Aphyr is so much more than a computer safety researcher. He's one of the most accomplished and empathetic communicators I've ever read.

This is at the heart of Robinson's entitled view. He wouldn't even understand your thesis. His perspective is that the only conceivable competition for the BBC is wilful ignorance. This gives him the right to blame those who don't consume his product instead of adjusting his sights to being better.

A big problem with the BBC is the frequency with which it is the subject of its own headlines. Not because of its scandals, per se, but because of its outsize role in the domestic market.

20 odd years ago UK spread betting firms offered soccer markets like "time of first throw-in" and folk were surprised when players booted the ball into touch from the kick off.

His implication was that we all have risk appetite. As we make the world safer, so the reckless find ways to make it more dangerous to satisfy theirs.

I recall Paul Daniels, a British magician who filled light entertainment TV slots in the seventies and eighties being interviewed. He was asked his opinion on air bags, a recent innovation, and said "it's the wrong thing to do. Put spikes on steering wheels and roads will get safer over night."

@bruces.bsky.social

This is science... the follow up paper just proves it.