Each Monday, Alister and Meridyth deliver quick news and interesting stories from the past week to prepare you for the “water cooler” banter, while also squabbling over a topical issue.
Alister is your classic Labour champion with a dad-joke-like humour. Meridyth (an American expat) brings a transatlantic, moderate take with eye-rolling groans.
ALISTER: I’ve decided I don’t trust pumpkins. MERIDYTH: Oh crap… Do I even want to ask why? ALISTER: ‘Cause they're seedy. MERIDYTH: 🙄
ALISTER: Why would anyone pay $40k tuition to enrol their kid in an AI school? A private school in the U.S., Alpha School, is essentially running an unregulated experiment on children. The AI models are unproven and yet they’re creating first-generation guinea pigs!
MERIDYTH: I’m telling you, AI is taking over the world and the human race is doomed. BUT… while I’m not pro-Alpha School, I do agree that we need to start thinking about how to integrate AI into our kids’ lives, responsibly. If at the very least, so they can figure out how to save humanity from AI, because our generation got us into this mess.
ALISTER: I can’t believe you’re not more against this. Reliance on AI causes "deskilling." Students using AI score 6.7 points lower on assessments and show reduced brain activity in creative areas. We're potentially creating a generation that can't think critically!
MERIDYTH: But that's why we need structured AI integration. The Alpha School does claim that its students are performing at the 99th percentile. I’m unsure how true it is, but that can’t be overlooked.
🎐 Wind power! China plans to build the UK’s largest wind turbine factory in Scotland, spending £1.5 billion and creating up to 1,500 jobs. Ardersier in the Highlands is the frontrunner site, with production set for 2028.
🫧 Don’t bank on it. The AI bubble keeps growing. The Bank of England says tech valuations, especially in AI, look “stretched” and warn a sharp market correction could be coming. With OpenAI now worth $500bn, the hype may be outrunning the maths.
🏫 Tax-free boost. The govt wants encourage more people into the teaching profession. Depending on the subject and type of students, new trainee teachers can claim up to £31k in tax-free incentives. Career switch, anyone?
💰 Lotto winnings. Have you wondered what charities the National Lottery supports? A new dig in Cornwall has been funded, to uncover a prehistoric ritual site used for gatherings and ritual activities. It’s estimated to be over 5,000 years old!
GOOD NEWS… for second chances after Emmanuel Macron re-appointed Sebastien Lecornu as France’s prime minister, just four days after he resigned. BAD NEWS… for Trump’s public lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize after it was awarded to Venezuela's opposition leader, María Corina Machado. (At least she called and thanked him...)
💸 Soy loser. China has halted its US soybean imports, which has directly hit American farmers, who are now in desperate need of a bailout. In the meanwhile, Trump has announced 130% tariffs on China. The pause in trade war was nice while it lasted.
🇷🇺 Persona non grata. NATO allies and the EU have been busy. First getting approval to open fire on Russian aircraft, secondly to phase our Russian energy imports, and thirdly to restrict the movements of Russian diplomats. 😲
🇩🇪 Slow down. More countries are restricting migration. Germany has just voted to remove their “fast-track” citizenship option. A key campaign promise has now been delivered, but critics say it will make highly skilled individuals less likely to migrate.
The comet 3I/ATLAS is now viewable. What makes it so special? It’s the third interstellar comet ever discovered! Maybe one day we’ll leave our own solar system. Until then, you can share The AM Squabble!
🥤 Drink water. New research has suggested that soft drink consumption is linked to depression, but only for women. There’s no link found in men. The cause seems to be around your “gut health” and the impact of sugary drinks on your gut biome.
🦠 Stealth Cells That Hunt Cancer. MIT and Harvard scientists have engineered immune cells that can hide from the body while potentially destroying cancer. These “invisible” cells survive longer, strike harder, and clear tumours without the immune system getting in their way.
👂 Listening in? A study found newborns recognise foreign languages they heard in the womb, while their brains process them like their mother tongue. It’s proof that language learning starts long before lullabies.
🖼 Is that a Van Gogh? In Bridgwater, Somerset, life-size replicas of £65m in classic art (from Van Gogh to Constable) now hang on shop walls and bus stops. The “Artscape” trail turns the whole town into an open-air gallery. Cool!
🛬 Budget airlines. How close is too close? A Ryanair flight landed at Manchester with only six minutes of fuel left. Strong 100mph winds forced a flight from Italy to Scotland flight to divert. After three failed landings, it was safer to try Manchester.
🌌 Runaway Planet on a Feeding Frenzy. Astronomers caught a rogue exoplanet, Cha 1107-7626, gorging on gas at 6 billion tons per second, which is the fastest growth ever seen for a planet and it’s 5-10x bigger than Jupiter. The starless wanderer behaves more like a baby sun than a lonely drifter.
By Alister
I am a big fan of home automation. This week I’ve finally taken the plunge in buying Tapo smart plugs and smart bulbs.
Tapo has a very user-friendly app with some cool settings that can easily sync to any home assistant. The bulbs in our rooms are extremely powerful, customisable, and now dimmable. And not only are they more energy efficient, turning off the lights no longer requires getting out of bed!
The standing lamps in my living room have been fitted with slim, energy monitoring plugs, which let me control them with my voice and give me real-time energy readings. Care to buy some Smart Home bits for yourself? Here is a £5 off referral (when you spend over £40.)
By Alister
Are you dating a “leisure” partner?
Over 4.8m people have watched Emily DiDonato talking about how hard her partner works, joking about the fact he’s on his laptop at airports and during holidays. She says it’s fine though, because “being leisure is for the girls.“ (Meridyth: WHAT?!??)
@didonatoemily For the record I work too!!!
Meridyth taking over Alister’s meme... No, no, no. Want to be a TradWife? Go for it. It’s your prerogative. But I am NOT okay with “being leisure is for the girls” as if only men can be ambitious. 😡
Whew, you made it!
Time to get your Halloween decorations ready and prepared, so you can eat all the chocolate secretly… Join us next week for another pro-chocolate Squabble.
Alister & Meridyth