davelevy . info / wiki
type: channel
description: things dave has discovered, brought to you by wordpress & 1and1
date: 2026-01-29T15:02:34Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: A Euro-linux
items: Imprisonment for Public Protection
items: Cleaning up my Raspberry Pi
items: Deepseek or alternatives locally
items: sudo on raspbian
items: The GIT credential manager
items: Some thoughts on AI
items: AI & Search
items: What the EU thinks of the “reset”
items: UK & EU’s SAFE (Defence) funding programme
items: Where are the chips made?
items: Universities, funding & growth

A Euro-linux
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2026-01-28T21:24:00Z
subject: Uncategorized
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TuxIntheEU-2-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TuxIntheEU-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TuxIntheEU-2-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Inspired by events over the last three months, I am thinking about a Euro-Linux Links A headline article, post Davos 26, more people are thinking about it, Europeans quietly shift away from US tech services, share lists of local alternatives. How to source a Euro Linux This reddit thread identifies the jurisdictional origin of various...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TuxIntheEU-2-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TuxIntheEU-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/TuxIntheEU-2-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Inspired by events over the last three months, I am thinking about a Euro-Linux Links A headline article, post Davos 26, more people are thinking about it, Europeans quietly shift away from US tech services, share lists of local alternatives. How to source a Euro Linux This reddit thread identifies the jurisdictional origin of various Linux distros. It quotes distrowatch. Interestingly, while it includes two Russian sourced OS’s, it does not include Ubuntu and the UK. So howm to choose. Further googling/youtube searches points at the issue of a rolling build or stable check points which define the regimes of augmentation and update mechanisms. On one side, one has the Arch derivatives, on the other Debian and seemingly most importantly, Ubuntu. On countries, and previous good references, the Reddit thread above makes me look at Manjaro and possibly SUSE. I also note however that Mint, which is very popular is based in Ireland. Returning to the issue of the update mechanism, SUSE uses .rpm, Arch and its derivatives use a tool called pacman and they create their own repos based on tar. The Debian derivatives use apt and .deb. After all this research, I decided to look at Kbuntu. It is, obviously, an Ubuntu derivative and I though that Ubuntu is closer to Debian which I need for my ‘Pi, and that I preferred the idea of a stable release. So Kbuntu because it’s easier than other look and feel options, and maybe, I’ll look at Mint. Which apps to use See https://dev.to/dev_tips/top-20-european-alternatives-to-major-us-technology-services-you-could-change-right-no…

Imprisonment for Public Protection
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2026-01-27T15:36:44Z
subject: Politics
subject: IPP
subject: politics
subject: prison
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lancasterprison-johnnygios-unsplash-w1080-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a prison central lobby nd atrium" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lancasterprison-johnnygios-unsplash-w1080-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lancasterprison-johnnygios-unsplash-w1080-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />My notes, once known as “At her/his majesty’s pleasure. There has been a long running campaign to amend this sentence which has been abolished, so no new ones can be made. It was established in 2005 and abolished on 2012. The ECHR has criticised the way in which the regime is designed and run. The...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lancasterprison-johnnygios-unsplash-w1080-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a prison central lobby nd atrium" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lancasterprison-johnnygios-unsplash-w1080-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lancasterprison-johnnygios-unsplash-w1080-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> My notes, once known as “At her/his majesty’s pleasure. There has been a long running campaign to amend this sentence which has been abolished, so no new ones can be made. It was established in 2005 and abolished on 2012. The ECHR has criticised the way in which the regime is designed and run. The UN have also criticised the regime describing it as “Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading” and as arbitrary detention, illegal under international law. The Howard League have also called for the decades long injustice of IPPs- to end. A new act, Sentencing Act 2026, has just been passed, the key argument is around general re-sentencing. I asked Gemini, “Is general re-sentencing included in the Act?”, it said, No and more. I extract this quote, “While there were calls for a full resentencing exercise to address the ongoing injustice of the IPP sentence, the government rejected such amendments, arguing they would pose an unacceptable risk to public safety. However, the Act does introduce significant reforms to the management of IPP licenses. Google gemini also reports on the numbers: google gemini on ipp & dpp I looked for a draft motion has anyone published a motion opposing indefinite prison in the UK?, and the reply from gemini describes EDMs, Parliamentary reports and bills and Acts, which includes the Imprisonment for Public Protection (Re-sentencing) Bill [HL] which is a House of Lords private members bill, and on the 27th Jan i…

Cleaning up my Raspberry Pi
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2026-01-04T12:24:52Z
subject: Technology
subject: raspberry pi
subject: raspbian
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/armchips-lauraockel-nIEHqGSymRU-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a picture of silicon chips" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/armchips-lauraockel-nIEHqGSymRU-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/armchips-lauraockel-nIEHqGSymRU-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />One thinks there’s only one problem, but then when one looks, here’s more than one. Here’s what needs to be done and what I have done before. To Do My articles on Docker and Systemd are bing maintained. Below you’ll find, other article on this wiki, tagged “raspberry-pi” To see the rest of what I...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/armchips-lauraockel-nIEHqGSymRU-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a picture of silicon chips" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/armchips-lauraockel-nIEHqGSymRU-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/armchips-lauraockel-nIEHqGSymRU-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> One thinks there’s only one problem, but then when one looks, here’s more than one. Here’s what needs to be done and what I have done before. To Do On the real PI, there is a problem with sudo, and it seems whatsnew I have written some new subroutines for whatsnew, but it doesn’t really take us forward. interestingly I could not get comm to work, so wrote my own. See if the sudo logs suggest anything, update the master version of whatsnew. Might I need a new image for the Pi. If so, should I refresh the current one, buy a new one, or switch to AWS? I have a Pi 3, Model B Rev 1.2. Is there a version of the OS that is not hardware backward compatible, (looks like its OK, by Google Gemini), and how can I back up the system or just the web site and particularly the transmission files and configuration? The web site has a dev version, and I have backed its source up into a github repo. if I rebuild the site, I should encapsulate it in a docker container, for which I need to learn how to install my certs, and run the service as a daemon. and encapsulate the source in github repo, or download the theme from a github repo. if I go with AWS, maybe I should move davelevy.info to AWS, the IONOS performance is not good. My articles on Docker and Systemd are bing maintained. Below you’ll find, other article on this wiki, tagged “raspberry-pi” Cleaning up my Raspberry Pi by Dave on January 4, 2026 at 12:24 pm One thinks the…

Deepseek or alternatives locally
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2026-01-02T19:07:54Z
subject: Technology
subject: artificialintelligence
subject: deepseek
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/deepseek-solenfeyissa-MHgLD0-9VvM-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a phone running the deepseek app" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/deepseek-solenfeyissa-MHgLD0-9VvM-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/deepseek-solenfeyissa-MHgLD0-9VvM-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Ideally, a distributed node in a network. LInks Much of the advice is now on video One can clearly run deepseek in local machines, See also
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/deepseek-solenfeyissa-MHgLD0-9VvM-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a phone running the deepseek app" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/deepseek-solenfeyissa-MHgLD0-9VvM-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/deepseek-solenfeyissa-MHgLD0-9VvM-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Ideally, a distributed node in a network. LInks Much of the advice is now on video The AI that we’ll have after AI by Cory Doctorow, which started me today, he points at, Why does a Local AI Voice Agent Running on a Super-Cheap Soc Matter? BY Pete Warden One can clearly run deepseek in local machines, https://gemini.google.com/app/ea732fc2a8891e63 Here is the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+implement+deepseek+locally&client=firefox-b-d&hs=zQQU&sca_esv=779cd1526b046b4a&sxsrf=AE3TifMrOlkcFpgUuH4ZWXlTiSMPJ8ZLaQ%3A1767379318026&ei=dhFYadevAbO2hbIPp4ma0A4&ved=0ahUKEwjXwryDwe2RAxUzW0EAHaeEBuoQ4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=how+to+implement+deepseek+locally&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiIWhvdyB0byBpbXBsZW1lbnQgZGVlcHNlZWsgbG9jYWxseTIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYRzIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR0iUzRFQAFgAcAV4AZABAJgBAKABAKoBALgBA8gBAJgCBaACKJgDAIgGAZAGCJIHATWgBwCyBwC4BwDCBwUyLTQuMcgHGYAIAA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp">google search, how to implement deepseek locally, but I should look for other implementation of LLMs. From the picture, there’s an app. See also Thoughts on AI AI Economics Fragment on Machines

sudo on raspbian
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2026-01-01T11:50:36Z
subject: Linux
subject: Technology
subject: cron
subject: raspbian
subject: sudo
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/private-keepout-nickwindsor-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a private keepout sign in a field" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/private-keepout-nickwindsor-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/private-keepout-nickwindsor-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I have/had a problem; I suspect that my cron jobs were asking for permission to run which since they were batch programs is not the desired behaviour. I have done some googling, and think it maybe related to the sudoers file, i.e. additional command are needed. At the moment I have turned cron off and...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/private-keepout-nickwindsor-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a private keepout sign in a field" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/private-keepout-nickwindsor-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/private-keepout-nickwindsor-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I have/had a problem; I suspect that my cron jobs were asking for permission to run which since they were batch programs is not the desired behaviour. I have done some googling, and think it maybe related to the sudoers file, i.e. additional command are needed. At the moment I have turned cron off and am using systemd to manage the remaining services I need. Links and hints https://askubuntu.com/questions/419548/how-to-set-up-a-root-cron-job-properly https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/57835/why-my-script-is-not-executed-with-root-privileges-using-crontab https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/32955/cron-job-doesnt-work-but-runs-successfully-manually https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=296993 sudo asks for-password-in-cronjob-script-but-the-same-script-works-without-password in terminal from stack overflow, recommends explicit call to sudo in the crontab. Don’t think it worked for me. Google gemini on the sudoers log, on Debian they use system logs to capture these events. https://www.maketecheasier.com/check-sudo-history-linux/, very readable, or so it seems Here is a man page explainer, from sudo.ws The man sudo @ linux.die.net

The GIT credential manager
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-12-28T18:25:59Z
subject: Technology
subject: deprecated
subject: git
subject: github
subject: security
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/git-rubaitulazad-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the github logo on a tile, on a grey background" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/git-rubaitulazad-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/git-rubaitulazad-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />The need for this went away as they implemented gh auth login. I moved the following words from using github to here. It should be marked deprecated. 2FA – 2024 In March 2024, I had a look at github’s documentation again and came across among other pages, the CLI aka gh and how to install...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/git-rubaitulazad-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the github logo on a tile, on a grey background" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/git-rubaitulazad-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/git-rubaitulazad-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> The need for this went away as they implemented gh auth login. I moved the following words from using github to here. It should be marked deprecated. 2FA – 2024 In March 2024, I had a look at github’s documentation again and came across among other pages, the CLI aka gh and how to install it on Debiab/Unbuntu. See also, https://docs.github.com/en/github-cli/github-cli/about-github-cli , from github A page on personal tokens, which would seem to be an enterprise solution, Managing your personal access tokens, again from githube About remote repositories, cloning with https We need to work out how to use gh auth login. This is simple, its default mode is to boot a web browser, generate a one time token and ise the web page to authenticate. Cool! The Git Credential Manager This section was written when they first canned the CLI login and some of it is based on the need to install this on a Raspberry Pi which was not their first priority. I need to QA it to see how much of it is still correct and relevant. So do do it in batch it seems you need the Git Credential Manager What is it and how does it work Git Credential Manager, a how to at github,com, and their documentation page. https://github.com/GitCredentialManager/git-credential-manager. the code page, hads a wiki obvs This page documents the environment variables. Installing the Binaries Install instructions inc package repos at github.com, there is no Raspberry Pi/arm version, I ma…

Some thoughts on AI
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-12-26T11:22:44Z
subject: Technology
subject: AI
subject: artificialintelligence
subject: FLOSS
subject: IT
subject: open source
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ai-stevejohnson-_0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="an image of a digital brain over a startrek style control panel" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ai-stevejohnson-_0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ai-stevejohnson-_0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash-h720-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Is there an alternative architecture? Can we build distributed open source rules bases? What is the learning layer? Some notes and links … Links Google AI insights says, “The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) does not develop a single, proprietary large language model (LLM) itself. Instead, it provides a foundation of open-source projects and tools that...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ai-stevejohnson-_0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="an image of a digital brain over a startrek style control panel" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ai-stevejohnson-_0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ai-stevejohnson-_0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash-h720-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Is there an alternative architecture? Can we build distributed open source rules bases? What is the learning layer? Some notes and links … Links https://www.instaclustr.com/education/open-source-ai/top-10-open-source-llms-for-2025/, from instacluster; I have skimmed this once, there are some interesting things here. https://www.prismetric.com/how-to-build-ai-agent-with-deepseek/ https://www.astronomer.io/blog/ask-astro-open-source-llm-application-apache-airflow/ Google AI insights says, “The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) does not develop a single, proprietary large language model (LLM) itself. Instead, it provides a foundation of open-source projects and tools that are widely used to build, manage, operationalize, and deploy LLM-powered applications and workflows.” Today, and I need to look more, it seems none of these are about the rules base, I wonder if that’s deliberate and caused by the search engines and new players enclosing their search indexes. We’ve already learnt Google are doing this.

AI & Search
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-12-20T21:26:20Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: AI
subject: artificialintelligence
subject: economics
subject: Technology
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/googlesearch-kellysikkema-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a phone with a google search page" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/googlesearch-kellysikkema-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/googlesearch-kellysikkema-unsplash-h720-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />There is some stuff written about how Google struggles between offering a great customer experience and profitability, but AI is changing that. Here are two articles that address Google’s continued anticompetitive behaviour, and AI become an interlocutor for search. It is Karen Hao’s contention that Sam Altman deliberately made ChatGPT so compute intensive so he...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/googlesearch-kellysikkema-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a phone with a google search page" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/googlesearch-kellysikkema-unsplash-h720-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/googlesearch-kellysikkema-unsplash-h720-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> There is some stuff written about how Google struggles between offering a great customer experience and profitability, but AI is changing that. Here are two articles that address Google’s continued anticompetitive behaviour, and AI become an interlocutor for search. The long tail lockdown: how Google is quietly fencing off the internet for itself on Medium, behind a paywall, but available with a friend link. This article by Enrique Dans talks about Google’s control of the entry point for crawlers and AI training. What will happen to websites? (In Italian) at Stultifera Navis (which has an interesting translation) by Carlos Mazzuccheli; I read it via Firefox which offered me an automatic translation. I made an English Translation (using tools). Amongst the article’s pieces of evidence, is the assertion that search or click through are dramatically declining. It is Karen Hao’s contention that Sam Altman deliberately made ChatGPT so compute intensive so he didn’t have to compete with Google on talent. It would be ironic if “training’s” need for web crawlers handed the competitive advantage back to Google. This essay, https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/ by Ed Zitron examines the dialectic tension between Google’s need to earn, through results sponsorship versus the necessary honesty to keep people using it. I really need to get to grips with the fragment on machines and the ownership of knowledge.

What the EU thinks of the “reset”
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-12-12T13:26:22Z
subject: Politics
subject: EU-UKPPA
subject: europeanunion
subject: MarosSefcovic
subject: politics
subject: rejoineu
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="House of Commons, Ctte Room 17" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />A transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s introductory speech/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting. Meta This transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s speeches/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting in the Palace of Westminster was constructed by scraping the transcript from the youtube stream which is the UK’s...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="House of Commons, Ctte Room 17" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> A transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s introductory speech/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting. Meta This transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s speeches/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting in the Palace of Westminster was constructed by scraping the transcript from the youtube stream which is the UK’s formal record of the meeting. The paragraph formation is mine, and I have converted some of Youtube’s spelling from US to British English and deleted some of Youtube’s double word insertions. Minister Symmonds-Thomas’s speech is hosted on the gov.uk site. I asked Commissioner Šefčovič for a copy of his letter, but his office pointed me at the UK government’s record of the meeting, which it seems is the youtube video. Ambassador Pedro Serrano’s introduction Thank you very much, Madame Co-chair. Mr. Co-chair, dear Minister, for the Constitution, European Union Relations. Dear Nick, what an honour and pleasure to be here with you and with all of you, distinguished members of Parliament. I’m really honoured to be here at the sixth meeting of the EU UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly. I have to start by expressing regrets uh the regrets communicating transmitting to you the regrets of the EU’s co-chair of the partnership council commissioner for trade and inter-institutional relations Marus Sevkovich who is unable to be here with us today in fact he’s addressing EU ministers at…

UK & EU’s SAFE (Defence) funding programme
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-12-11T18:48:34Z
subject: Uncategorized
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="NATO warships at sea, CC NATO BY" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I wrote a piece on the Starmer Administration walking away from the EU’s defence funding programme. Here are the links, I used and didn’t. … Links What I can’t understand is whether, under SAFE the UK might have used EU funds to buy Archer or Boxer, or even pay for part of the AJAX or...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="NATO warships at sea, CC NATO BY" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I wrote a piece on the Starmer Administration walking away from the EU’s defence funding programme. Here are the links, I used and didn’t. … Links The EU reports that, EU and UK conclude security and defence partnership mostly used for the picture. The EU version of the “Reset Communique” EU-UK summit-2025-outcome-documents Minister Nick Thomas Symond’s speech at the UK-EU parliamentary partnership assembly plenary, 17-November The Commission on SAFE funding, i.e. by ECB bonfs UK excluded from €150bn EU defence deal from EuroWeekly News. What I can’t understand is whether, under SAFE the UK might have used EU funds to buy Archer or Boxer, or even pay for part of the AJAX or Challenger 3 programmes, since all these army vehicles either have EU member state components or are sourced from EU member states. Days later it was announced that Canada was joining SAFE for €10m. Why was the Canadian entry fee so much less than that of the UK? Google Gemini states that the argument was about money but the fact that the UK was looking for free money to subsidise Europe’s largest arms manufacturer for a trivial contribution didn’t help. The Commission argued that €6.5bn was a fair request given the size of the the UK economy, the size of the UK arms industry, what the EU was likely to buy, and the fact is that the scheme was aimed at safeguard EU jobs and factories and building its industrial capability. Canada is smaller, and has less to sell. (It’s another example of the Labour Governm…

Where are the chips made?
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-12-11T13:51:02Z
subject: Uncategorized
subject: chips
subject: silicon
subject: Technology
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="silicon chips, in wafer form" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />There’s probably a joke about British and American use of the word chips here, but in this article we are talking about silicon chips. Here is some stats I took 1½ years ago on which countries make them, taken from Wikipedia. The spreadsheet hosting this table, and my version of the data is on my...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="silicon chips, in wafer form" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> There’s probably a joke about British and American use of the word chips here, but in this article we are talking about silicon chips. Here is some stats I took 1½ years ago on which countries make them, taken from Wikipedia. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="650" height="524" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Chips-by-Country-2023.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13557" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Chips-by-Country-2023.png 650w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Chips-by-Country-2023-300x242.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px" /> Chips by Country, 2023 via Wikipedia The spreadsheet hosting this table, and my version of the data is on my [google] share drive.

Universities, funding & growth
type: item
creator: Dave
date: 2025-11-26T09:50:19Z
subject: Economics
subject: Politics
subject: economics
subject: immigration
subject: politics
subject: university
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="Students in gowns and mortarboards" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />There is a Commons Education Select Committee Inquiry going on into University Funding, with hearings held at the beginning of the week. On the Tuesday 25th, they took oral evidence including that from Susan Lapworth, the CEO of the Office for students, who stated that 50 institutions were [financially] vulnerable with 24 at risk of...
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="Students in gowns and mortarboards" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> There is a Commons Education Select Committee Inquiry going on into University Funding, with hearings held at the beginning of the week. On the Tuesday 25th, they took oral evidence including that from Susan Lapworth, the CEO of the Office for students, who stated that 50 institutions were [financially] vulnerable with 24 at risk of imminent, if orderly failure. Links The Select Committee home page at Parliament The Hearing on the 25th Nov on youtube Comment The Government seems to ignore that modern growth theory suggests that GDP growth is dependent on Human Capital and that the current funding scheme discourages citizens and residents from going to University. Our University system is being funded by overseas students, and many of the postgraduate places and research posts are filled by overseas students and workers and many EU researchers have gone home because of Brexit.