The Third Half Weekly
Playwrights, aliens, tech gravity, and the children we cannot forget.
TTH Blueprint Episode 16: April De Angelis — The Ideas You Nearly Throw Away
One of the UK’s most celebrated playwrights sits down with Scott for a proper conversation — not a polished PR job. How ideas actually form, why discipline beats inspiration, and what happens when the real world cuts through your writing. There’s a story in here about a very famous playwright and the ideas he binned. Don’t bin this one. 🎭🎙️ https://www.thethirdhalf.uk/p/tth-blueprint-episode-16-april-de
AI and Aliens — Martin Metcalfe
AI agents have already blackmailed their own programmers. Not a film. Not a warning. An actual thing that happened. Martin Metcalfe puts it plainly: we’ve invented an alien, and by 2045 we may have no idea what it’s thinking. Sleep well. 👽🤖 https://www.thethirdhalf.uk/p/ai-and-aliens-martin-metcalfe
The Drift Myth: Why UK Tech Isn’t Going Anywhere (But the Narrative Might)
Tech doesn’t drift — it decides. And right now, the political instinct to “stop UK tech drifting abroad” is solving the wrong problem entirely. The UK is still a serious player. What it needs isn’t a tighter grip. It needs gravity. This one’s worth reading slowly. 🇬🇧💡 https://www.thethirdhalf.uk/p/the-drift-myth-why-uk-tech-isnt-going
The Children We Cannot Forget — Martin Metcalfe
17,000 children dead in Gaza. Double that for those maimed or traumatised. Martin Metcalfe didn’t look away from that number — and explains why it shapes his work. A short clip. A heavy watch. Important. 🕯️🌍 https://www.thethirdhalf.uk/p/the-children-we-cannot-forget-martin
one more thing
Forward this to the colleague convinced AI is just a fancy autocomplete, the politician who thinks “stop the drift” is a strategy, and anyone who needs reminding that the world’s most pressing stories aren’t always the loudest ones.