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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 6d

A better welfare system is possible - one that treats people with dignity, compassion, and care 🤝

In our latest online listening with @demos-uk.bsky.social, we continue to see people's experience of the welfare system as inaccessible, inflexible, and inhumane. 1/2

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · 7d

These initiatives have a history of poor outcomes for vulnerable people. For example, in 2024, it was revealed that an internal DWP assessment found an AI fraud detection system it used featured significant bias according to age, disability, marital status and nationality

The scandals keep coming

Revealed: bias found in AI system used to detect UK benefits fraud

Exclusive: Age, disability, marital status and nationality influence decisions to investigate claims, prompting fears of ‘hurt first, fix later’ approach

www.theguardian.com

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · 7d

Rather than make the system work for those who need it most, the UK government is doubling-down on policies which could make things worse - like AI fraud detection tools and automated decision making systems to assess claims

Secretive DWP Welfare Algorithms Put Millions’ Rights at Risk — Big Brother Watch

bigbrotherwatch.org.uk

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · 7d

My latest blog looks at what has gone wrong with the welfare system - and how things could be done differently

Putting humanity at the heart of welfare

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · 7d

“I’m feeling sick from fear about this transition from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit. I’ve lost several hundred pounds”

This is one of hundreds of stories from my research into financial hardship and the welfare system with @jrf-uk.bsky.social

Putting humanity at the heart of welfare

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · 7d

✍ NEW BLOG | Putting humanity at the heart of welfare

@j-hancock.bsky.social reflects on 13 years of online conversations evidencing the enduring challenges that people face when navigating the #welfare system.

This blog draws from our ongoing Online Listening research with @jrf-uk.bsky.social.

Putting humanity at the heart of welfare

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 15d

DEUTSCHE: NVIDIA "is currently carrying the weight of US economic growth. The bad news is that in order for the tech cycle to continue contributing to GDP growth, capital investment needs to remain parabolic. This is highly unlikely.”

@fortune.com
fortune.com/2025/09/23/a...

The AI boom is unsustainable unless tech spending goes ‘parabolic,’ Deutsche Bank warns: ‘This is highly unlikely’ | Fortune

“In the absence of tech-related spending, the U.S. would be close to, or in, recession this year,” George Saravelos says.

fortune.com

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Sep 1

✍OPINION | From Southport to Epping, social media's failure to act is fuelling racist violence.

Researcher, @naemamalik.bsky.social, warns we risk seeing more riots, division and unrest in our communities unless platforms are held to account and adopt new practices to address online misinformation.

From Southport to Epping, social media's failure to act is fuelling racist violence

Recent disorder in Epping shows how urgently effective moderation of social media platform moderation is needed.

www.bigissue.com

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Aug 28

What did we find?

➡️ Rising employment concerns – just as the @resfoundation.bsky.social predicts unemployment could hit 5% in the three months to August.

➡️ Persistent fears about the benefits system – following the recent welfare reform u-turn & uncertainty.

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Aug 28

🚨 NEW REPORT: "It's tough out there".

In partnership with @jrf-uk.bsky.social, we’ve been analysing new online listening data to understand how people are talking about financial hardship – unprompted, in their own words.

demos.co.uk/research/its...

“It’s tough out there”: An online forum listening exercise revealing how people are talking about financial hardship

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Aug 28

💭 BLOG | Polls apart? A novel way of understanding financial hardship

Demos' Billy Huband-Thompson and @j-hancock.bsky.social reflect on new research with @jrf-uk.bsky.social and the value of online listening methods to capture the feelings of those on the sharp end of government policies.

Polls apart? A novel way of understanding financial hardship

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · Aug 13

Update: I spoke with the U.K. Environment Agency and got some numbers.

they believe deleting 1,000 emails with attachments could save about 77.5 liters of water a year.

they also said they're estimating data centers will consume 280 billion liters a year, world wide, by the end of the decade

Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · Aug 12

sorry you're experiencing record breaking temperatures and drought. Have you tried deleted some of photos of your grandmother about it?

UK Asks People to Delete Emails In Order to Save Water During Drought

As Britain experiences one of its worst droughts in decades, its leaders suggest people get rid of old data to reduce stress on data centers.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · Aug 11

like I think we perhaps have not been talking enough about the utterly staggering amount of highly sensitive information that we absolutely know people around the world are pumping into corporate LLM tools at all times nowadays

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · Aug 11

ChatGPT is probably the biggest honey pot of willingly-turned over highly confidential information that has ever been created in human history.

Sam @very-simple.com · Aug 11

also, so many of these people are just taking company confidential, proprietary data and dumping it into public iterations of ChatGPT, which is so incredibly problematic on so many levels. Even on our internal approved tools I have to tell people to turn them off when discussing certain legal stuff!

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

🏳️‍⚧️ June Licinio ✡️ @jwlicinio.bsky.social · Jul 25

the UK’s Internet age verification law has led to the effective censorship of all LGBT content on Reddit

what a shocking and unexpected turn of events!

Post on /r/transgenderUK entitled “Reddit now censors LGBTQ+ content under OFCOM’s new ‘Online Safety Act’”

post text:
“I honestly can't even think of words to describe how vile this is. Here's a screenshot of what I now see when I search "lgbt" with my VPN switched off. Occasionally a banner appears at the top of the screen saying something about needing to verify ID to access "mature content" but the button doesn't even work. The fact that we're now considered "mature content" makes me feel sick.”

The screenshot referenced in the previous image, showing the results of a search on Reddit for the term LGBT. No results from LGBT-specific subreddits appear; instead, posts from /r/Conservative, /r/Islam, /r/JustUnsubbed, etc are highlighted.

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · Jul 21

ICYMI-- I did.

A study of software developers found it took them 19% more time to do their work when they used AI tools.

At the same time, they *perceived* they had saved time. They thought they would work faster and so they falsely "believed AI had sped them up by 20%."

Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity

We conduct a randomized controlled trial to understand how early-2025 AI tools affect the productivity of experienced open-source developers working on their own repositories. Surprisingly, we find th...

metr.org

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Jul 21

Remember when kids were told coding is a ‘job of the future’ and told to join code camps?

Jamie Bartlett on how it is hard to predict the future
jamiejbartlett.substack.com/p/is-coding-...

Back in 2013 - when most of us were still excited about computers - the UK's coalition government introduced a bold new initiative.
From September 2014, it became mandatory for all kids from year 1 on to learn coding. We were the first in the world. Michael Gove said at the time that 'It will raise standards across the board - and allow our children to compete in the global race."
It was henceforth a core academic discipline.
Everyone had to get with the program (ming).
Then Education Minister, Liz Truss, said it was "one of the essential skills of the 21st
Century".
These politicians just cannot help themselves. They should know that predicting anything is risky - especially the future. But the lure is too strong: every politician wants to look future-savvy and for some reason, total tech embrace is the only idea they ever have.

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Dr Jay Watts (they/she) @shrinkatlarge.bsky.social · Jul 20

As someone actually trained in behavioural psychology—unlike most MPs—I can tell you: financial precarity doesn’t “incentivise” sick people to work. It breaks them. Stress worsens health. Fear doesn’t create productivity. It creates collapse. #TakingThePIP

The Canary @thecanaryuk.bsky.social · Jul 18

DWP boss just said Universal Credit gives disabled people 'perverse incentives' not to work

Liz Kendall's shocking comments came just as a new report slams the DWP for failing vulnerable claimants.

So which is it???
www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/...

DWP boss just said Universal Credit gives disabled people 'perverse incentives' not to work

Liz Kendall believes people on benefits are incentivised not to work - yet a new report slams the DWP for failing vulnerable claimants

www.thecanary.co

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Alison Killing @alisonkilling.bsky.social · Jul 14

NEW: Inside Gaza’s ‘death traps’ via @FT
GHF’s plan forces hungry Palestinians to trek miles to aid sites, often through the IDF’s active military areas. Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured. This is how…
www.ft.com/content/6c74...

Inside Gaza’s ‘death traps’

[FREE TO READ] A US-backed scheme forces hungry Palestinians to trek kilometres for food aid. Many never make it back

www.ft.com

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · Jul 20

I analysed hundreds of X posts about the Southport riots which received Community Notes. They were full of racism and Islamophobic hate that fuelled far right violence

Yet only 4.6% of the Community Notes we analysed were made public during the riots

Community Notes are not fit for purpose

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Jul 15

🚨 New report: Researching the Riots - evaluating #CommunityNotes during the 2024 Southport riots.

Demos research explores how the abject failure of moderation systems left #misinformation and harmful content to spread unchecked during the 2024 #SouthportRiots.

Read here ⬇️

Researching the riots: An evaluation of the efficacy of Community Notes during the 2024 Southport riots

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Jul 15

🚨 New report: Researching the Riots - evaluating #CommunityNotes during the 2024 Southport riots.

Demos research explores how the abject failure of moderation systems left #misinformation and harmful content to spread unchecked during the 2024 #SouthportRiots.

Read here ⬇️

Researching the riots: An evaluation of the efficacy of Community Notes during the 2024 Southport riots

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · Jul 2

🧵 Just finished reading Upgrading Democracy by @pollycurtis.bsky.social at @demos-uk.bsky.social .
It’s a sharp, hopeful intervention in the face of democratic breakdown, and it aligns in profound ways with the epistemic collapse I’ve been tracking in my own work.
demos.co.uk/wp-content/u...

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Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · Jun 20

The UK government has found its welfare reforms may push 250,000 people into relative poverty by 2030

My new report looks at people's experiences of financial hardship and their response to welfare news online. It is critical that decision makers hear their voices

demos.co.uk/research/i-f...

‘I feel let down’: An online forum listening exercise revealing how people are talking about financial hardship

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · Jun 20

Thanks to @jrf-uk.bsky.social and Grassroots Poverty Action Group for all their support with this work

Reposted by Jamie Hancock

Demos @demos-uk.bsky.social · Jun 20

Join the network to:

🗞️ Receive our weekly Friday ESN newsletter
🎤 Get early invites to upcoming events
💬 Apply to join our monthly meetings to learn from one another and collaborate on shared advocacy campaigns
❗ Tell us your top concerns about today's information ecosystem

Epistemic Security Network

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think-tank. We produce original research, publish innovative thinkers and host thought-provoking events.

demos.co.uk

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Jamie Hancock @j-hancock.bsky.social · Jun 20

In posts on online forums, people described the government’s announcements as “terrifying”, “devastating” and “awful”

MPs vote on the welfare reform bill in the next few weeks. It is vital that the voices of the people most affected by welfare policy are heard