AI and the false consciousness trap – Unherd
, 11/07/2026
Ascribing human traits to chatbots empowers techlords. ‘Our slavery will be one we have consented to, enthusiastically.’ The trouble with impressive new technologies is that they have the uncanny ability to expose the awfulness of our relationship to one another, not to mention to our own selves. Now that our tech can engage directly with […]
Every British PM’s nightmare – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 22/06/2026
With Keir Starmer expected to fall on his sword shortly, here is my take on the conundrum facing Andy Burnham, indeed any and every British PM. The true nature of Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the United States has far more to do with American financiers’ willingness to keep borrowing to purchase British government debt than […]
NATO Must Die – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 08/06/2026
Some claim that the threats Europe is facing, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, can create the momentum toward political union that the euro crisis and then the pandemic failed to generate. Right or wrong, one thing is clear: a functional defense union requires political union, and NATO’s existence is inimical to it. ATHENS—The idea […]
The anxious ghost of Tony Blair strikes again
, 27/05/2026
Tony Blair is the living embodiment of what happens when political office becomes a down payment on future plunder. Ejected in 2007 by his own MPs as a massive liability, he bequeathed Britain a wild casino economy primed for the 2008 crash. And when the British economy crashed and burned, Mr Blair kept quiet while […]
Why plutocrats love Trump’s war – Unherd
, 13/05/2026
When the bombs began to rain down on Iran, I predicted Donald Trump’s Waterloo. Watching his MAGA coalition, a noxious brew of working-class resentment and tax cuts for billionaires, descend into a civil class war, I paraphrased Churchill on the Battle of El Alamein: in his second term, before Iran, Trump had never faced a […]
Palantir and the New Order: Neoliberalism is dead. Say hello to Techlordism – The Point
, 05/05/2026
A new form of capital is ascending: cloud capital—networked algorithmic machines that grant their owners remarkable powers to modify our behaviour. And just as financiers needed neoliberalism, today’s tech lords need a new ideology to legitimise their rule. I call it techlordism. Yanis Varoufakis Tue 21 Apr 2026 22.00 AEST Society & Inequality _Photo: AAP […]
