@SAshworthHayes A deep investigation into the CfD policy on renewables has to happen. I believe it's the CfD policy that is most of the problem. From the outside they look totally one-sided and will never offer an incentive to lower energy production costs.

@maxtempers That whole system is corrupt. I work with a company that could provide the same level of services for far lower costs. But the tendering isn't competitive. It's the same companies winning bids and skimming huge margins. The money isn't going to the drivers.

@ednewtonrex Look at who from the tech industry contributed to the AI Playbook (see page 5):

The difficulty with all the growth options is they tend to get stuck in red tape or will be slow to deliver growth. Relaxing some regulations, such as bank lending capital, is quicker and easier. I would prefer to see "1000 AI Start-ups Investments", where 1000 public sector problems are asked to be solved by UK AI Start-ups (extended pilots) within the next 12 months. £1m investments via a SAFE.

Fully agree. The long-term demand isn't there. And I'm a cyclist. The main error made is thinking that a car is just a method of travel and can be swapped for cycling. It can't. Usually driving includes protection from rain and a way to carry heavier items (tools, shopping, sports equipment). Looking at Australian levels of cycling is quite interesting. Similar dead horse despite quite beautiful (and mostly dry) cycle routes.

@PositivFuturist Meanwhile…the impossible UK procurement. See who contributed on page 5.

@MerrynSW It's destruction because we're not actually sticking to anything. We're just exporting the carbon emissions and then not counting them.

@EdConwaySky @SamCoatesSky This is a great story - thanks Sam, Ed and Team Sky. The Green/NIMBYs will dig in on this. They have such a powerful set of veto options. Interestingly: is there an existing train line through the woods? I thought there was.

@WorkMJ "benefit incumbents" Let's just look at the industry contributors to the UK's AI Playbook (see page 5): IBM, Amazon, Google, Microsoft

This battle to get building will go on and one. Team Bat and Team Newt have so many tools at their disposal. After all, the Green movement is by far the most successful political party of the last 20 or 30 years. The ability to veto via legal process trumps governments. Something has to change.

Wow @jo3hill ... this is perhaps the best thing I have read in years. For me, AI Playbook just highlights how much process is (119 pages in playbook plus then other processes such as Green and Rose books). This isn't agile or fast moving. As per the Reform report on page 32: Interviewees said they lacked the internal capacity to build the case for investment and manage the negotiations, without certainty of securing funding, often taking several months. This is compounded by how restrictive that spending often is, with one saying “sure, the Treasury might give me the money to buy in some consultants to build a tool, but they won’t fund me to hire people to administer that contract, or manage the tool in live service. So why should [department] bid when it costs us?” Buy it / Rent it is also great (page 41). For me we need more "rent" from private companies owning the solution at that drives iterative processes. I would even argue that UK Gov should consider having strategic investments in those companies and looking to make them future exporters. Sadly the playbook has only had industry input from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM. These companies have the capacity to navigate incredibly long and complex procurement or even fully fund pilots and second staff to UK Government. UK home grown companies, even FTSE 100, don't have these resources.

There is a huge focus from @lfg_uk on getting the UK building, with the National Priority Infrastructure Bill being a key first action. This is really important as we need homes, water, improved transport and cheaper energy today. But for tomorrow, winning at software and AI needs a long hard look. Just consider the GDS/DSIT AI playbook released yesterday: There is so much in here that explains why nothing will be built by emerging British AI companies for UK Gov: 1. 119 Pages...this isn't a quick playbook, it's a bible that needs the seller to guide the civil service through (hint: only big companies will do this) 2. Many secondary actions required, where the playbook points to other documents (Green Book, Rose Book, agile business cases...tons more processes) 3. Spend limits: £100k for digital (what do they expect back...PDFs?), anything above needs full business case and won't be fast moving The worst part in all this is on page 5...industry contributions. Amazon Google IBM MIcrosoft GDS was created to get the UK government away from large IT suppliers...it's now encouraging us right back to them. This will not help us create UK AI champions. It will make it harder and next to impossible.

CIPA would be the best place but there are plenty of others with deep knowledge on this. Patents have tended to be unloved in recent years. Much more love for it overseas. CIPA reported a decline in UK SMEs filing internationally. My view is that the UK's R&D is pretty good but then things aren't getting commercialised. It's a procurement issue. If you don't initially scale in the UK you don't bother going international after PCT period ends. Hence no export growth.

@willcooling @james__love @JP_Biz Fair enough - I'll take that one. Worth reading that EY report if you can (I got a download failure just now). Rugby is falling in popularity whereas MMA and American sports are gaining viewers.

One of those was on terrestrial TV on a Saturday afternoon. The other was on Sky in the middle of the night. Not quite apples to apples. Despite that there wasn't a huge difference. NFL has a lot of online + social media consumption. There's an EY-Parthenon report showing how rugby has really dropped off, particularly for Gen Z.

RT @tomhfh: This by @Psythor should be compulsory reading for MPs, ministers, and perhaps most importantly the technologically illiterate p…

@PositivFuturist They don’t even want water. Blocking new reservoirs. What do they expect to happen?

@tomfgoodwin Many EV sales are supported by tax breaks. You need to include that.

@christopherhope I don’t mind Labour doing this. A criticism of cabinet meetings has been its all for show. Perhaps some things (ahem, getting net zero peeps into line) needed to be said.