Parting glances

So Britain will soon wave off yet another prime minister; they’ve been dropping like flies ever since the 2016 Brexit vote. At the Guardian, John Crace snarks that come Remembrance Sunday they’ll need more space around the Cenotaph for all the former prime ministers (nine, plus whoever’s next). I had hoped for two things from the Labour government elected in 2024: 1) an end to the Conservative psychodrama, and 2) that as a former human rights lawyer. Starmer would modulate the government’s approach to surveillance, AI, and Internet regulation. Instead, he has continued seamlessly the line taken by the Conservative governments before him – and reinvented failed policies from the Labour government of the 1990s. The last almost-two years have seen Starmer’s government plan digital IDs, pursue implementing the 2023 Online Safety Act including age verification, continue awarding contracts to Palantir, embrace AI for government services despite known flaws undermining fairness and accuracy,…