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Emeritus Prof. Christopher MayChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk
Oct 22, 2026, 5:38 AM
I see the BigTech builders of UK data centres are sufficiently concerned about the prospect of widening (local) political resistance & protests that they are seeking Govt. intervention to deliver a 'compact' to ease the local environment for construction...
Of course, given our political class' disdain for protest and people's local interest(s), we're more likely to see proscription of protest groups & repression of campaigns against data centres.
#politics #AI
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/22/ai-firms-say-uk-has-a-year-to-head-off-datacentre-protests-before-construction-is-threatened
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Replies

rzeta0rzeta0@mastodon.world
Oct 22, 2026, 9:24 AM
@ChrisMayLA6
none of the mainstream media are asking why these data centres
1. need to be near people
2. need to even be in the UK
3. are not in the US, where their parent corporatiosn are
4. offshore outside the if they don't want them scarring their landscapes
(and no, there is no meaningful benefit to the UK for having US data centres here)
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John_LoaderJohn_Loader@ohai.social
Oct 22, 2026, 9:33 AM
@rzeta0 @ChrisMayLA6 Old North Sea oil rigs could be repurposed perhaps.
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rzeta0rzeta0@mastodon.world
Oct 22, 2026, 9:34 AM
@John_Loader @ChrisMayLA6
John - but why do we, the UK, have to have them?
These are US corporations, they can build them there.
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John_LoaderJohn_Loader@ohai.social
Oct 24, 2026, 9:39 AM
@rzeta0 @ChrisMayLA6 they are global companies.
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rzeta0rzeta0@mastodon.world
Oct 24, 2026, 10:19 AM
@John_Loader @ChrisMayLA6
but why do we want the data centres here?
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John_LoaderJohn_Loader@ohai.social
Oct 22, 2026, 9:32 AM
@ChrisMayLA6 Ministers shouldn’t offer anything. The owners of data centres should. For a start free community heating. And electricity at the wholesale price the centre will pay, Free internet.
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Nininini@oldbytes.space
Oct 22, 2026, 9:41 AM
@ChrisMayLA6 Be keenly aware though that we don't protest the data centres because they're US corp owned, we would hate them just the same no matter who owned them. Sovereignty is a distraction, just as it was during Brexit.
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Emeritus Prof. Christopher MayChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk
Oct 22, 2026, 12:01 PM
@nini
yes, fair comment....
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Claire McNab2legged@mastodon.ie
Oct 22, 2026, 10:21 AM
@ChrisMayLA6 Ah well.
The Grannies Against Data Centres can be like-minded company in jail for the Grannies against Genocide.
#HappyDays
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Christo. London, England.Christo_459@mastodon.me.uk
Oct 22, 2026, 10:24 AM
@ChrisMayLA6
We need to stop them all.
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Sarah🌳Sarah111well@mas.to
Oct 22, 2026, 11:01 AM
@Christo_459 @ChrisMayLA6 Does our planning system assess whether a locality can support a proposed development’s requirements for water & sewerage, before it gets close to being approved. This goes as much for new houses as data centres. My understanding is that water companies are duty bound to provide the water supply, sewerage etc. no matter how impossible, once planning has been approved, but I’m happy to be corrected.
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Emeritus Prof. Christopher MayChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk
Oct 22, 2026, 12:06 PM
@Sarah111well @Christo_459
I think I'm right in saying there is something in the planning application process... but it may be a weak requirement
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Sarah🌳Sarah111well@mas.to
Oct 22, 2026, 12:11 PM
@ChrisMayLA6 @Christo_459 Sounds about right to me.
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Juggling With EggsJugglingWithEggs@mstdn.social
Oct 22, 2026, 10:36 AM
@ChrisMayLA6
My current thinking on #AI #DataCentres is much the same as oil and gas fields…the media tricks us with window dressing - either ‘it’s going to deliver huge benefits and financial savings’ or ‘why are our politicians so spineless to stop it?’.
But actually we need to focus on the evil means of legal warfare that these corporations with bottomless pockets are perpetrating against governments across the spectrum to get their way. Politicians are hostages.
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Juggling With EggsJugglingWithEggs@mstdn.social
Oct 22, 2026, 12:19 PM
@ChrisMayLA6
This is what happens in terms of #BigOil companies who use Investor State Dispute System (ISDS) to sue governments for environmental legislation that they deem as lost opportunities to make money. As a result of these secretive tribunals #fossilfuel companies have been paid over US$87 billion (£64 billion) by countries since 1998. Who’s to say thst something very similar is not happening with #AI #DataCentres ?
https://theconversation.com/how-big-oil-companies-can-slow-the-green-transition-by-suing-governments-that-ban-fossil-fuels-281972
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Emeritus Prof. Christopher MayChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk
Oct 22, 2026, 12:33 PM
@JugglingWithEggs
yes, I'd agree; a change in the law to constrain data centre build out would undoubtedly end up as a ISDS action... see my own survey of the issue below (from a while back)
#ISDS #politics
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/environment/investor-state-dispute-settlement-the-rule-of-law-or-instrument-of-corporate-power/
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Richard Michael Blaberrmblaber1956@mastodon.social
Oct 22, 2026, 12:59 PM
@ChrisMayLA6 @JugglingWithEggs We will have no alternative but to withdraw from all #ISDS #treaties if we, as a country, are unable to stop the building of #datacentres, regardless of what the majority of the #voters want.
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Emeritus Prof. Christopher MayChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk
Oct 22, 2026, 1:28 PM
@rmblaber1956 @JugglingWithEggs
The problem is ISDS provisions are embedded in bilateral investment treaties & unpicking the whole network of those treaties would be difficult, to say the least, and likely subject to the very ISDS provisions that you want to end.
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Richard Michael Blaberrmblaber1956@mastodon.social
Oct 22, 2026, 1:33 PM
@ChrisMayLA6 @JugglingWithEggs So we are, in other words, royally f***ed with regard to #ISDS. Wonderful! So much for #democracy, & for people wanting to stop #datacentres. We can't do it, even if we want to, it seems.
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rzeta0rzeta0@mastodon.world
Oct 22, 2026, 2:50 PM
@rmblaber1956 @ChrisMayLA6 @JugglingWithEggs
Isn't parliament sovereign?
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diana 🏳️‍⚧️🦋🌱dianea@lgbtqia.space
Oct 22, 2026, 11:25 AM
@ChrisMayLA6
This is the core definition of fascism
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