Albania has appointed an AI bot as its new anti-corruption minister as artificial intelligence increasingly infiltrates the world of politics. Known as Diella, which means “sun” in Albanian, it’s hoped that the new AI minister will be “impervious to bribes, threats, or attempts to curry favour”, said Reuters.

‘Sticking point’
Diella was originally launched earlier this year as an AI-powered virtual assistant to help citizens and businesses obtain state documents. Now she’s “the first cabinet member who isn’t physically present, but is virtually created by AI”, said Prime Minister Edi Rama as he unveiled his new cabinet. She’ll help make Albania “a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption”, he promised.

The awarding of public tender contracts is a particularly sensitive issue in Albania – it has “long been a source of corruption scandals”, said Reuters. Albania wants to join the European Union by 2030 and corruption is a “sticking point”, said Euronews, so the government is keen to be seen to be cracking down on it.

But not everyone is convinced Diella is the answer. “Even Diella will be corrupted in Albania,” said one Facebook user and another predicted that “stealing will continue and Diella will be blamed”.

‘Castle in the air’
The use of AI in politics is becoming more and more mainstream. A youth movement in Nepal this week used ChatGPT to suggest potential candidates for interim prime minister, then asked it to “debate the pros and cons” of each, said The Times. Again, there are sceptics. To change laws “you need research, legitimacy and a real mandate”, a Nepali wrote on a forum. Choosing a candidate with AI is “like building a castle in the air”.

Closer to home, MPs in Westminster are “frequently resorting” to ChatGPT to write speeches, according to analysis of Hansard, the parliamentary record. “Phrases such as ‘I rise to speak’ and ‘I rise today’, which ChatGPT regularly suggests as a way to begin speeches in the House of Commons, have surged since the release of the AI tool in 2022,” said The Telegraph.

The first football-style NHS league tables, which rank the best- and worst-performing hospitals and trusts in England, have been published. Available to the public, they will be reassessed every three months.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he hopes league tables will increase transparency and bring “the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS”, but health experts have warned that the new system lacks nuance and could even “prompt patients to avoid seeking help”, said The Guardian.

How does the system work?
Each trust is assigned a score between one (the highest) and four based on their performance across six domains: access to services, effectiveness and experience of care, patient safety, staff wellbeing, fiscal responsibility, and improving health and reducing inequality. Finances are also taken into account; “it is possible that a hospital rated highly for clinical care will be marked down if they are running up a larger than expected deficit”, said the BBC.

NHS leaders at top-ranked trusts may be offered bonuses or temporary pay raises “to go into the lower-ranked organisations and turn them around”; those leading the “worst performers” might see their pay frozen or docked, said The Telegraph.

What do the results show?
Specialist trusts including Moorfields Eye Hospital, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust topped the table, while The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, received the worst rating.

But NHS England said while the table “can be a helpful indicator of potential areas of disparity for further investigation”, comparisons should be made “cautiously”.

Why are some experts urging caution?
Tables “don’t tell you in simple terms” how a hospital is performing, Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the King’s Fund, told the BBC. “These rankings risk confusing people, rather than helping them choose where to get great care.”

“As finances have a particular sway on the rankings”, the tables are “of limited use” for patients, Thea Stein, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, told The Telegraph. There is also a risk that “trusts will focus only on the measures that immediately boost their ranking”, even if those measures aren’t necessarily best for their patients.

Berkshire: Gallery House, Hungerford
An opportunity to convert an attractive Grade II property, formerly retail premises believed to date back to the 17th century (with later additions), into a modernised residential dwelling. 6 beds, 4 receps, 3 attic rooms, WC, large garden, detached outbuilding. £450,000; Strutt & Parker

Norfolk: Stocks Green, King’s Lynn
A handsome 18th-century property, part of the historic fabric of Castle Acre, which also hosts the owner’s apartment, restaurant/café and shop. A full handover will be provided. 2 beds, family bath, kitchen/dining room, recep, conservatory, 2 roof terraces, walled garden, outbuildings. £785,000; Savills

Buckinghamshire: Beam House, Great Missenden
This lovely Grade II village house dates back in part to the 15th century, and was used as a shop from the 18th century. Main suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen, 3 receps, basement, garden, sun terrace. £1.25 million; Knight Frank

Suffolk: 29 St John’s Place, Bury St Edmunds
A stylish contemporary townhouse in a building that dates back to the 1920s and has previously served as commercial premises for many decades. 2 beds, shower room, open-plan living area, recep, study, covered courtyard. £750,000; Bedfords

Macron has defied the will of the people. He leaves the French public no choice but to Block Everything
Rokhaya Diallo in The Guardian
The “hallmark” of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency is his “persistent disregard for the will of the people”, writes French journalist and activist Rokhaya Diallo. His government’s “combined unfairness and heavy-handedness” is what “people so vehemently oppose now – in the streets and at the ballot box”. I’m “not surprised at the public defiance”: “policies that deepen social hardship are intolerable for those told to tighten their belts”, especially “while the wealthy – idolised by Macron – grow richer still”.

NHS could be critical for Labour to halt the march of Nigel Farage
Martin Bagot in The Mirror
There’s “one issue which could derail the Reform UK bandwagon”, writes Martin Bagot. The NHS is the “one thing that still unites us”, leaving “former City trader” Nigel Farage “at odds with the rest of Britain” when he “sings the praises of the French insurance-based system”. The “private school educated Brexiteer” has suggested that he’s “open to re-examining the NHS’s funding model”, a prospect that will “send a shudder through middle England” and the “traditional working classes”.

I’m middle-class and proud – stop the sneering
Emma Duncan in The Times
“I’m cheesed off by the celebration of the working classes and the denigration of the middle classes,” writes Emma Duncan. It’s “bad for the country”, because “middle-class values and habits” are “those on which decent family and national life are built”. The middle classes are an “industrious lot” who are “disinclined to blame society when things go wrong” and “averse to ostentation”. It’s time for a “middle-class pride movement”, with a flag in a “tasteful blend from the Farrow and Ball palette”.