Charlie Walker

Charlie Walker works in strategy and operations for an AI start-up. He was previously an adviser on youth and digital strategy in parliament.

Monday

Charlie Walker

Why Big Tech keeps hiring Britain’s former politicians

From our UK edition

In recent years, a trend for a particular kind of career move has begun to crop up in British public life. A small but revealing cluster of senior political figures has reappeared not just on the after-dinner circuit or in the House of Lords, but inside America’s most powerful technology companies. Rishi Sunak now advises Microsoft and Anthropic. George Osborne has joined OpenAI. Even seasoned political operators like the former No. 10 advisors Liam Booth-Smith and Cass Horowitz have swapped British electioneering for American Big Tech. It is tempting to see this as just another spin of the revolving door. Politics drains into money, Silicon Valley has deep pockets, and British politicians have always travelled well. But this trend is different.

Sunday

Charlie Walker

The painful truth about Gen Z

From our UK edition

An older friend once described his freshers’ week in some detail: a botched proposal, two inadvertently-acquired tattoos and more alcohol than he cared to remember. Mine was rather different: I was confined by the pandemic to a 3x4 metre room with solitary meals in an exam hall canteen. Corridors determined household bubbles (there were two of us) and ‘going out’ meant yet another riveting walk. We’re WFH-obsessed quiet quitters who retreat behind email at the first opportunity For many young people, substantial chunks of education or early working life were marred by similar experiences. With all these setbacks, you’d think we might have raised a generation of hyper-resilient go-getters, eagerly and adequately braced for the inevitable challenges of the real world.