Bad It's unusual to come across a truly bad new digital service these days. People now praise the online passport service for speed and ease of use, the same for Jobseeker's, voter registration. Most online public services delivered since the establishment of the Government Digital Service are at…

We are running our next open training session for primary schools on how to deliver our Sibs Talk intervention for pupils who are siblings of disabled children. The session will run online on February 2nd from 10am-12noon. More information at www.sibs.org.uk/sibs-worksho...

Found via @detig.bsky.social Bugs that everyone with a Mac suffers from, and Apple seemingly won’t fix I‘d add the hell that‘s the Contacts app www.bugsappleloves.com

I still don't understand why Music in macOS Tahoe has the control bar -- which also means what's playing -- at the *bottom* of the window.

This is excellent work insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/2026/01/20/t...

Treating the integrity of the bits of Internet you've taken responsibility for as an afterthought will cause you problems. Reminded that many years ago one of the localgov managed links on GOV.UK was pointing somewhere unsavoury. We got away with it then in a way I don't think we would have today!

If you have been watching ITV's "I'm a Celebrity" you may have seen sibling and rapper Aitch as one of the contestants. Aitch has a sister Gracie who has Down's Syndrome. www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv...

This is a lovely listen, and Mark's website is an absolute diamond in the slop if you're travelling anywhere where rail travel is an option…

Sthg I don't specifically call out in this blog post on AI notetakers is how awful some bits of govt meeting culture appear to be. The bit about presenteeism directly reflects feedback from junior folk who talked about how important it is to turn up to meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...

I was at a conference on Weds about use of AI in public services and noticed how AI as sticky tape over broken systems is becoming the norm, designing or implementing better systems is becoming more and more of a luxury.

#uksnow GU3 1/10

This kind of morning… youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Hallo! The #GOV.UKDesignSystem team are looking for feedback on adding rounded corners to buttons, which we think will improve the usability of the component. You can see and comment on our proposal on GitHub discussions: github.com/alphagov/gov... Please take 3 mins to feed back. 🙌Danke, Imran

If you want your thing to last, and you can make your thing into a static website: You should. Not because it's less infrastructure. Not because you love javascript. Not because self-hosting. Not because offline. Because it can be archived and preserved for the future.

It is important that young siblings who are growing up with a disabled brother or sister are able to look forward to exciting things in their future. Read our parent tip on helping siblings achieve their own ambitions. #siblings www.sibs.org.uk/parent-tips/...

A domain is for life, not just for Christmas. This is why I mostly use subdomains for my things (apart from a couple of obvious ones), and keep memorial pages on our removed services. If I were a publisher, I’d say all links had to go through my site. But then I know I’d be able to maintain that!

Being serenaded southwards from Edinburgh by this fondly remembered 90s banger… youtu.be/C2RhDaPcYmE … perhaps file under ‘of its time’…?

Ooofff… ‘Be more like Vicky Teinaki’ just hit hard in @maredwards.bsky.social session at #SDinGov25 – ‘much missed’ isn’t big enough. www.vickyteinaki.com/about/

Beautiful evening for a trip to SDinGov in Edinburgh tomorrow… who’s going to be there this week? I’m looking forward to some unplanned catchups (and sorry to hear you won’t be there @pixlz.com – best wishes to you and your fam).

#DisabledSky we're selling Phoebe's tri-ride, barely used she struggled with the accelerator with her motor control in her hand but if that doesn't affect you it's a great bit of kit: ebay.us/m/anJazx Please ReSkeet

First day back from a week-and-a-bit’s holiday, and I’m on a train up to London, drawing strength from tunes… looking forward to #TransformersAssemble tonight, with those who celebrate it…

in britain the anchorites of asda dwell by the sacred stones, solemnly intoning the words “that’s asda price”, and performing the necessary ritual (the double bum slap) three times a day to bring about the great rolling back when we will all be redeemed

Mindsets need to change, generally speaking, to respecting the customer, service user, viewer, not simply wanting them to transact, convert, subscribe. Not to mention respecting the environment! #ConsideredDigital ☸️

The type of email correspondence that requires some easy listening on the train home to flush out your system… youtu.be/44k1sGydHao?...

Did I dream it, or has a version of Business Link risen from the dead…?

Slightly diminish a band: Eccentricity

DestinationX is basically Ted Rogers’ 3-2-1 with a big budget.

Our current spotlight blog for young siblings is all about the summer holidays. A break from school can be enjoyable, but it might also bring extra pressures for young siblings who have a disabled brother or sister. Share our blog with young siblings you support. www.sibs.org.uk/youngsibs/sp...

does anyone on here know anything about electric drum kits? (not samplers or drum machines.) i’m assuming there are online/video classes too. need a new hobby, something creative, and drums feels like a good one.

📣 We’d like to hear from you! Bluesky is rolling out age verification as part of the Online Safety Act, which aims to reduce the risk of children seeing harmful content. We’ve heard that blind and partially sighted folks are unable to verify their age because it’s inaccessible. Have you tried?

An article published on a blog is a blog post. It is not a blog. “Do you read my blog?” is a correctly worded question. “Did you read my blog?” (meaning did you read my blog post) is not. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

A total long shot, but is anyone moving/driving a van from either Edinburgh to Glasgow or Edinburgh to London/Brighton and have space to transport a wardrobe in return for some £.

This. A hundred times this. No excuse.

See also 'click here' or 'here'… seldom a surer sign that people don't know what they're doing…

Just in case some of you don’t have locked-down machines…

Charlotte shares what she has learnt from her sister who has learning disabilities, autism and mental health issues. Read or watch at www.sibs.org.uk/charlotte #disabilitypridemonth

Our next Sibs Talk training for primary school staff is running on 23rd September. This intervention will help you to support sibling pupils of disabled children - to find out more and book your place go to www.sibs.org.uk/sibs-talk-pr...

I’m on my way to @sibs.org.uk AGM - this, amongst other events, practical support, advice and projects, is why I love being part of a charity with a unique focus. Sibs supports people who’ve grown up with disabled brothers or sisters 🔽

I will leaving my role at NHS England soon. I’ll have time and space again so if you want a catch up hit me up. I’ve neglected that in the last few months dealing with The Work. And if you need some paid help and my skills could assist, hit me up too. (Lots of other stuff going on too 😆)

"A commercial for Carte D’Or ice cream I would have been very pleased to have written." - Alan Bennett

One of my newer product teams just published this blog (and their github repo) for a svelte component library for front end devs looking to do data visualisations in gov - really pleased this work is out in the world and hoping it can help some other people! mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2025/06/18/c...

There is absolutely no justification for parking your car in the space next to another car if the option to leave an empty space between you exists. Car park etiquette = Urinal etiquette

Read more about autism through the perspective of adult siblings #autisticpride www.sibs.org.uk/stories

If you're unsure whether you're old or not, one way of knowing is if you remember being in a busy bar or club and being a pain because you wanted to pay by card.

Some #weeknotes from GDS's Service Standard & Service Manual team: More chats incoming from people working on service transformation as awareness rises that the Service Manual + Service Standard are powerful places to share good practice 1/2 #govdesign #gds

Popping up to London for an evening out is a cute idea until you get here, restaurant service is slow and expensive, then the trains are b0rked so it’s half midnight and you’re sat on the 23.35 train that hasn’t moved an inch in an hour and South Western Railway can’t say if you’ll get home tonight…

Alt text can be an artform in its own right.

Just done the Land Registry and One Login bits of signing a mortgage deed. Pretty slick and easy. The rest of the conveyancing process remains awful… if ever an online process would benefit from being nationalised, I think this would be close to the top of the list.

The amazing detail in this story is this lad's neighbour frantically whistling to try and draw the ship's attention to the dangerous local hazard known as [checks notes] Norway. If it hadn't noticed houses are generally stand on vessels a bit of whistling probably ain't going to do it, fella.