Andrew West
@awest.uk
IT guy. Photographer. Works for that charity, you know the one.
Opus 4.5 dropped while I was in the middle of something I’ve been working on for a couple of days with Sonnet. Placebos are hard, but it definitely felt like I was suddenly spending much less explaining and guiding. It just understood and got on with it.
November 24, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Opus 4.5 dropped while I was in the middle of something I’ve been working on for a couple of days with Sonnet. Placebos are hard, but it definitely felt like I was suddenly spending much less explaining and guiding. It just understood and got on with it.
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Reposted by Andrew West
I wrote a long feature for @prospectmagazine.co.uk earlier this autumn about how the stats we rely on for our national debate are falling apart, and that basically no-one is doing anything much to address it.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
November 18, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I wrote a long feature for @prospectmagazine.co.uk earlier this autumn about how the stats we rely on for our national debate are falling apart, and that basically no-one is doing anything much to address it.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/busine...
Reposted by Andrew West
ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
November 18, 2025 at 11:26 AM
ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
Reposted by Andrew West
I had high hopes for this lot, I really did. But this is nasty and vicious and cruel, and has no place in any nation that calls itself civilised.
November 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I had high hopes for this lot, I really did. But this is nasty and vicious and cruel, and has no place in any nation that calls itself civilised.
Maybe also why ‘I don’t watch mainstream media’ is so reliably correlated with going off the deep end
A single shared source of truth is essential for a functioning democracy.
Without it you’re left with fragmentation, polarisation and a perpetual culture war where the discourse focuses on what divides us rather than what we have in common.
My column from last week: www.ft.com/content/5060...
Without it you’re left with fragmentation, polarisation and a perpetual culture war where the discourse focuses on what divides us rather than what we have in common.
My column from last week: www.ft.com/content/5060...
Why American-style polarisation is spreading across the west
New research shows how incentives in the modern media ecosystem help explain rising division and negativity
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Maybe also why ‘I don’t watch mainstream media’ is so reliably correlated with going off the deep end
Most predictions don’t come true. So you can have a perfectly viable career writing articles about why x won’t happen. Don’t, though.
November 3, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Most predictions don’t come true. So you can have a perfectly viable career writing articles about why x won’t happen. Don’t, though.
Reposted by Andrew West
The golden birches of Glen Feshie, wider view of the previous post of the same scene. Loved the way the tilted tree was seemingly basking in the sunlight, the breeze shimmering the leaves like golden coins #Scotland #GlenFeshie #Cairngorms #Rothiemurchus www.damianshields.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:50 AM
The golden birches of Glen Feshie, wider view of the previous post of the same scene. Loved the way the tilted tree was seemingly basking in the sunlight, the breeze shimmering the leaves like golden coins #Scotland #GlenFeshie #Cairngorms #Rothiemurchus www.damianshields.com
Nobody wants to admit that Swatch Internet Time would fix all their problems
November 3, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Nobody wants to admit that Swatch Internet Time would fix all their problems
I am absolutely determined not to become a language peever as I age. I feel the pull, but I will not, I will not
October 31, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I am absolutely determined not to become a language peever as I age. I feel the pull, but I will not, I will not
Reposted by Andrew West
Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the king of kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the king of kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair
OK, it's time to bring Duran Duran to bear on this
October 30, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the king of kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the king of kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair
Re AWS, just goes to show why you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Everyone knows the ideal situation is multiple baskets of eggs.
October 20, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Re AWS, just goes to show why you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Everyone knows the ideal situation is multiple baskets of eggs.
Reposted by Andrew West
The penalties for dangerous driving should be largely unrelated to whether you got unlucky while doing so, which means we should have many many many more driving bans and slightly fewer jail sentences
Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?
October 18, 2025 at 1:48 PM
The penalties for dangerous driving should be largely unrelated to whether you got unlucky while doing so, which means we should have many many many more driving bans and slightly fewer jail sentences
Reposted by Andrew West
I hope as we move past the first wave of AI criticism ("it doesn't work, all hype") we get a new wave of AI criticism rooted in the acknowledgement that, yes, these systems are very powerful & quite useful and focusing a deep exploration of when AI uses are uplifting and when they are detrimental.
October 16, 2025 at 11:39 PM
I hope as we move past the first wave of AI criticism ("it doesn't work, all hype") we get a new wave of AI criticism rooted in the acknowledgement that, yes, these systems are very powerful & quite useful and focusing a deep exploration of when AI uses are uplifting and when they are detrimental.
Reposted by Andrew West
This is wonderful
Ever wondered where all the Cheers title photos are from? I did. And I've gathered everything I can find into this post. That was fun.
joelmorris.substack.com/p/where-nobo...
joelmorris.substack.com/p/where-nobo...
Where nobody knows your name...
Tracing the anonymous faces at the start of Cheers.
joelmorris.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:18 AM
This is wonderful
Now we’ve found a cure for the em-dash virus, dark mode mania is next
October 12, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Now we’ve found a cure for the em-dash virus, dark mode mania is next
I love the overnight shift from AI is no good to AI is too good
October 1, 2025 at 10:13 AM
I love the overnight shift from AI is no good to AI is too good
Sonnet 4.5 in Claude Code is *so fast*
September 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Sonnet 4.5 in Claude Code is *so fast*
@lizlutgendorff.bsky.social have you read the Steerswoman books? I am loving them and they seem very much in your wheelhouse
September 29, 2025 at 1:54 PM
@lizlutgendorff.bsky.social have you read the Steerswoman books? I am loving them and they seem very much in your wheelhouse
Reposted by Andrew West
After reading it, this does seem like a big deal
Industry experts outlined important, real-world, hard tasks for AI to do. Other experts were asked to do the tasks themselves (avg time: 7 hours) & yet others graded human & AI output
Models approached parity with humans & AI is getting better fast.
Industry experts outlined important, real-world, hard tasks for AI to do. Other experts were asked to do the tasks themselves (avg time: 7 hours) & yet others graded human & AI output
Models approached parity with humans & AI is getting better fast.
September 26, 2025 at 12:47 AM
After reading it, this does seem like a big deal
Industry experts outlined important, real-world, hard tasks for AI to do. Other experts were asked to do the tasks themselves (avg time: 7 hours) & yet others graded human & AI output
Models approached parity with humans & AI is getting better fast.
Industry experts outlined important, real-world, hard tasks for AI to do. Other experts were asked to do the tasks themselves (avg time: 7 hours) & yet others graded human & AI output
Models approached parity with humans & AI is getting better fast.
Reposted by Andrew West
How the government's new digital ID will work… and why I’ve changed my mind on ID cards (FREE TO READ!)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-the-uk...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-the-uk...
How the government's new digital ID will work
And why I've changed my mind on ID cards
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
September 26, 2025 at 5:35 AM
How the government's new digital ID will work… and why I’ve changed my mind on ID cards (FREE TO READ!)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-the-uk...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/how-the-uk...
Fairness sensitivity is wild. Some people are fine if something’s a bit unfair but works out ok for everyone. Others find the exact same thing violently, pathologically, obsessively upsetting. These are all normal people.
Good piece. As a tabloid editor I used to work for once told me, the most powerful phrase in the English language - as it is spoken in this country - is "it's not fair".
The central issue for parties now is fairness. For Labour that means cost of living, good public services, social justice. But Farage has defined it on crime, immigration, welfare bills and voters being played for mugs. And right now he is winning that fight
www.ft.com/content/e153...
www.ft.com/content/e153...
July 25, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Fairness sensitivity is wild. Some people are fine if something’s a bit unfair but works out ok for everyone. Others find the exact same thing violently, pathologically, obsessively upsetting. These are all normal people.
Reposted by Andrew West
There's a real paucity of policy discussion on the left about the problems we're going to face if AI does in fact carry on getting better.
July 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM
There's a real paucity of policy discussion on the left about the problems we're going to face if AI does in fact carry on getting better.
Reposted by Andrew West
My boss would be mad at me if I ran a story with the headline "that 16 billion password breach story is a pile of bullshit" so this will have to suffice cyberscoop.com/colossal-dat...
The ‘16 billion password breach’ story is a farce
Experts told CyberScoop the research 'doesn’t pass a sniff test' and detracts from needed conversations around credential abuse and information stealers.
cyberscoop.com
June 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM
My boss would be mad at me if I ran a story with the headline "that 16 billion password breach story is a pile of bullshit" so this will have to suffice cyberscoop.com/colossal-dat...