Jack Aldane
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Host & Producer @BookingClubPod, @MyMartinAmis, @TheLitPathPod | “A one-man Goalhanger.” | Speak Volumes Substack
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Articles by Jack Aldane
Martin Amis and The War Against AI
Sir Martin Amis would have turned 77 this summer were it not for his untimely death three years ago. I stand by that word ‘untimely’, because for every fresh medley of horrors the world has served up since, there is a line that only Amis could have written that would have reminded us all of the power of original thought, and without which we continue to be worse off.
Flat Earth, by Anika Jade Levy: a review
One upward thumbstroke is all it takes to blow the hatch and bail out of the X app. How often I’ve needed reminding. These days, as I’m shaking off the dust from my latest emergency ejection, it occurs to me that I may be simply too old for certain fronts of the culture wars. A prime example is the modern dating economy, a particular stronghold among today’s prolific shitposters.
Australia urged to set ‘rules of the game’ to harness the productivity potential of AI
The Australian government must set clear rules on the use of artificial intelligence if it wants to secure the consumer and productivity benefits of the technology, the Australian Productivity Commission has said. In its interim report ‘Harnessing data and digital technology’, published on 5 August, the commission highlighted AI’s potential to underpin a new wave of productivity growth.
Jack Aldane | Substack
Jack Aldane Conversations about books you should read, with writers, often in restaurants. Essays about politics, culture, and boxing Launched 3 years ago
UK government launches GOV.UK digital services app for smartphones
The UK government has this week launched the first version of its GOV.UK smart-phone app – which will eventually have payments functionality through a digital wallet – to provide citizens with digital access to government services and benefits.
On Tyson vs Paul, Trump, and Our 'Will it Blend?' Culture
One of the first viral marketing campaigns to dominate YouTube was a series of infomercials demonstrating the awesome power of the Blendtec blender. Launched in 2006, Will it Blend? presented by Blendtec’s founder, Tom Dickson, racked up millions of views from clips lasting less than two minutes. The idea behind the channel was beautifully simple. Each episode starts with Dickson uttering the phrase: "Will it blend?
boxing’s undisputed, unbeaten underdog
Jack Aldane Conversations about books you should read, with writers, often in restaurants. Essays about politics, culture, and boxing Launched 2 years ago No thanks
Technology is not the Problem, with Timandra Harkness on Apple Podcasts
Technology has delivered a world that we expect to revolve around us, our needs and preferences, and our unique personalities. We willingly hand over intimate information about ourselves in return for a world that’s easier to navigate. We live in the Personalised Century, where we view ourselves in terms of what rather than who we are – the objects of others’ recognition, rather than the subjects and authors of our own lives. Is this a sign of our shrinking sense of self?
the Memoir, with David Baddiel on Apple Podcasts
On the surface, David Baddiel’s childhood was fairly standard: a lower-middle-class Jewish family living in an ordinary house in Dollis Hill, north-west London. But David came to realise that his mother was in fact not ordinary at all. Having escaped extermination by fleeing Nazi Germany as a child, she was desperate to make her life count, which took the form of a passionate, decades-long affair with a golfing memorabilia salesman.
Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times, with Elizabeth Oldfield on Apple Podcasts
What does it mean to live a good, whole and fulfilling life? And if the world really is ending, or at least expecting turbulent change, what kind of people will we need when it happens? In Fully Alive, Elizabeth Oldfield explores how we can build spiritual core strength for an unstable age.
The Booking Club
Leading authors and commentators discuss their latest books and breakthroughs at their favourite haunts | Hosted by Jack Aldane | Formerly The Corner Table | Music by Boogie Belgique. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. • Alchemy and the 2024 UK General Election, with Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland is the vice-chairman of Ogilvy UK and the co-founder of its Behavioural Science Practice.
"Reading Money was like hearing The Clash for the first time." Graham Caveney on Apple Podcasts
Journalist and memoirist Graham Caveney speaks to Jack Aldane on this eighth episode of the series about Martin Amis's iconoclastic fifth novel Money: A Suicide Note. He and the host discuss the novel's true subject, which runs counter to popular interpretation. Though Money is often celebrated as the quintessential novel of the 80s, Caveney argues it is as much if not predominantly a story about the 60s, of which the 80s was arguably the last, lurid hurrah.
My Martin Amis
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Personal stories from writers, critics and publicists about the life and legacy of late English novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023).
"Amis is at his best when he leans into his fears." Leo Robson on Apple Podcasts
Leo Robson is a freelance writer whose work has featured in The New Yorker, Harpers and New Statesman, among others. In this episode, he and the series' host and producer Jack Aldane sit down to discuss Martin Amis's fourth novel Other People, a Mystery Story, published in 1981.
"Reading Martin Amis makes you feel funnier, cleverer, more insightful." Alys Denby on Apple Podcasts
Editor of Cap X Alys Denby discovered Martin Amis through a boy at university would she would later go on to marry. The first book of Amis's he leant her was Success, published in 1978. Success juxtaposes two lives set in the same era of social and economic transformation in Britain: that of well-bred Gregory Riding and his lowly foster brother Terence Service. The story is told through a two-way mirror of Riding and Services's ego-fuelled ambition.
My Martin Amis on Apple Podcasts
7 episodes Personal stories from writers, critics and publicists about the life and legacy of late English novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023). Host and producer: Jack Aldane Music: 'June' by Nigel Martin Twitter: @mymartinamis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Personal stories from writers, critics and publicists about the life and legacy of late English novelist Martin Amis (1949-2023).
🎄❄️🎅 MERRY CHRISTMAS! A History of Good Food and Hard Times in Britain, with Pen Vogler on Apple Podcasts
In times of plenty, we stuff ourselves. When the food runs out, we're stuffed too. How have people in the British Isles shared the riches from our fields, dairies, kitchens and seas, as well as those from around the world? And when the cupboard is bare, who steps up to the plate to feed the nation's hungry children, soldiers at war or families in crisis?
"Not everyone even remotely has Amis's descriptive ability." Zoe Strimpel on Apple Podcasts
Gender scholar, author and columnist Zoe Strimpel tells Jack Aldane about the "sexual sentimental education" she gleaned from Martin Amis’s novels as a young woman battling teenage angst. In particular, they discuss Amis's first novel, The Rachel Papers, which introduced Zoe to the dark corners of male heterosexuality through Amis's burgeoning comic prose style, and how the book's portrayal of sex compares with the rules of attraction today.
War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age, with Tom Holland on Apple Podcasts
Pax is the third in a trilogy of books narrating the history of the Roman Empire. The series that began with Rubicon, and continued with Dynasty, now arrives at the period which marks the apogee of the pax Romana. It provides a portrait of the ancient world's ultimate superpower at war and at peace; from the gilded capital to the barbarous realms beyond the frontier; from emperors to slaves.
Howards’ Way, My England
It’s a Sunday in mid-July and I’m standing at the bar of The Jolly Sailor, a favourite watering hole among residents of the River Hamble on the south coast of England where I grew up. It is every inch a traditional English pub, save for a wall beside the bar filled with pop art prints. The faces in the frames are not Warhol’s celebrities. They belong to the cast of Howards’ Way. If you don’t remember it, Howards’ Way was one of Britain’s biggest soap operas of the peak Thatcher years.
The Booking Club
by Jack Aldane Leading authors and commentators discuss their latest books and breakthroughs at their favourite haunts | Hosted by Jack Aldane | Formerly The Corner Table | Music by Boogie Belgique. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Eight Deaths and Life After Them, with Mark Watson on Apple Podcasts
Mark Watson is generally accepted to be alive. And yet he's died many times. Not just on stage - though he'll tell you about that - but in other ways, too. There's been the death of a childhood dream. The death of his panel-show career. And then there was the time he died inside and nearly lost it all... Eye-opening, revealing and painfully funny, this is a book about mortification, failure and all the times life doesn't work out as planned.
"I should have kept that cigarette butt." Sam Leith on Apple Podcasts
Author, journalist and literary editor for The Spectator, Sam Leith, tells Jack Aldane his story of meeting Martin Amis, his reflections on Amis's lifelong role as "media whipping boy", and why he chose to talk about 'Dead Babies', Amis's second novel published in 1975. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @mymartinamis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Top Podcasts In Fiction
CIA chief sets out era of US-China ‘strategic competition’ in AI and beyond
William J Burns, director of the CIA, delivers the Ditchley Annual Lecture in Oxfordshire The head of the Central Intelligence Agency has said that harnessing the power of artificial intelligence represents “the most profound transformation of espionage tradecraft since the Cold War” as he discussed the challenge of increasing strategic competition between the US and China.
David Sacks defends US government AI guardrails amid ‘fearmongering’
David Sacks, a leading adviser to US president Donald Trump on AI policy, has highlighted the US government’s suite of artificial intelligence regulations in response to increasing warnings about the risk AI poses to humans. Sacks said that “fearmongering” over AI had hindered recognition of the guardrails that are already in place. “The reality is, [the US doesn’t] have a laissez-faire government.
Digital government innovators meet at AdvanceGov in California to explore the future-ready state
The California state Capitol. Image by Josh Hild via Pexels Digital leaders from US state and international governments will meet peers at Global Government Forum’s AdvanceGov conference starting today in Sacramento, California.
Generative AI could worsen regional divides, OECD warns
Generative AI could widen productivity and income gaps between cities and rural areas across a host of developed countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a new report. The Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2024 report said that labour and skills shortages have become “one of the most pressing policy concerns in most OECD regions, not only dynamic urban labour markets”.
Canada opens consultation on next national AI strategy
The Government of Canada has launched an AI Strategy Task Force and a 30-day public consultation to shape the way AI is used in government and across the economy. Ideas gathered from members of the task force and feedback from stakeholders and citizens will inform a renewed national AI strategy that the government said it would set out “in the coming months”.
UK government plans to roll out compulsory digital ID
The UK government plans to launch a digital ID in a bid to improve public services and allay concerns around illegal immigration, the prime minister Keir Starmer has announced. Speaking at the Global Progress Action Summit in London on 26 September, Starmer said that digital IDs – provisionally nicknamed a ‘Brit card’ – would become an essential requirement for working in the UK, preventing people from slipping into the UK’s “shadow economy” and living in the country “illegally”.
Governments take action against Grok AI tool over sexualised images - Global Government Forum
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who owns xAI, Grok's developer. Photo by Gage Skidmore The European Commission and several countries around the world are investigating the social media platform X and its Grok AI tool for allowing users to generate sexualised images of real people.
From hype to real-world hero: experts on the deployment of ‘pragmatic AI’ in government
Image by DC Studio via Freepik Developments in artificial intelligence will have a revolutionary effect on the work of governments. It offers a whole host of benefits, from time and cost savings to the amplification of public servants’ efforts and better services for citizens. At a time when many governments are at the start of their AI journey, governments are also looking for AI applications that can make a real impact now.
European Commission tables tech sovereignty package for AI, cloud and opensource
Photo by Dusan Cvetanovic via Pexels The European Commission has presented a raft of measures to strengthen the EU’s ability to produce semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and opensource technologies. The batch of measures, the European Technological Sovereignty Package, includes two legislative proposals – the Chips Act 2.0 and the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) – as well as the Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy and the Open Source Strategy.
UK government sets out five AI scenarios to stress-test policy
The UK’s Government Office for Science (GO-Science) has set out five scenarios that could unfold over the next four years as artificial intelligence begins to ‘reshape our world’. The ‘AI Scenarios 2030’ report has been created to help policymakers “navigate uncertainty”, and provides “a structured way of exploring plausible AI futures” to support “more robust” policy development.
EU assembles specialist team to combat deepfakes and AI cyber threats
The European Union has established a team responsible for monitoring artificial intelligence developers and cracking down on deepfakes and hacking as new transparency rules under the EU AI Act come into force. The new enforcement team, which began its work on 31 July and sits within the expanded European AI Office in Brussels, was set up in response to fears that the evolution of AI could negatively impact people, politics and prosperity.
UK to assess risks of consumers losing access to frontier AI models
Photo: Daniil Komov/Pexels The UK government said it plans to assess what could happen to the country’s economy and national security if British users lost access to frontier artificial intelligence (AI) models. The UK’s Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade will assess the impact on growth and cybersecurity if Britons were no longer able to use models produced by companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Inaugural AdvanceGov event in California to explore how to build the future-ready state
Image by Josh Hild via Pexels Digital leaders from US state and international governments will meet peers at Global Government Forum’s AdvanceGov conference, which takes place in Sacramento, California, on November 3-4.
Public servants to help unlock the power of digital and data at AccelerateGOV event in Canada
Public servants from Canada and around the world will meet at Global Government Forum’s AccelerateGOV conference on 16-17 December for inspiring discussions about how to deliver transformed public services.
2025 wrapped: revisit Global Government Forum’s top podcasts
Lucas J Israel via pixabay In November, we produced a special episode of Government Transformed in which GGF’s executive editor Richard Johnstone spoke to Luukas Ilves, advisor to the deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation of Ukraine. Luukas is also the former undersecretary for digital transformation and CIO for the Government of Estonia. Alongside him was Manuel Kilian, the founding managing director of the Global Government Technology Centre.
Canadian government jobs highly exposed to AI, finds study – and recommends careful transition to greater adoption - Global Government Forum
Jobs within Canada’s public sector are among the most exposed to advances in artificial intelligence, according to a study by The Dais think tank, which highlights both the risks and opportunities of AI.
US lawmakers seek ‘kill switch’ to stop rogue AI models
US legislators are urging the creation of an artificial intelligence ‘kill switch’ after an OpenAI agent hacked a tech startup earlier this month. The hack – described by OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman as a “significant security incident” – occurred when an AI agent escaped its testing environment and broke into tech startup Hugging Face to try to complete its task.
workforce news in brief
Global Government Forum’s digest of the news you need to know but might have missed UK cabinet secretary calls for end to “dehumanising” term to describe officials Simon Case, the UK’s cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, urged politicians to stop calling the civil service “the Blob” in an appearance before the House of Commons public administration committee on 12 July.
Australia’s public service commission rejects four-day week bid
The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has rejected a bid by federal government employees and unions for a four-day work week. The bid entered negotiations between public service unions and the government in June. The idea was that public servants could be allowed to work just under 9.5 hours per day over four days rather than the current 7.5 hours a day over five, resulting in no loss of pay.
Japanese government uses AI to expose misinformation on Fukushima wastewater purge
The Japanese government is using artificial intelligence (AI) to scan social media for misinformation about its plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. On 11 March 2011, an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the cooling systems of Fukushima No. 1 plant. This led to the meltdown of three reactors, causing continuous leakage of radioactive material.
Australian government tells officials ‘your integrity matters’ as it commits to post-Robodebt reform
The Australian government has accepted the recommendations of the Robodebt Royal Commission and committed to funding their implementation as well as improving public trust. The commission’s report, delivered in July this year, offered 56 recommendations, all of which the government has accepted in full or in principle.
Australian government tables Digital ID Bill to expand service
The Australian federal government is a step closer to creating a national digital identity system after introducing fresh legislation to the country’s senate on 30 November. A key function of the bill is to support an accreditation scheme for private sector digital ID service providers, and to help grow the system into Australian states and territories.
Australia’s productivity chief urges minimal AI regulation
Global Government Forum’s digest of the news you need to know but might have missed. Australia’s productivity commissioner Stephen King has said that the country should exercise caution around the regulation of artificial intelligence. King’s warning came during the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA)’s AI Leadership Summit on 8 December.
AI strategies across the Five Eyes nations
Welcome to this month’s AI Monitor. In this edition, we summarise the AI strategies being developed and deployed by each of the Five Eyes nations and share an interesting example of AI in action in a UK government department, as well as rounding up what was in the recent King’s Speech and more. Thanks for reading and please get in touch to share your thoughts and news on AI developments in government.
White House issues guidance for agencies on AI procurement
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released new procurement guidelines for agencies to improve risk management around buying AI systems and machine learning software. An administration official speaking to the press shortly after the release said that the guidelines would provide agencies with “the tools and information they need as they acquire AI, capturing its promise while managing its risks”.
‘Global race of our lives’: how the UK aims to lead the AI revolution
Last year’s UK general election ushered in a government promising a mission-driven approach to public service. In line with this pledge, the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer announced a plan earlier this month to maximise the opportunities surrounding artificial intelligence. AI has loomed large in mainstream debate for years, but this new roadmap – the AI Opportunities Action Plan – is a chance for the new government to put its stamp on the future of the technology.
UK government issues AI playbook to repair ‘broken public services’
The UK government has published its AI Playbook with the aim of giving departments and public sector organisations “accessible technical guidance on the safe and effective use of AI”. Created by more than 50 experts from the Government Digital Service and the wider Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the playbook consists of input from over 20 government departments and public sector organisations, along with insights and peer-review from industry and academic advisers.
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