Thread by @1Br0wn

1. Whatever the wisdom of individual policy proposals in this new Blair/Hague-helmed report (and I am deeply sceptical on state-issued #DigitalID, having been deeply involved in the disastrous last two 🇬🇧 attempts)… institute.global/policy/new-nat…

2. its greatest failing to me is that it proposes redesigning the entire British state on the once-in-a-century scale of eg the 19th century civil service reforms which still largely prevail. In a slightly scattergun manner…

3. One example with which I’m deeply familiar (see my bio): “ Ensure that decision-makers and advisors are experts in the areas within which they are operating, as would be the case in a technology company.”

4. This is the absolute antithesis of the way 🇬🇧 govt and civil service works, and it would take a rebuilding from top to bottom to change this. This is just not the way the UK has worked, for many centuries

5. The report is also full of breathless bullshit, eg “our current revolution is the first in history to automate cognition itself.” 🤦🏻‍♂️ (Blair is the original govtechbro.)

6. The authors also want a 🇬🇧 “Sovereign General-Purpose AI Capability”. Rly?! The usefulness, let alone feasibility of this is something for much greater debate 🤖

7. Hilariously, the authors also seem to want to UK to participate on an equal footing with the USA and EU on shaping global tech standards. (To be fair, neither were Brexiteers).

8. Enough time wasted on reading the exec summary… to try and be more positive and suggest more feasible/evolutionary/focused goals, I’d suggest the next govt simply adopts @ntouk’s next book (and maybe hires him as govt CTO as a peer of the Cabinet Secretary to implement it)…

9. If they must have #digitalID (it is not the panacea Blair thinks) then work with existing/developing systems (eg why isn’t the UK govt already issuing credentials for the Apple Wallet?) and the EU on #eIDAS 2 (UK has little hope otherwise of influencing global standards)

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