This is very good on how Civil Service transformation is vital and also impossible. Well worth reading. And yes, GDS is mentioned though not by name ;) (On the three examples mentioned I'm dubious about the first, the second *was* delivered by the department and the third is deliberate HO policy)

This was also a problem for GOV.‌UK’s site search. Departments don’t always manage their content well, preferring to create new pages instead of changing and updating existing pages.

I’m going to Camp Digital this year - it’s been a few years since I last attended so really looking forward to it!

Brilliant bit of reporting on potholes in Oxfordshire (the analysis is spot on for most shire counties)

An absolutely essential thread from Mark, who very much knows what he is talking about

Happy Saturday ☀️ #uklakedistrict #breathe

Brilliant analysis of what went wrong with the expensive redesign of Australia's version of the met office app. leisareichelt.substack.com/p/what-went-...

The Saturday I needed. Nice out there again today #breathe #UKLakeDistrict

More pondering on AI as I wrangle with what it means for public servants... Here's where I've got to so far: There is a useful path to take between hype and doom. It's time to keep experimenting and learning as nobody knows what the future will bring. jasonkitcat.com/2026/03/02/s...

Hello March 🌼

My first proper walk of 2026. Spring is on its way #breathe #UKLakeDistrict

One of those big work weeks - it's been really good and some fantastic work to be involved in, but it's been really hard on many levels while balancing all the things. My mantra these days is simply to do the next day well #keepgoing

Back to family priorities tonight… I’ve learned that any overseas school trip involving teenagers means a departure time/drop off of somewhere between 1am - 3am / it’s the rules - and it’s always on a school (work) night. I’ll be powered by strong coffee tomorrow ☕️

I’ve been leading Design Sprint work in Manchester with DBT and GDS over the past few days. It’s been great seeing this type of x-gov collaboration happening again. In person ideation moving into prototyping and user research over the next few weeks …hope to share more of this work soon #govdesign

I’d love to see the research/context of when train conductors first became Revenue Enforcement Protectors (or similar titles). Such an good analogy of when a service isn’t primarily about customer experience anymore #trains

Due to hearing loss, I’ve started wearing headphones less while on trains. Just letting my ears rest for a while, especially at the start of the day. What I’ve noticed is just how LOUD everyone else’s headphones are!

The AI singularity is agents endlessly filing speculative claims against each other with little human interaction. Bureaucracy will be removed as a barrier to entry. The future is burning vast amounts of power to create loads of spam no one will ever read.

‘Very dangerous’: a Mind mental health expert on Google’s AI Overviews

We've had the ability to automate things for years. The ability to understand how jobs actually work, not automate things that shouldn't be, and not automate things badly still seems beyond us, and AI isn't fixing that I'm afraid.

Everyone in the UK right now

Euston Station is a brilliant example that you can’t improve something substantially by constantly tinkering at the edges …today the ‘new’ displays were being taken down. They weren’t any improvement, along with the constant small changes to remove/move retail spaces that keep happening

There’s an unusual blue colour in the sky this morning. Walked the dog without needing a hat, gloves, or waterproofs for the first time this year. Roll on Spring ⛅️ #UKLakeDistrict

I'm going to share a very good story about the internet. I won't tell it well because I apparently have the flu, but I think we all need a good story about the internet. It starts in 2021, when I took a sabbatical and got a little workspace to write a design book.

It’s like the way email was supposed to make white collar jobs more efficient, but now every white collar job is just writing emails and no-one now remembers what the original job was that the emails were supposed to make more efficient

I’ve finally had enough and blogged about the new Civil Service Pensions website @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social @janethughes.bsky.social @zsk.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social bearoneill.com/2026/01/29/bad…

Interesting. And very good. Given the evolving digital landscape, it's more important than ever to move beyond the concept of "pages" and start structurally modelling *things* in your operating domain.

Good reminder that AI companies have been playing whack-a-mole against AI generated misinformation and prejudicial bias for a decade

At this point, I'd be happy with someone just spraying a white circle around them so I can avoid hitting them

And we're back.. Day 1 of work in 2026 complete. All the things at once to remind myself why I don't normally do 2 day compressed weeks!

If you're new here and happen to see this, here's a Critical Tech starter pack, full of interesting folk to follow go.bsky.app/VFxSES6 And if you have a small account (<10k followers) and would like to be added for visibility, let me know! (Although response times may be slow)

It's always an exciting moment when we can say #CampDigital is happening THIS YEAR! 🎉 🎤 Our brilliant speakers for 7th May include: @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social, @himal.bsky.social @dasbarrett.bsky.social, @laurayarrow.bsky.social Early birds available till end of Jan at: tinyurl.com/2s35kfd9

Looking ahead to #UKGovCamp - coming up soon 🎉 We’ll be there as Gold Sponsors of this public services unconference on 17 Jan. Come say hi 👋

Wrote about my first 7 months transforming the technology underpinning the national breast screening programme: lizlutgendorff.substack.com/p/lessons-le...

First working day back for many. It can be easy to get swamped, especially if you’re compensating for gaps. Wrote this to cover something I’ve seen in many places: effort masquerading as capacity, leading to burnout, how it affects some more than others, and how to not let it become normalised.

Don’t worry gang, no one actually starts their New Year’s resolutions on the 1st. And you’d be silly to begin on a Friday, best save it for Monday. But Monday is the 5th so you’ve kind of missed the boat anyway and can safely put it off for next year.

Happy New Year to everyone I know or have connected with here 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣🎆 I’m halfway through a much needed Christmas break from work… No reflection posts from me this year - I ran out of time and energy in 2025. Here’s to doing our best and being our best selves in 2026 #keepgoing

Meanwhile this is *machine learning* and what it is *good at*. Not generative AI bullshit, actual useful predictive statistical models. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Merry Christmas everyone 🎄 …with four children and a busy household we’re at the *falling over the line* stage of life on days like today. I’m just glad we made it and everyone seems healthy and happy this morning. Hope you all have a good one 🥂

The Top 10 (non job links) from my newsletter this year - About the GOV Reuse Library reuselibrary-dev.apps.cloud-platform.service.justice.gov.uk/about.html ...was top by a country mile.

💡 New short read about false positives in user-centred design. This is an analogy I find helpful when thinking about how user-centricity is really shaping, directing and impacting the work of digital teams #digitaltransformation benholliday.com/2025/11/27/f...

I *love* the torn one that just has "you don't have to accept this future" written in regular handwriting. That's what I keep repeating to anyone who will listen to me at my institution. We don't have to participate in reinforcing this one possible future; there are others we can imagine and make.

Kendal Mountain Festival has taken over our small town again this weekend - it’s wonderful seeing this international festival growing each year… busiest I’ve ever seen it around the town yesterday #UKLakeDistrict

One brilliant thing about Twitter was that for a lot of us, it made networking not networking. You posted about what you were passionate about it, and it had more of a chance to get in front of someone relevant. It wasn't networking, it was caring about something in public.

"…we need a discussion about the added value that admin teams bring to patients, particularly those that struggle to navigate the NHS." Interesting ideas here: "Imagine if GPs, not admin staff, were the first point of contact for people wanting an appointment." www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

Nice short read: highlights the importance of thinking about audiences (senior leaders and stakeholders) when presenting the outputs of mapping work #servicedesign medium.com/@katie.dicke...

💡 Good new TPX design blog by Weronika Tokaj (not on BSky)… I'm often asked where the examples are of teams using design/research as part of policy spaces? Here's a great example with some practical insights #ServiceDesign #UserResearch #UserCentredPolicyDesign www.tpximpact.com/knowledge-hu...

Vendor lock in. The same obvious tactics in 2025, just increasingly applied to AI tooling, or being sold more explicitly as productivity solutions www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

If people in your team or organisation are using AI notetakers as a way of coping with too many meetings and a culture of presenteeism, there's not a technological fix for this. The answer is to have fewer, better organised meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...

I’ve been listening to @naomialderman.bsky.social’s new book this week - about living through an information crisis. It asks lots of important questions, which I’ve found really thought provoking #books www.penguin.co.uk/books/469677...

‘Tis the season for cancelled and/or delayed trains #trains #winter