Who is winning the AI arms race?

New data from the @observeruk.bsky.social Global AI Index shows Europe falling behind, China pulling ahead, and the UAE rapidly expanding its influence abroad.

So what have we found? Here are three stories behind the numbers 👇
observer.co.uk/data/global-ai

Exclusive: Peter Mandelson is facing calls for a standards investigation over a possible breach of parliamentary rules

Comes amid ongoing questions about whether the Labour peer should remain a member of the House of Lords

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observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Ukraine’s battlefields are shifting. Tankers and trenches are being replaced by autonomous weapons, built by startups and battle-tested on the frontlines. And, increasingly, they’re backed by private money.
My latest w @seitarowhite.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/busines...

Billionaire accused of using a 'strawman' to donate to German far-right party AfD is linked to company using loophole to make UK donations

My last (gulp!) in this series of joint investigations with @tortoisemedia.bsky.social and BBC R4's The Naked Week 👇

www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/04/11/m...

@chefboibex.bsky.social @ktriley.bsky.social and others have been working on an incredible new tool to track climate misinformation online. Check it out here @tortoisemedia.bsky.social

Introducing Hot Air, a publicly-available interactive database and visualisation tool highlighting the volume of online misinformation surrounding climate change.

Developed in partnership with C3DS University of Exeter and supported by Octopus Energy.

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torto.se/4j0NNY4

They say that in London you are never more than 6ft from a rat. I have discovered that in Tokyo, you are never more than 6ft from an advertisement with Shohei Ohtani's face on it.

A look at Musk's tweets show he's only recently taken an interest in British politics – mainly in August in the wake of the Southport riots, and in the last few days. His tweets on the latter already have a combined view count of 1.2 billion since the New Year.
www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/01/07/m...

New: Lords' commissioner urged to investigate after @tortoisemedia.bsky.social revealed peer's £28k BAE shareholding

@unlockdemocracy.bsky.social is also seeking clarity on when peers should declare interests below the £100k registration threshold

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www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/12/17/t...

Exclusive: Dozens of peers own stakes in the UK’s biggest companies, spanning sectors including banking, defence, mining and energy, that have effectively been held in secret – until now

By me and @chefboibex.bsky.social for @tortoisemedia.bsky.social

www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/12/05/t...

NEW 🚨 Britain's electoral laws are broken - but successive governments have done nothing

Musk's proposed $100million donation to Nigel Farage shows we are on the cusp of a real crisis for British democracy

But it can be fixed. Here's how, by me

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/musks-100m...

5️⃣ @tortoisemedia.bsky.social: Following the huge success of last year's #WestminsterAccounts project, Tortoise's @catneilan.bsky.social and her team have now put the UK House of Lords under the spotlight. We recommend checking out the whole series with new stories breaking daily.

Exc: Peer who repeats Kremlin talking points made vice chair of APPG set up to fight disinformation

Lord Balfe also described Russian ambassador Kelin as "a nice chap" and told Tortoise that Kelin would be “welcome in my kitchen”

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www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/11/27/p...

Exclusive: Lord did not disclose pressure group link while opposing lawfare reform

www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/11/25/l...

Very proud of this piece, which involved programmatically trawling through around 1000 proceedings minutes over the last seven years to track individual leave of absences.
Amazingly, there's no compiled historical record of absences for the Lords available elsewhere (unless I've missed it!)

The number of peers on a leave of absence jumped 48% after new rules requiring them to declare income from foreign states were introduced, @tortoisemedia.bsky.social analysis has shown.

More Peer Review work by myself and @seitarowhite.bsky.social 👇

www.tortoisemedia.com/2024/11/21/d...

🚨 LAUNCHING TODAY 🚨

Nearly two years ago, @tortoisemedia.bsky.social unveiled the Westminster Accounts, a free tool designed to give people greater understanding of the money that flows through parliament.

Now, with Peer Review, we take on another arcane part of our system - the House of Lords

Alan Mak has joined Kemi Badenoch's shadow cabinet, so here's a little reminder that he accepted thousands of pounds from defence giant Lockheed Martin and Temerko-fronted Aquind into his "community account" without declaring them

www.businessinsider.com/treasury-min...