Owen Bennett

My Brexit 10 years on take. The more responsible parts of the media struggled to get useful information to voters, because hypotheticals can't be proved and plausible outcomes had to be modelled. The less responsible parts simply campaiged for Brexit.

I understand why this is newsworthy, but the crucial missing context is that this kind of intervention on tech policy matters has been a standard playbook for US embassies in Europe and globally as far back as the Obama administration. www.thetimes.com/article/cd13...

“Ireland is described as “a live cautionary example” of energy demand running ahead of infrastructure, with data centres using electricity equivalent to all urban households combined” Everyone always says how fun it is to be held up as a cautionary tale by the UN www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

This episode of "Today" desperately needs a historian of policing, to explain why things like anti-racism training were introduced in the first place. This wasn't some departure from a world in which the police treated everyone the same. It was an attempt to bring that world fractionally closer.

I would like to see news publishers establish a standard practice whereby the outside law firms that enable this kind of lawfare are named in the articles (and not solely their clients).

I look forward to the day when Harvard Business School whiz kids write the history of Sonos' *two* catastrophic attempts at building a functioning mobile app.

As necessary as it is, I don't see any pathway for Labour to deliver a dramatic EU reset this side of a general election. The party got elected on a manifesto that allows for only the most tentative of resets. Either it breaks the manifesto in a radical way, or it owns the catastrophic error.

The European Partnership Bill in the King’s Speech isn’t quite what I expected. It’s said the Bill will contain powers to implement treaties with the EU once agreed. Earlier reports suggested a form of “dynamic alignment” which would allow gov to follow EU rules even with no treaty. Will wait & see

Come & work with me at the Hasso Plattner Institute & Prof @bmittelstadt.bsky.social & @cruss.bsky.social @oii.ox.ac.uk I am looking for a post doc on the governance of emergent tech. jobs.plattnerfoundation.org/HPI/job/Pots... Application deadline is June 18, 2026

Perhaps because I 'want' it to be true, I found this piece by @mijrahman.bsky.social on Europe's emerging geopolitical consciousness to be a great read. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Significant change at the top of Ireland's online safety regulator, with Commissioner Niamh Hodnett stepping down after three years in the role. Given she's been running the public sector equivalent of a high-octane start-up, that's a good innings. www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

According to MLex, the European Commission Pres has signalled that an EU-level social media ban could be proposed as early as this summer. If Brussels goes down that route, London will have little choice but to follow suit, irrespective of domestic sentiment. www.linkedin.com/posts/sara-b...

Crucial point by John Curtis on BBC - Councils flipping from Labour to Reform are because Labour are losing **to the left**, & Cons to Reform Chasing Reform failed Labour; they lost the base & didn’t convince many on the right (Failed Tories too) Watch everyone learn the wrong lesson anyway

Another great policy job, this time at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. Focus is broader than tech, mind. www.iccl.ie/wp-content/u...

What has the European Convention on Human Rights ever done for anyone? A new ITV drama shows how survivors of serial rapist John Worboys used the ECHR to hold the authorities to account for failing to protect women from violence. Find out more👇 🔗 www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk/news/2026/5/...

Those pesky European hate speech and platform accountability laws strike again. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

These numbers should be amplified everywhere there is a flat surface. The 3,000 person sample size was statistically significant. The direction of travel is positive but runs directly contrary to the perception born in the echo-chamber of Twitter-brained media and politics. (H&CC is a client)

I've had a growing sense of FOMO in recent days, as Lusaka is the first instalment of RightsCon in a decade that I won't be attending. But this news has put it into perspective. A lot of cash-strapped digital rights organisations will have sacrificed a lot to get to Zambia. A real shame.

Convince me that EU Council presidency venue choices are not a crafty attempt by mid-level civil servants to make the case to their political masters for investment in regional public transport. EU politicos are going to spend *a lot* of time in minivans with the EU presidency comes to Ireland.