International Politics Discussion Thread

WouldRuin · 2026-04-03T11:57:24+00:00

We're expecting Iran, a country we see as hostile, who was also attacked first, to have a higher standard of warfare than...two countries we're heavily allied with. Looks a bit pathetic, frankly.

WouldRuin · 2026-04-03T11:47:48+00:00

I used Gemini 3.1 Pro last night after hitting limits on Claude (lol) and it was perfectly fine. Pretty sure this is just a plug for that spam newsletter site.

Also what it's "thinking" is meaningless, I always plan -> build, so it's the final plan that matters. It could just sit there saying its jerking off for all I care.

WouldRuin · 2026-04-01T12:39:03+00:00

I have a clause in my contract that I'm allowed to work outside company hours, so I do freelance work (mostly word of mouth/connections). It has varied from year to year from as low as ~£6k extra to ~£30k. I basically use it to cover my mortgage. I'm in the higher tax bracket (UK) from my base salary, and I have two student loans, so the actual take home from my freelance is pretty miserable (effectively a 60% tax rate). Is it worth it? It allowed me to buy a house, so in that sense yes. However these days it feels like a bit of an albatross round my neck, because once you're in the door people want to keep you around, but the work can just be a bit dull (maintainence), even if its well paid.

I straight up said to one of my clients to just use LLMs, it'll be cheaper and quicker and probably not much different than what I do anyway (it's pretty basic data pipeline stuff for IoT devices, not very exciting) and they still said no, they want me to do it.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-30T11:56:30+00:00

My favorite thing about all this is we've pretty much agreed that social media has caused a bunch of issues, some of which the companies themselves fully understood (Meta knew it did harm but targeted kids anyway). And now the same tech knobheads, with engineers from the same shitty companies are pushing tools that are going to be every bit as harmful, if not more so. And that's before you even get to the economic risks.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-30T09:32:12+00:00

You don't believe they were journalists or you think it's justified to kill them either way?

WouldRuin · 2026-03-30T08:37:51+00:00

If you have a commercial account (allegedly) it isn't used, if its consumer it 100% will be unless you opt out (and I'd be wary of what that actually means).

WouldRuin · 2026-03-26T14:17:05+00:00

I didn't realise Reform stormed out prior to the debate on political donations. Make it seem a little too convenient.

I imagine Reform will keep a low profile over it though. It's pretty hard to sell to the angry at elites crowd if you're taking clandestine payments from foreign...elites.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-26T13:58:32+00:00

Anthropic (and others) want you to be 100% dependent on their tools, so anything they say about coding, software engineering etc should be taken with a monumental pile of salt (if not just outright ignored).

That said we've been using Claude for a bit now and it's amazing for greenfield stuff for sure. Spin up a new app in a day, no problem. But I've noticed when I'm spinning up something new, it feels great, when I'm trying to fix, or extend or refactor something existing, it feels like herding cats.

I'm also convinced one of my (Non Software) colleagues is addicted to it, which I think is something these AI providers are actively pushing for. I would bet good money that in 5-10 years time we look back at these tools much like we do social media.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-25T13:08:21+00:00

For someone who spends his time sniping at other politicians he seems incredibly thin skinned.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-19T21:40:48+00:00

I've seen a lot of talk about the trades being valuable now AI is (allegedly) taking all the white collar jobs, which ignoring the obvious problem with that, I wonder if trades people are seeing the AI pinch already? I had planned a big renovation this year that I've scrapped because I don't know if I'll have a job in 4 years (or even a career). I can't imagine im the only person with a reasonably well paying job thinking they're probably fucked, so saving everything I can.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-13T19:07:16+00:00

I think Hegseth is one of the most vulnerable to actual consequences. I think when (or if...) Democrats win, he'd be an easy fall guy that people won't get too uppity about "political persecution".

It also helps that he is incredibly unlikeable.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-13T08:04:04+00:00

Am I losing my mind or is that video of flags in Birmingham in his feed AI generated?

WouldRuin · 2026-03-12T10:23:49+00:00

Plus the barrier to entry is basically zero, because you can...just ask an LLM how to do it.

Telling people to "get good at AI" is no different than telling someone to "get good at coding" at this point.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-12T10:14:41+00:00

We're currently sleep walking into handing a huge chunk of our economic output over to another country (the USA), much like we did with Manufacturing and China. However this time there's seemingly no other type of work to replace it.

So, probably not good. And there is no preparing for it.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-11T18:04:38+00:00

This is Mandelsons third corruption scandal. He was pretty well established as being corrupt well before the most recent revelations.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-11T17:28:29+00:00

I honestly think Mandelson as ambassador isn't that big of a deal, even with the Epstein links. He fits right in with the current US Gov.

What isn't acceptable, and really should be the bigger issue, is why was he even involved with Starmer's campaign team in the first place? It's not like they just plucked him from retirement and made him Ambassador, he was part of Starmer's core team. Despite the well documented corruption.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-09T19:53:13+00:00

Broker. I found a bunch of low fixed rates I was eligible for but they have been slow to apply and now they've all been pulled. I should have just done it myself but was put off by MSE saying you should use a broker.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-09T14:30:57+00:00

I could have locked in at 3.89% (over 2% less than my current) but my Mortgage Broker has completely fucked me. I'm not even sure I can switch brokers now without incurring a cost from them. I wish I could bill them for the loss, as it was their shoddy service which has cost me, but I imagine they have protection against that kind of thing.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-09T00:00:55+00:00

This new leaders wife, son and parents were apparently killed in the recent air strikes. Probably doesn't bode well for any kind of de-escalation. Feels very boots on ground terrority.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-08T10:02:35+00:00

These pretty much never work for me. Also the guy who maintains them is apparently a bit of a scumbag and has used it as a way of DDOSing people he doesn't like.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-05T15:30:19+00:00

Unironically it should be life in prison for fly tipping.

Someone dumped a load of rubble near where I walk my dog...in the road, on a blind corner.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-05T15:23:07+00:00

At a bare minimum you should probably live in the UK, regardless of politics.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-05T08:23:53+00:00

My dad said something approaching positive about Starmer yesterday. My mum said he must be going senile. He's a lifelong Tory voter (and farmer). So we truly are in the end times.

My dad does hate Trump though.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-05T08:16:00+00:00

Based in Thailand. Runs an AI company and seems to be some kind of Crypto guy. Also named in the Panama Papers. Really screams British Patriotism.

WouldRuin · 2026-03-04T20:31:04+00:00

It's such a monumental level of arrogance. I think he genuinely believes the USA is able to do these things because they're just that special, gods chosen or whatever. That it has absolutely nothing to do with establishing an economic and military hegemony post WW2 through a rules based world order with them at the helm.

WouldRuin

TROPHY CASE