Written for The House Magazine - published 4 April 2020 In response to this problem, I have launched a new service called Infotagion, enabling people to check information they see that doesn’t look right. The coronavirus is the first major public health crisis of the social media age. That is significant because whilst there has […]
Published in WIRED UK on 30 March 2020 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that there’s an “infodemic” of disinformation about coronavirus spreading rapidly around the world. We have all seen examples of this kind of content being shared in our friends and family networks on social media and through messaging apps. Examples include […]
Article written for Bright Blue's spring 2020 edition of Centre Write The most popular media for some of the most vulnerable people in society, our children, is the least regulated. For most social media accounts, you are required to be 13 to register to use the service, however there are no effective age verification tools […]
My piece for WIRED UK, published 20 February 2020 What happens on Facebook matters. The social network connects billions of users around the world, and is for many of them their principal way of receiving news and engaging with their community. When Facebook’s systems are exploited by Russia to interfere in elections, by extremists to […]
Article written for The Times Red Box, published on 28 January 2020 When the next director-general of the BBC starts their duties in the summer, following the retirement of Lord Hall, they should look back to December to get a clear view of the problems that lie ahead. By this I don’t mean the result […]
As we face the prospect of a general election, we need to confront the fact that our electoral law is not fit for purpose in the digital age. Technology has created opportunities for people to campaign without revealing their identity, spend above restricted limits, and receive untraceable donations, including from overseas. We should introduce emergency […]
The fans of Bury football club, one that has played in the football league for the last 125 years and won the FA Cup twice, have seen their team expelled to the outer reaches of non-league football. The fate of Bolton Wanderers, a team that until seven years ago enjoyed an unbroken run of 11 seasons […]
‘What is the city but the people?’ we are asked by Sicinius, an elected tribune of Rome in Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus. This same sentiment was brought to life in a street performance by the people of Manchester, to open their city’s 2017 International Festival. Shakespeare provides a common cultural reference point whose influence stretches far […]
Last week the House of Commons marked the 40th anniversary of the creation of select committees to scrutinise the work of individual government departments. I chair one of these – digital, culture, media and sport – but the scope of its work has extended beyond holding individual ministers to account. We now investigate much wider issues […]
It’s Sunday 14th July 2030 and the eyes of the world turn to Wembley, to see goals from Phil Foden, Mason Greenwood and Trent Alexander Arnold win the FIFA World Cup for England. Thirty-four years after Frank Skinner and David Baddiel first put the idea to music, the nation that gave football to the world […]