on Palantir’s grubby hands all over our NHS
For reasons unclear to most, the government has a £350 million agreement with one of the most evil corporations ever conceived, Palantir Technologies.
The American spy-tech firm was co-founded by arch conservative billionaire, venture capitalist and all-round scary individual Peter Thiel. It is hugely controversial for its parasitic involvement in government surveillance, data collection, and development of AI-related tools which are used in military contexts.
Perfect for a national health service then.
palan-ticked off
In November 2023, NHS England signed the hefty contract with Palantir to run the Federated Data Platform (FDP): an attempt to centralise how the NHS holds data, an issue which has plagued the service for years.
Though the NHS could undoubtedly improve its processes and systems, the inclusion of nefarious private companies is always seen as the favoured solution for malaise in the public realm. This is Neoliberalism 101: part or the whole of a public industry is handed to private corporations, so in essence the collective responsibility for these services and their data becomes managed by unaccountable businesses, rather than the (supposedly) democratic state.
The partnership with Palantir is particularly egregious.
Mere months after the Palantir contract was signed in the UK, in January 2024 they made another ‘strategic’ partnership: this time with the Israeli military so they can use its technology in support of “war-related missions.” This was in January 2024, when the genocide on Gaza was in full-swing –with at least 10,000 children killed out of over 23,000 reported deaths. This number tragically only grew as the slaughter raged on, fully supported by the complicit West.
What does the partnership with the IDF mean? Palantir’s specialised AI tools and systems could now be used to fund a genocide and other destructive endeavours by the rogue state of Israel. And since the NHS is publicly funded, now our taxes go towards this evil too. What a joy!
wes roading and friends
The company’s involvement in the NHS means we also get to inadvertently support President Trump’s ICE immigration raids and mass deportations, as well as the data-harvesting of other Americans. This business with Palantir means we have all become unwitting bedfellows with the worst human rights abusers of the modern age.
Luckily our esteemed government Health Secretary West Streeting is on it, by…refusing to publish documents that will detail the risks of Palantir’s systems for handling our health records (?).
I wouldn’t expect anything less than an odious man linked to private healthcare, despite his bizarre assurances that he’d rather scoop his own eyes out “with a teaspoon” than privatise the NHS. Doth the secretary protest too much?
The deal also reinforces the tactics of control from the senior NHS officials, with staff told they might lose their jobs if they continue to criticise Palantir’s systems within the service. The implications of this company having access to our medical records is chilling – we’ve seen that Palantir has worked with ICE enforcement in the U.S, using medical records to pinpoint and target people for immigration raids.
You don’t have to use your imagination much to see this could be us.
The pressure is growing on the government to scrap the agreement with Palantir, but can we really hope for a miracle under the watch of negative aura farmer Sir Keir Starmer?
Organisations like No Palantir in Our NHS, Keep Our NHS Public and Good Law Project have practical ways to fight back against this travesty, join them to take action now!
please sir, can I have some more (private companies hoarding my data)?
To me, this whole sordid affair spells out the corrupt nature of corporate involvement in public services. It’s a central pillar of the insidious legacy that Thatcher and Blair left us in this country. Neoliberal thought means a public service cannot be conceived to actually be in the public hands.
Everything has a price: our utilities including electricity and water, our energy, trains, the post office. And the vultures would love nothing more than a fully-privatised health service akin to the dreadful U.S system.
The fact that Palantir is so transparently problematic can be a bridge for us to recognise the more opaque issue of private claws in public pursuits.
Palantir is the tipping point, but there’s a lot more ground to cover to ultimately get our data out of the grubby hands of corporations.
We must say no more of this, before it’s Palantir’s world and we’re all just living in it.
~ Tommy
Is this what you thought the future would look like? If you didn’t envision robots on the streets of Warsaw scaring pigs, that’s on you tbh.
According to the AP, “the hero of the video published Sunday is Edward Warchocki, a humanoid robot turned Polish influencer. Edward is a Unitree 1 robot produced in China, whose bubbly personality is a Polish creation.” I guess robots can have personalities, but to me it’s still a bit like saying my microwave has dreams and aspirations.
I will admit, this is actually the funny side of our tech-doomerist existence. It would be great to travel back in time and show our ancestors an android chasing wild boars. Although what it says about what else these robots could round up in the future (hint: us) is best not dwelled upon.
RFK Jr cut off dead raccoon’s penis on family vacation ‘to study later’
Nothing that the controversial U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr, does reassures me he is not a serial killer.
A habitual liar, if you ever hear anything weird, offputting or disgusting about this man – especially involving animals – you better believe that it’s true. This is the person who cut off a dead whale’s head, admitted to dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, blamed his brain fog on having a brain worm, and, less eccentric but more predatory, has faced sexual assault allegations.
According to a 2001 entry from Kennedy’s private journals shared with investigative journalist Isabel Vincent, he once pulled over on a highway after spotting a dead raccoon:
“I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be,” he wrote, reportedly reflecting on strained relationships with his brother Douglas Kennedy and cousin Bobby Shriver. “My kids waited patiently in the car.” 😳 Erm…
No further questions, your honour.
The Simpsons being left wing for 9 minutes straight
This is where the golden era of The Simpsons shone best – putting a critical anti-establishment lens on social issues and satirising conventional American wisdom. I’ve long thought about writing a book about the left-wing politics of The Simpsons, if I thought anyone would read it.
My favourite from this nifty compilation has to be the protest song that Lisa leads when Homer and his work colleagues go on strike at the Nuclear Power Plant. An important take on the strength of collective bargaining: “They have the plant but we have the power.”
The new seasons of The Simpsons, known instead for sucking up to celebrities and shitheels like Elon Musk, could never.
Slipknot - Duality [Cover by TORWAI]
I love this Thai group so much. TORWAI have gone viral for covers of 2000s nu metal songs whilst cooking delicious dishes. The musical ability is clearly there, but the appeal is bolstered by the ridiculous food antics. Give it a listen to realise they are really cooking with fire.
I wouldn’t necessarily watch their videos for cooking inspiration, but certainly for life goals. If you don’t aspire to cook Thai red curry whilst covering Slipknot in a state of mayhem, I don’t know how to save you.
Do Your Own Research – The Iran War will Bring Down the American Empire
A fascinating guest on this episode of Novara Media’s Do Your Own Research podcast, Alfred McCoy is a historian who in 1972, as a researcher, uncovered the CIA and French intelligence’s complicity with the heroin trade during the Vietnam War. This was information that the CIA tried to suppress.
Due to his extensive experience, he has a wide-ranging view of the history of American empire, especially all its contradictions and criminality. He is someone I could listen to for hours.
He talked to Richard Hames about the parallels of the current 2026 war on Iran to past colonial follies, and its potential to not only damage but end the American empire.
Inshallah.
Harriet Richardson – Growing up in p*edo Britain
In this substack article, artist and writer Harriet Richardson demonstrates how prepubescent girls and children have been sexualised in our culture through the lens of fashion and media, told through her own experiences.
Using a top she had as an 8-year old child which read ‘young, hot and single’ (🤮) as a damning example, she explores how normalised this behaviour was, and continues to be. “My name is Harriet, I’m thirty, and I grew up in a Britain of playboy pencil cases, shag-bands, and countdown clocks to girls becoming ‘legal’.”
The hierarchy of power in our society creates feelings of secrecy and shame around sex for young women and girls, which is used to reinforce patriarchy and male sexual domination. Harriet goes on to detail how this culture shaped her own approach to her sexuality as she grew up, and caused her to respond to problematic relationships with a kind of disengaged permissiveness.
Her story connects with this podcast episode of back from the borderline, which details how paedophilic imagery permeated the mainstream fashion industry, deliberately targeting young girls and teens with sexually provocative clothes and accessories. An indictment of the disgustingly perverse nature of mankind, this further outlines the patterns of abuse we desperately need to break.
HELP SAVE RIDLEY ROAD SHOPPING VILLAGE
For those unaware, Ridley Road market is a beloved staple of Dalston in East London’s Hackney: a wonderful indoor and outdoor maze of stalls boasting food, fresh produce, clothes and other products, largely run by Caribbean and West African traders.
Due to a civil dispute with the landlord, a corporate property developer based in the tax haven Virgin Islands, security attempted to oust traders from the indoor market on March 31. Their lease ending was used as a ‘de facto eviction’.
The sellers have held their ground and pushed back, refusing to leave the premises, and these efforts have been supported by the wider community, including London Renters’ Union. Thanks also to the efforts of volunteers, they have managed to keep the market occupied since the unjust attempt to fragment this space.
The campaign to save this vital part of London desperately needs more volunteers to support the traders in their occupation (can do a two-hour or overnight shift, more info here) and more media attention. Please consider lending your support any way you can.
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