A fortnightly analysis series

Policy questions, answered with numbers.

Public debate runs on adjectives. Decisions need numbers. Every essay here takes one policy question, interrogates one dataset, states its uncertainty honestly — and ships the data and code to check the working.

§1
One question

Asked plainly, answered with evidence. No takes without tables.

§2
Ranges, not certainty

Where estimates disagree by 10×, the disagreement is the story.

§3
Show the working

Every number traced to a source; every chart’s code in the open.

Season one
The environmental cost of AI

8 essays · first up soon
  1. 01 How much electricity does AI actually use?Why do credible estimates differ by an order of magnitude? in preparation
  2. 02 One prompt is not one numberWhat does a single AI query cost in energy — and why is every viral figure wrong? in preparation
  3. 03 The grid questionCan the UK grid absorb planned data-centre growth inside Net Zero? in preparation
  4. 04 The water billWhere does AI cooling collide with water-stressed regions? in preparation
  5. 05 What does Parliament actually know?What evidence sits in front of UK decision-makers — and what’s missing? in preparation
  6. 06 Jevons in the machineDo AI efficiency gains shrink total energy use, or grow it? in preparation
  7. 07 The Wales angleWhat do data centres mean for Welsh grid, water and planning? in preparation
  8. 08 What good AI-energy policy looks likeGiven all of the above — what should the UK actually do? in preparation