication, but has proliferated into a whole range of zombie references."
https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/tracing-the-social-half-life-of-a-zombie-citation/

Tracing the social half-life of a zombie citation

Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash Academic publishing is currently experiencing a viral spread of “zombie citations.” This term refers to references of academic publications that do not ex…

code acts in education

Sam Kington Jan 30

Donald R Noble Jan 29

Interesting essay by @tg on why RSS clients look like email, any how this imported anxiety without cause. Lovely design details in this too.
Via @kottke (RSS, naturally)

https://www.terrygodier.com/phantom-obligation

#design #ui #rss

Phantom Obligation

Why RSS readers look like email clients, and what that's doing to us.

Terry Godier

Sam Kington Jan 27

Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱Jan 26

you *must* read the Battle of the Dildo at the Minneapolis Graduate Hotel (where ICE is lodging):

"The revolution did not arrive with speeches, pamphlets, or a carefully moderated Zoom call about optics. It arrived in a cardboard box full of clearance-bin dildos, under purple neon light." 🤣

one of the most beautiful things I've ever read

https://www.closertotheedge.net/p/the-dildo-distribution-delegation

THE DILDO DISTRIBUTION DELEGATION

The revolution did not arrive with speeches, pamphlets, or a carefully moderated Zoom call about optics.

CLOSER TO THE EDGE

Sam Kington Jan 25

A theory of why Mark Carney's speech at Davos mattered: because it countered Trump's attempt to impose a new conventional wisdom, at the place where he knew everyone who mattered would be, by standing up to him and giving a name to concepts that had previously been vague and inchoate. Because the time and place where the king says "you all understand that I'm the King" is precisely where you have the greatest opportunity to reject that narrative.
https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/davos-is-a-rational-ritual

Davos is a rational ritual

How Europe and Carney disrupted Trump's ceremony of self-anointment

Programmable Mutter

Sam Kington Jan 22

(1) This was the original Macron meme (print / radio / web / TV journalist), and idea that it's four *stages* of Macron is, I think, a misunderstanding: there's no indication that they're somehow sequential in time. It predated his political career going to hell. https://x.com/NicolasQuenel/status/1516749785583296517

(2) We absolutely need to add sunglasses Macron as a fifth image.

Nicolas Quénel (@NicolasQuenel) on X

-Le journaliste de presse écrite -Le journaliste radio -Le journaliste web -Le journaliste TV

X (formerly Twitter)