Exclusive: The Reform UK leader discussed far-right talking points in web TV and radio appearances between 2009 and 2018
Nigel Farage is facing calls to explain why he repeatedly aired tropes and conspiracy theories associated with antisemitism during interviews, after claims the Reform UK leader used racist language in his teens.
All-party group say move is needed to stop UK lagging behind global standards on election integrity
Keir Starmer is being urged to restore independence to the Electoral Commission, with MPs and peers likely to launch a battle to amend the elections bill in the new year.
In a letter to the prime minister, MPs and peers will warn the elections watchdog should not be overseen by the political parties in charge of holding to account.
Max Altman said that tech became too focused on mission.
Nitat Termmee/Getty Images
Max Altman urged tech workers to prioritize joining the fastest-growing companies.
He criticized tech’s past focus on mission over business growth.
Today’s tech companies emphasize efficiency, lean teams, and rapid growth.
Max Altman’s career advice: Focus on picking the fastest-growing company.
On an episode of the “20VC” podcast published on Sunday, Altman said that tech once became too focused on prioritizing mission over “winning.”
“I say, don’t care about the product. Don’t care about anything, just go work at the fastest growing company,” the venture capitalistsaid. “Because winning feels great. It feels amazing.”
Altman is the cofounder of Saga, a $125 million venture fund that launched last March. Its investments include defense tech startup Anduril, Reddit, and Rippling. He is the younger brother of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the older brother of Jack Altman, also a VC.
On Sunday’s podcast, Max Altman said that tech lost its way in the last few years before 2020. Before becoming an investor, he worked at Microsoft, Zenefits, and Rippling.
He said that everyone in tech was making their company about their mission and “saving the world.”
“We’re doing on-demand dry cleaning and on-demand dog walking, but it’s gonna help the world this way, and you should feel good about yourself,” Altman added.
“I’m like, just go build a great business,” he said. “Winning’s the most fun thing here. And I think we really lost our way for a little a bit.”
In the last two years, tech has largely moved in the direction Altman says he prefers. The industry has been prioritizing growing quickly and doing more with less.
Companies have cut middle-level management in favor of more streamlined teams and fewer tiers of hierarchy, which they say should lead to less bureaucracy.
Across the industry, execs are sharing memos filled with words such as “efficiency” and “scrappiness and frugality.”
In April, Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan detailed his plan for the company’s culture: more time in the office, less admin, and leanerteams.
“The most important KPI for many managers at Intel has been the size of their teams,” Tan wrote, referring to key performance indicators. “Going forward, this will not be the case. The best leaders get the most done with the fewest people.”
“We want to operate like the world’s largest startup,” Amazon’s Andy Jassy wrote in a September 2024 letter. “That means having a passion for constantly inventing for customers, strong urgency (for most big opportunities, it’s a race!), high ownership, fast decision-making, scrappiness and frugality, deeply-connected collaboration.”
Late last month, Amazon laid off 14,000 corporate employees, citing AI’s rapid advancement.
Forward Trust patron says ‘compassion and love’ is needed to end fear and shame felt by those affected
The Princess of Wales has called for an end to the “stigma” surrounding addictions, saying the experiences of those dependent on drugs, alcohol or gambling are “shaped by fear, shame and judgment”.
Catherine, who is a patron of the charity Forward Trust supporting recovering addicts, said more open conversations were needed to bring the issue “out of the shadows” and for society to show “compassion and love” to those affected.
University leaders says planned levy on international student fees will leave many institutions even worse off
University students in England get just two-thirds of the funding they would have received a decade ago, after inflation and government cuts have reduced the resources available for teaching, according to vice-chancellors.
University leaders said the situation was likely to get worse if the government went ahead with a new levy on international student fees in Wednesday’s budget.
Campaigners including Good Law Project describe ICO ‘collapse in enforcement activity’ after Afghan data breach
Dozens of civil liberties campaigners and legal professionals are calling for an inquiry into the UK’s data protection watchdog, after what they describe as “a collapse in enforcement activity” after the scandal of the Afghan data breach.
A total of 73 academics, senior lawyers, data protection experts and organisations including Statewatch and the Good Law Project, have written to Chi Onwurah, the chair of the cross-party Commons science, innovation and technology committee, calling for an inquiry to be held into the office of the information commissioner, John Edwards.
