Rachael McKelvey

• ChatGPT isn’t quite ready to take over the world but that doesn’t’ mean it won’t try
• The weather outside is weather
• The Edinburgh Reforms package of financial deregulation.
• How many World Cups do you have left?
• We are now entering “No, that’s for Christmas!” season

ChatGPT isn’t quite ready to take over the world but that doesn’t’ mean it won’t try
The internet is awash with people thinking the end is neigh because ChatGPT can write you an entire novel, this entire twitter thread was quite compelling in the case of fiction but for anything that requires a shred of truth? That’s the truly terrifying bit.

A tool that can make misinformation credible simply by the act of repetition, that doesn’t check its own work and delivers in an authoritative tone. Ooof, that’s quite a thing, isn’t it?

Against a digital landscape that already touts mistruths as fact and a world where the inherent biases in data sets get compounded consciously and unconsciously, how much can it really learn about the world from essentially looking at itself in the mirror?

The weather outside is weather
I am British after all…Isn’t it cold has been basically the conversation starter for the last week, because to quote the greatest line from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”…”The weather outside is weather” and yes I sing it all the time, rain or shine.

But seriously in the last two weeks I have a photo of a red admiral butterfly sunbathing on the wooden tortoise in our local park and now I have a phone full of photos of inches of snow. While the beauty of living in the UK has always been mild weather, I’m not sure you can argue that

The Edinburgh Reforms package of financial deregulation
The 9th December saw the current Chancellor of the Exchequer *checks notes*, still Jeremy Hunt, announce a set of reforms designed to drive growth and competitiveness in the financial services sector and my gut feeling is we should all be a little bit concerned.

Following the financial crisis of 2008 and the impact of Brexit I am not sure that making the new statutory objective of the FCA “international competitiveness” really fits with their goal of regulation, where competitiveness is already implied. We shouldn’t be in yet another deregulation race to the bottom to promote short term growth. I feel like everyone needs to rewatch The Big Short.

(Solvency II, Senior Manager Regime changes and bankers’ bonuses take up a whole different part of my brain. and is a whole other discussion)

How many World Cups do you have left?
My earliest memory of a World Cup is being sent out from a lecture theatre for talking while England were playing in secondary school, I’m not sure how that was meant to be punishment, but it was when I first started to calculate how many World Cups I had left in my life.

Being held only once every 4 years you are born with a finite amount of World Cups. Adjusted for the currently life expectancy of 80.90 years for a female in the UK I have 20 World Cups in my lifetime and 2022 marks the halfway point.

Is 10 World Cups enough to see football come home? Surely we should make home a bit more appealing?

We are now entering “No, that’s for Christmas!” season
We have officially entered the “no, that’s for Christmas” phase of December and while we traditionally don’t do Christmas in our household – it’s quite possibly nearing a decade since I’ve put a tree up but one thing, I can get on board with Christmas about is THE FOOD.

This is the second weekly food shop where a few items for Christmas have been added to the delivery, this week it’s been jars and freezer goodies, so far I have held the initial seminar explaining the items that should not be used because “they are for Christmas” and I eagerly await the first utterance of “no that’s for Christmas!” of 2022.

Current watch: Liar – Without wanting to give the entire plot away because it is so worth a watch – Joanne Froggatt plays teacher Laura and Ioan Grufford plays renowned surgeon Andrew (When he played Pip in Great Expectations in 1999…be still my teenage heart) when paths cross beyond just hello at the school gate neither realise quite how far the consequences of their date will ripple out. It is a gripping thriller where truth and consequence are constantly examined from both sides.

Current read: Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind – Nancy Kline – This book came recommended, despite being written over 20 years ago (1999) it’s served as timely reminder post pandemic that we don’t often gives ourselves time to think and in the ever rush of back to back meetings in a remote world that we probably also don’t give groups enough time to think either.

Kline lays out 10 principles of the “Thinking Environment” to create the conditions for the human mind to think effectively and creatively, it works on all minds no matter what the age. It was an engaging and warm read that has left a lot to reflect on.

Most impactful listen: Re:Thinking with Adam Grant – Why data don’t have all the answers with data scientist Andrea Jones-Rooy
Data skeptic and comedian Andrea Jones-Rooy data scientist joins Adam Grant to talk all things data, the joy and pitfalls of sharing data on social media, how science methodology is just comedy and why we should consider sharing methodologies over outcomes when sharing research.. I ooo’d, I arrh’d and it most definitely got me thinking.

• Economics 2nd #MeToo moment
• Spotify Wrapped
• Pen and paper or electronic lists
• FTX and Alameda Research
• 2021 Census: The most Godless place in England and Wales

Economics 2^nd #MeToo moment
Economics is having its second #MeToo moment, with seemingly little progress since 2018, with the efforts of the American Economics Association (AEA) seemingly only further accommodating sexual misconduct rather than preventing it.

The field of economics is dominated by men, specifically white men and the fact that women feel they can only speak out after the fact anonymously, and those women who can support and amplify their stories can only do so from the safety of a tenured positions says there is still so far to go.

Spotify Wrapped
‘Tis the season, you can’t have missed seeing the listening habits of your nearest, your dearest and internet strangers! Spotify’s ability to turn data harvesting into free marketing should really creep you out if you thought about it for too long.

Spotify’s dominance in music streaming services makes it the world’s largest with 450 million users at the end of its latest quarters with 60% of those users remaining on the free service. For those of paying for premium, thanks to Campbell Walker on Tiktok we now know how much music you need to consume per day in order to take money out of Spotify and give it to Artists – hint it’s probably quite doable.

Pen and paper or electronic lists?
I seem to be having a real shift in personality in the last 18 months, forever the separator…until the pandemic I carried and iPod Nano AND a smartphone, now I just listen to podcasts on my phone like most people.

Well, the same thing happened this week just gone, I needed a list…quite a hefty but quite specifically split list, I have a great small tick box notepad for just that…but could I bring myself to write in it? No. Did I make a spreadsheet with tick boxes and tabs and % complete in a shared document that I can access on my phone? Yes, yes I did. I even used it last week for task that I will have to do again once all the tabs are done but I can just uncheck the boxes and use it again. I think I’m converted.

FTX and Alameda Research
Well well well, the FTX plot thickens with the revelation that when one part of Bankman-Fried’s empire started to faulter they would just move the liability to the stronger looking firm, with Alameda sheltering FTX from $1bn losses and later FTX acting as a lender of last resort for Alameda. These loans appear to have been made primarily using FTX’s own token FTT as their source of lending, so when lenders left Alameda and FTT faltered the house of cards slowly started to collapse.

2021 Census: The most Godless place in Britain
I love it when ONS release data and this week’s data related to cultural identity and religion, a whopping 56m responded to the voluntary religion question, that’s a 94% return rate on Sunday 21^st March 2021! For the first time in Census records less than half the population of England and Wales described themselves as “Christian” but it still remained the most common response to the question.

So where are the most godless places in England and Wales & how do you measure godlessness? Over half the residents of Brighton and Hove (55.2%) reported as having no religion but a staggering 56.7% of respondents in Caerphilly in Wales reported as atheist!

Current watch: An Evening with Jon Ronson at the British Library – I didn’t manage to get a ticket in person, but I did manage to get an online ticket for a wonderful interview with Miranda Sawyer where he talked all things his career and what he is working on next. I absolutely adore Jon and find his work fascinating, I highly recommend anything he’s touched, including this interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

Current read: Make Time: How to focus on what matters every day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky – Want to get more done but have no idea how and constantly feel guilty for just not ever getting anything done? This is the book for you, design your day better! I really enjoyed the simplicity of this book, the non-judgement of the struggle between the Busy Bandwagon and the Infinity Pools and the real practical experimental element of making your day work for you. A really easy read with real life examples that make you feel motivated to perform your own experiment.

Most impactful listen: Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit – Freakonomics People I (Mostly) Admire – Former professional poker player Annie Duke talks with Steve Levitt about quitting, why it’s not as bad as people think it is, why it’s so hard to do and how to do it sooner.  Quitting is a subject close to my heart, that for years was rooted in shame but now I see it as one of the greatest acts of kindness a person can do. A fabulous, inspiring and heart-warming chat between quitters.

• Higher Ed: Limiting overseas student visas
• Duolingo UI redesign
• Passion
• Is FTX the modern-day Enron?
• The Qatar World Cup

Higher Ed: Limiting overseas student visas
The Conservative party are so desperate to reduce immigration they’re seriously considering a limit on overseas student visas. An interesting take that University leaders and other politicians have rightly slammed. Overseas student fees keep universities solvent, fund research and contribute massively to economic growth.

The Germany Embassy in London took no time to sub-tweet that German Universities are offering a record number of courses in English and that it’s an attractive place to study and live because of the reduced cost of living. To which I say, show me where the lie is?

Duolingo UI redesign
Can someone explain why they broke Duolingo please & how I get my tree back? The launch of the path, or the ditching of the tree, is based on science and will guide learners on the most efficient way of learning. As an existing user I no longer have any idea where I am in my learning journey anymore, I’ve failed a spectacular number of lessons and really miss being able to pick how ambitious, or not, I am feeling when tackling lessons. I immediately took to Twitter to see if I could find the funny side (some excellent memes), I still have not (there have been some excellent memes).

Passion
I’ve had the most amazing opportunity in this last week to talk to people about how they got into doing what they are doing and taken great comfort in some common themes – it wasn’t the first thing they thought they wanted to do, it took them some time to find it and it typically came out of a moment (ideal and less than ideal) but that once they found it, it’s kept them learning and developing. A big thank you to everyone who has talked to me this week.

If you feel you have some time to spare and would be happy to talk to me about why you love what your do & how you found it, please do reach out. I promise to ask good questions.

Is FTX the modern-day Enron?
I didn’t want to get too excited last week, even though I secretly did….when John Ray III says the words “never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy finance information as occurred here” you know it’s possible that this is BIG. John Ray III worked on the wind down of Enron. Aspiring accounting students should be cheering there is a new case study for fraud, but accounting professionals wonder what obscure ill thought through legislation will hit the statute books because why fix the system when you can just legislate a knee jerk reaction.

The Qatar World Cup
I am not a football fan, but I do live with one, so IT IS ALWAYS ON, this tournament seems so conflicted for all of reasons. The World Cup in Qatar is surrounded by controversy, all the way back to how it became a host nation. With a current questionable human rights record, the working conditions and death of construction staff through to last minute changes that just mean even Qatar have failed in the mission to just make it about the football. But its bittersweet, for some nations it’s the first time they’ve qualified in a lifetime. I can usually go with the flow for the World Cup, but this time I just can’t get excited. Ps: Not to mention its winter in the northern hemisphere.

Current watch: Friends – It’s been a week and there will be more on that at some point, but this week I just needed comfort, familiarity and Friends and yes, I am that old, I used to wait to go out until Friends had finished. I used to have to wait for episodes.

Current read: When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Mate – With many friends reading the Myth of Normal, this book has been waiting in my TBR, as the owner of a few autoimmune conditions and the fascination of the mind-body link- and the role of emotions and stress in their make-up, this has been a fascinating if not slightly painful read on the costs of modern living.

Most impactful listen: Origin Story Culture War: Inside the rage machine – An insightful look into the history behind culture wars, explaining the modern fascination with defining everything as a culture war and why it makes such good political fodder.

• Sitting with discomfort
• FTX & lack of control
• Twitter
• Neighbours (the tv show)
• Equal Pay Day

Sitting with discomfort
Sometimes feedback can be uncomfortable, even the good stuff, in a very uncharacteristic move I’ve been asking for feedback this week and it’s been interesting to sit with the discomfort of the unrecognisable room for improvement as much as unrecognisable praise. Not all feedback is valid but its interesting to work through how someone might see something as true.

FTX & a lack of controls
How exactly do you ‘accidentally’ lose $8bn? How do you move $8bn to your private trading firm without knowing and/or remembering?
Ironically, most black holes on the balance sheet follow the same concept as those in physics and are formed from remnants of the lack of corporate and financial control and the rest of the numbers just aren’t big enough to trap the light.

Twitter
Oh its hard not to think about Twitter, my current account is 13 years old and this was not my first account on Twitter. I have lived, loved & laughed so hard on Twitter that it came to be real life.
I think my LinkedIn feed looked much like everyone else last week and I wonder how it survives and what the end game is. From a user perspective I currently feel like I’m part of the orchestra on the Titanic and just too tired to climb a life boat…but I have preserved my @ on Mastodon and got flashbacks to the early 2000’s.

Neighbours
Just four months after being axed by Channel 5 Neighbours is set to return on Amazon Freevee at the tail end of 2023 and I couldn’t be more delighted. It’s not highbrow entertainment, but it doesn’t pretend to be. For as long as I can remember Ramsey Street felt like an extension of home, the bright colours, the mild peril and its consistency is exactly the grown up sensory mental floss I need.

Equal Pay Day
Unhappy Equal payday to all Women. Sunday 20^th November 2022 marked the day this year when based on average pay women overall stop being paid compared to men. The gender pay gap has once again widened since Covid-19, this year standing at 11.3%.
With women disproportionately affected by the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis it is important now more than ever that if you can lend support or influence decisions that you get involved.

Current watch: Bored to Death – A struggling writer decides to lead a sort of double life by pretending to be a private detective & Ted Danson is involved, whats not to love?

Current read: The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper & Sarah Ellis – The single most recommended book by my colleagues on how to think about work and designing my career. Thank you for each and every single recommendation.

Most impactful listen: Richard Osman: The Untold Story Of A TV Legend’s Addiction – To use Richards own words “this was such an interesting thing to do, a multi-topic chat”, love or hate Steven Bartlett this interview is not to be missed.