Happy new year! But is it too late to save British democracy as we once knew it? In 2024, details of your awkward rectal prolapse could soon be earning a pretty penny for shareholders of an American surveillance business. What a time to be alive!
The American spy technology company Palantir has been given a £330m contract by NHS England to manage its “federated data platform”, which integrates our patient records. Palantir is, genuinely, named after magical orbs in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which the actual Dark Lord, Sauron, uses to spy on the hobbits when he is sending the Nazgûl to murder them. This should perhaps have rang alarm bells.
