'Big brother' apparatus to create a state of obedience

So in the brave new world of the miliary-industrial complex how do you turn a public relations dilemma and media pushback within the pseudo-democratic matrix into a smooth transition to all-out dystopian domination? Well, that seems to be the quandary facing Palantir at the moment.

Streamlining its surveillance software to satisfy the demands of the New World Order its paving the way for is not without stumbling blocks that need to be eased out of the way, so how do you get around the problem without too much fuss?

Simples, you keep your friends close... and if you’re cut from the same cloth as Palantir’s friends in Israel you bury your enemies wherever the hell you like. But unfortunately for Palantir Gaza’s a pretty exceptional environment at the moment and in other operational areas it’s a case of kid gloves rather than Hulk hands.

As I noted in the second part of this investigation Palantir’s takeover of the United Kingdom’s public services is facing a fair bit of flak so... the kid-glove solution? Sign up one of your friends to join the crusade and smooth things over with the movers and shakers who know how to get things done.

So, welcome on board Labour peer and former deputy leader Tom Watson, Palantir’s new senior vice-president to work alongside the company’s UK and Europe chief executive Louis Mosley, as the company attempts to fend off pressure to axe its £330m NHS contract and block a £50m contract with the Metropolitan Police. And, with work in the UK already bringing in an annual turnover of £427 million, it can’t harm efforts to chow down on a larger slice of the public sector pie.

Yeah, the grass is green at Palantir if you stick to the script... all Watson has to do is “deepen the social and economic value” the surveillance sorcerer creates “through better British public services, jobs and skills”.

Since stepping down from Parliament in 2019 due to a “personal, not political” decision – which Wikipedia claims the Jewish Labour Movement, a Zionist socialist society affiliated with the UK Labour Party, described as “shocking and saddening” – Watson has provided advice to the gambling and music industries and, since 2024, had been part-time with Palantir, including accompanying Mosley at Labour conferences.

A defence minister and a minister for digital engagement in Gordon Brown’s government, Watson announced on his X profile that Palantir was "the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence", adding that while the company had “challenges” there were “legitimate questions about large technology companies and sovereign control”.

Not much more to add really but Watson seems like he’s cut from the right cloth for Palantir and has a good track record of standing up for worthwhile causes during his ministerial career... could almost have been groomed for a role with the company perhaps?

And one task he won’t have to contend with is the extension of Palantir’s contract with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) that began when it was under private ownership three years ago. Earlier this month Palantir was awarded a £21 million contract extension, without competition, to continue the relationship until 31 July 2028.

NESO signed the Palantir contract to continue licensing and supporting two “critical business processes” – Connections and Skip Rates – running on its Foundry platform. And, although believed to be preparing a competitive procurement for a future replacement platform, NESO stressed a need to continue working with Palantir to avoid disruption to customer-facing services and regulatory obligations.

“A contract will be put in place to enable continuity of the existing critical platform services whilst a competitive procurement is undertaken,” a tender notice said. “Palantir possesses the specialist knowledge, technical expertise and the system knowledge required to maintain and support the solution effectively.”

According to a Financial Times report the original contract, signed in March 2023, was not publicly disclosed because NESO was part of National Grid at the time and therefore didn’t publish the notice. “Palantir has supported both Connections and Skip Rates since the original contract was put in place by National Grid ESO in March 2023 and transferred to NESO at separation from National Grid,” a NESO spokesperson said... with the new contract running until 31 July 2027, with six-month extensions available until 31 July 2028.

NESO was established under the Energy Act 2023 as an operationally independent public corporation responsible for coordinating and planning the UK's electricity and gas systems. It is wholly owned by the government but funded through regulated industry charges.

And, despite the company’s public relations issues it seems Watson has landed a pretty sweet job with Palantir. According to a TNW report on 5 August the organisation’s shares had jumped almost 30 per cent the day before, with chief executive Alex Karp forecasting the company’s revenue would nearly double to US$8 billion this year.

The share price on Tuesday, 4 August, opened at US$144.55 and closed at US$162.66, but that upward spiral has not changed since with the closing price yesterday (23 September) standing at US$191.79... you gotta hit a jackpot or two boy!

And Palantir is certainly doing that, because although it now holds UK contracts of more than £670 million, the TNW report claims it only paid £2 million in corporation tax in 2024 on a declared revenue of £247 million... a CICTAR report finding it pays almost nothing in tax outside the United States.

TNW says the numbers are sharpest in Britain, Palantir’s biggest market outside the US, and found Palantir’s global effective tax rate to be about 1.4 per cent. Last year the company reported US$1.657 billion in pre-tax profit, booked US$22.7 million corporate tax globally and paid nothing in US federal income tax, resulting in an effective tax rate of just 1.4 per cent globally.

According to CICTAR: “The report’s core claim of profit-shifting is based on the gap between revenue and profit location: 26 per cent of Palantir’s revenue came from outside the US, but 96 per cent of pre-tax profit was booked in the US. In Europe, the report finds a pattern of subsidiaries providing services to the US parent on cost-plus terms, leaving low taxable margins locally while related-party payments move value back to the US.

“The UK is Palantir’s biggest market outside the US accounting for 10 per cent of its revenue in 2025. Yet it pays less tax in the country than in Korea, Japan, France or Germany, all of which are much smaller markets.”

So you don’t really need to look into a black obsidian crystal to see what the future holds for Palantir... it’s just a question of how high you value your soul and whether or not you want to trade it in for pots and pots of money and lose it to the "Dark Lord", my precious!