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<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...
<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-now-1aan and European alternatives for digital products by a site called European Alternatives My personal problem I use google calendar and mail, and onedrive & gdrive. I am not sure how to replace them, nor if i should move the data. Chat will be a problem; I take the view that one should use what others do, so exiting from the datenkraken will be difficult. See also https://www.euro-stack.info/ and https://eurostack.eu/, and also https://davelevy.info/wiki/it-sovereignty/ and https://davelevy.info/wiki/opensource-cloud-oss/ Image Credit, made by deepai.org
<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...
<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 it was waiting for its Lords Report stage to be scheduled. From #lab25, not debated of course Imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences were introduced in 2005 and abolished in 2012. The application of this law was not backdated, so thousands are still behind bars indefinitely. Those released live with the threat of a return to indefinite incarceration for misdemeanour offences or more concerning if a relapse in their mental health proves a perceived risk to the public. Without adequate access to rehabilitation and in the latter case denial of care provision in the most appropriate place (hospital than prison), The European Court of human rights ruled in 2012 that this practice violated of human rights under Article 5. It is time this practice decried by the United Nations as “inhumane” was ended. We call upon the Government to: Prioritise the review, and re-sentencing of all prisoners currently under an IPP, noting that around 70% have served 10 years more than the sentencing tariff. Take all reasonable steps to ensure that prisoners under an IPP have access to adequate support and appropriate healthcare provision to reduce their risk to the public allowing safe release. Allow urgent re-sentencing and risk assessment of those for whom the continuation of the IPP sentence has been deemed by a medical professional to be a specific barrier to the delivery of effective health care provision and recovery.
<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...
<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 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… Scripting on the raspberry pi by Dave on November 2, 2025 at 6:41 pm This post talks about scripting on raspbian. I have two problems, cron and privilege and running a java script … cron & privilege My script, run_aptjob requires sudo authentication and so asks for it from the gui when run from crontab despite being defined in the root crontab file and called using the sudo command…. Raspberry Pi IV by Dave on July 23, 2025 at 11:25 am I am rebuilding my virtual pi, I think we have the basics, buster, git, gh, ssh, xrdp, ufw, vsftpd, postfix, mailutils, & apache2. (I need to fix my whatsnew for buster.) So next steps … What’s next Today I posted a thread to the Virtual Box forums on installation and guest-additions. I said something like… SSL on a Raspberry Pi by Dave on November 27, 2022 at 12:22 pm Installing an SSL certificate and enabling https was a faff, here are my notes. Now including postfix and dovecot… Firstly, my DNS provider is NOIP, and I chose to get a TrustCOR certificate through their portal. Their free service offers a single certificate as a bundled feature. Basically, the process is in three parts, get… Raspbian on Virtual Box by Dave on October 31, 2022 at 10:02 am I turned off my Raspberry Pi a couple of weeks ago, I was concerned about its energy draw. FFS. Also the projects I planned had stalled but like the No 11 bus, another one has come along, So I decided to install a Raspberry Pi in my virtual box instance. Here’s how … I… Event Monitoring by Dave on May 24, 2021 at 10:01 am My recent problem with the Raspberry Pi is an event monitoring and notification problem. It’s one, that over my career, I have spent a lot of time considering, but today, I only have one server. I don’t think I need or want to afford something like Zabbix, which comes with a series of event monitors… To see the rest of what I have written, check out the HTML version of the feed which has more articles.
<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
<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
<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...
<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
<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...
<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 may need to use the source code version. I have asked for help at https://forums.raspberrypi.com Credential stores, on Linux, the GCM has helpers. This page documents how to install gpg and pass as helpers. The man pass page at linux.die.net https://github.com/GitCredentialManager/git-credential-manager/blob/release/docs/install.md#.NET-tool, how to install a Linux .NET tool, I have not done this yet as I am testing it on an Ubuntu VM. https://github.com/GitCredentialManager/git-credential-manager/blob/release/docs/install.md, how to install by OS, we need Debian for Ubuntu; we would for https://github.com/GitCredentialManager/git-credential-manager/releases/tag/v2.0.877, hosts the code, .deb or in tar or source. Will I need this, .NET from MS? Or this? The GCM compiles without installing .net in Ubuntu 22. Configuring GCM This page documents the environment variables. https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/creating-a-personal-access-token About remote repositories, or about-remote-repositories#cloning-with-https-urls how to get access tokens FFS, and Fine-grained personal access tokens (Beta) https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/getting-started-with-git/caching-your-github-credentials-in-git, does this mean if one uses git clone https, it obviates the need for all this shite I was trying to make a pull on a pi, and was told I had to stash the build. I need to take some care on pulling the repo’s from github, it gets quite tricky although a correspondent on the pi forums recommends using ssh protocol.
<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...
<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.
<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...
<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.
<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...
<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 the general affairs council as as we speak and he has uh requested me to address the assembly on his behalf before reading out his message. I just want to say how much I agree with the words that have been just spoken by Minister Thomas Simmons, by Nick um on the crucial nature of this relationship, of the turning point that was uh the May 19th summit of of of this year, of the fact that we are facing common challenges in Europe and we have to respond by joining forces the with the UK and the European Union joining forces and we will have a stronger uh Europe and indeed we have a very ambitious agenda, an agenda on prosperity, on security, on defense, people-to-people contact. And this is what we’re trying to and we’re carrying out uh as as we speak with negotiations on quite a few of the elements that we’re agreed May advancing and and more to come. But if you allow me now, I will read out the speech that um Commissioner Sefkovic would have delivered uh to you. Maros Sefkovic’s letter, as read Um to begin I would like to thank the previous speaker uh Minister Thomas Simmons who has provided the UK perspective on the state of play of EU UK relations. With my address I hope to add to these remarks by providing the perspective from Brussels. I recall the assembly’s recommendation from its last meeting in March which was to strengthen EU UK partnership. We can note appreciable progress in this direction since then, not least with the first EU UK summit at leaders level here in London on 19th May. My remarks on EU UK relations are divided in two parts. First, I will provide an overview of the implementation of the agreement underlying EUK relations and second, I will speak to our common understanding for the future of our relationship. Honourable chairs, honourable members, firstly about the existing agreements. Both sides have reaffirmed their commitment to the full timely and faithful implementation of these agreements. This matters and needs to be reflected in concrete results. On the withdrawal agreement, there are a few points which I wish to highlight today. First on citizens right and on a personal note here I do want to also express gratitude to Minister Thomas Simmons also for his personal engagement on all issues but on this issue also very very specifically. EU citizens and UK nationals must enjoy in full the rights set out in the withdrawal agreement. While cooperation in this area remains constructive, there still remain 1.5 million EU citizens who need to transition from presettled to settled status in the UK. So, our attention is needed here. While the overall cooperation remains a constructive, systemic issues persist and our UK counterparts have heard our concerns, and we trust they will be addressing them. Second, the Windsor framework. Progress in implementation has been made across many areas with vast flexibilities rolled out for the benefit of people and businesses in Northern Ireland in the areas of agri food, medicines, customs, trade, VAT, and excise to only quote a few. The framework, however, represents a careful balance between flexibilities and safeguards. The latter are essential for the protection of the EU single market while avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. A lot of work has been done but more remains to be done by the United Kingdom to deliver in full the safeguards, not least in the areas of customs and Sanitary and Phytosanitarymeasures. with respect to an EUK agreement um Gibralt uh I’m sorry with respect to an EUK agreement on Gibraltar we’re working very hard in order to finalize the legal text after the political agreement reached in June. Turning now to the trade and cooperation agreement. We continue to assess this agreement as serving our interests well. Thanks to the TCA, we cooperate with our UK partners in many policy areas, ranging from trade through energy and fisheries to law enforcement and union programs. At the same time, we can acknowledge that not all of our discussions are easy. For example, the Commission has been engaging with our counterparts on the UK decisions related to the closure of waters where sand-eel are fished. Another example where the EU and the UK must engage constructively is the Commission’s recently proposed steel measure. This measure seeks to tackle the negative trade related effects of overcapacity on the EU steel market. This measure will have an impact on our major steel trading partners including the United Kingdom. At the same time, the commission’s proposed measure foresees a similar regime to the current one as regards the trade flows of UK originated steel from originating steel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in line with the Windsor framework commitments and solutions. We have engaged with the UK authorities with the United Kingdom authorities on those issues and in particular why excluding the United Kingdom from its scope was not possible. We will have the possibility to discuss the specifics of the country allocation of quotas and per category in our bilateral engagements. Moving now to the renewed agenda. It is a little less than six months since our leaders met at the first ever EU UK summit in London. It marked a new chapter in EUK relations. Our joint ambition to deepen the relationship was agreed and set out in the common understanding adopted at the summit. We are working hard to deliver on our objectives. Within one month of the summit, we formalized our political agreements on fisheries and energy, providing predictability for our fishermen, women, and continuously extending energy cooperation. We are now ready to start negotiations with United Kingdom for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement and an agreement on linking the Union’s and the United Kingdom’s emission trading schemes. Discussions on all other issues have also started, notably security and defence, the UK’s association to Erasmus Plus, youth mobility, electricity, law enforcement and judicial uh cooperation, and irregular migration. In particular, the following developments are worth mentioning. The negotiations with the United Kingdom on the conditions for its participation in the SAFE instrument are at a critical phase. We would need to find an agreement particularly in relation to financial contribution before the end of November deadline for the submission of national plans. In order to strengthen our people-to-people contacts, a key commitment of the renewed agenda, we are in active negotiations for a youth experience scheme. Our joint aim is to give our young people opportunities including for cultural, creative and educational exchanges. In her September remarks advocating an ambitious scheme, Chancellor Reeves said that she wanted young people to have the same opportunities to come to the United Kingdom as her generation had to travel in Europe. We are in full agreement. We have seen also a drop in the number of EU students studying in the UK by 57% in 2023-2024 as a consequence of Brexit. We think this is unfortunate and we would like to tackle the root causes of this problem. We are also working hard to reach an agreement on UK participation in Erasmus Plus. This issue cannot be looked at through a financial lens only. We believe in the importance of this program for building bridges between our people and building on the things that we have in common as Europeans. As President Von der Leyen has stressed, Erasmus Plus is key for creating a better understanding of each other. We truly hope that we will be able to find solutions. Believing that close cooperation on electricity is in both the EU and the UK’s interests, we are exploring with the United Kingdom the parameters for the UK’s possible participation in the EU’s internal electricity market. Of course, such participation would require respecting the integrity of the internal market and ensuring a genuine level playing field. Furthermore, we’re deepening our cooperation across wider security issues, irregular migration, law enforcement, and judicial cooperation. We will continue our efforts to implement this renewed agenda in a manner which ensures a balanced outcome for the eur European Union. Honourable chairs, honourable members, minister, we are convinced that a stable and positive relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom based on our existing agreements is in our mutual interest. The common understanding shows that we can inject dynamism into the relationship in identifying new areas for cooperation in our mutual interest. I have no doubt that this partnership assembly will continue to play a key role in promoting and facilitating mutual understanding in the EU UK relationship. I look forward to hearing your views and be pleased to answer questions you may have. Thank you very much. [Applause]
UK & EU’s SAFE (Defence) funding programme
<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...
<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 Government not getting the citizenship dimension of the EU.) Canada, may also supplement its fleet of F35s with Sweden’s Gripen where as the UK has agreed to buy more F35s. (This may have been a factor.) AFAIK the decision is not yet taken, but the Swedes will licence the manufacture of the Gripen and thus the jobs will be in Canada. 1/1/2026 Image Credit (c) NATO, used under CC NATO BY
<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...
<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.
<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...
<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.