"For the first time, a rigid office attendance mandate has been broken and replaced with a more sensible, flexible approach based on what actually works," General Secretary Fran Heathcote said. "This has been a long campaign and reaching a deal members could accept reflects the determination of PCS members at ONS, the hard work of their reps and the value of trade unionism."
We introduce a new measure of AI displacement risk, observed exposure, that combines theoretical LLM capability and real-world usage data, weighting automated (rather than augmentative) and work-related uses more heavily. AI is far from reaching its theoretical capability: actual coverage remains a fraction of what's feasible.
On Wednesday, the government reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 130,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell to a still-low 4.3% from 4.4%. However, government revisions cut 2024-2025 U.S. payrolls by hundreds of thousands. That reduced the number of jobs created last year to just 181,000, a third of the previously reported 584,000 and the weakest since the pandemic year of 2020.
Although De Noire is based in Europe, she believes that economic upheaval in the United States "triggers huge uncertainty" across the pond because of America's global influence. De Noire first noticed a decline in business right after Donald Trump was elected in November 2024, as Americans and the rest of the world anticipated upheaval. "I didn't even bother working South by Southwest because the first Friday night I attempted to work, I walked into a completely empty club and didn't make any money at all,"
Just under half, 45%, of U.S. adults now identify as independents, a new Gallup survey found. That's a substantial shift from 20 years ago, when closer to one-third of Americans said they didn't identify with the Democrats or Republicans. This group appears, increasingly, to be driven by their unhappiness with the party in power, according to Gallup's analysis. That's a dynamic that could be good for Democrats in this year's midterm elections, but doesn't promise lasting loyalty.
Finding full time employment in the capital is particularly tough right now. 7.2 per cent of people are unemployed in the capital, a level last seen during the early months of the pandemic. That's up from 5.4 per cent in June 2024, before Labour came into power. Unemployment in London has risen faster than in any other region, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics.
Recent trends indicate that parties like the Green Party of England and Wales and Reform UK have been making significant inroads in areas that have traditionally leaned toward Labour. Political analysts suggest that this shift reflects a fragmentation of the centre-left and right-wing protest voting dynamics in urban constituencies.
Incumbent governments quite often get results like that mid-term, but I do understand that voters are frustrated, they're impatient for change. I came into politics late in life, as it happens, to fight for change for those people need it. The people who need an NHS that works for them, to be able to doctors appointment when they need it, to get the money they need in their pockets to pay their bills, and to have decent and better life.
for the first time in 18 months, Star Sports has staked Labour as most likely to win the general election. Keir Starmer's party have been in the ascendency in the market, said their head of betting, William Kedjanyi, shortening into 13/8 from 15/8 in the past week to supplant Reform at the head of the betting.
As any political adviser worth their salt will attest, it's never too soon to start privately preparing for your candidate's future leadership bid. Yet going too early with registering that all-important website risks telegraphing one's intentions even before the starting gun has fired. Whoever is behind the site bearing her name, Angela Rayner is now facing awkward questions after it emerged that an unfinished site apparently touting her for Labour's top job had briefly appeared online.
If Labour wins in what has been an over-50% solid red-voting area since the second world war, that will calm nerves on its febrile back (and front) benches. If Labour loses, heavy blame will fall on Keir Starmer for fixing the party's ruling NEC to bar Andy Burnham's selection, ensuring he couldn't challenge for the leadership without a Westminster seat.
