Stroud talking newspaper recorded for this week. It's Marking Day on the common (when cows are released onto the land) but saw nothing but grass and so many buttercups.

Right, Bluesky really needs to do long threads better. On now to the King's @kings-dfi.bsky.social Festival of Storytelling programme for 4th June! All free, open to all, central London (@kingscollegelondon.bsky.social Strand campus).

On Medium, “Finding the right words at the start of a project” acuity-design.medium.com/finding-the-... Facilitation tool I’ve used with academic, corporate, community and other groups to prevent problems later on. #ContentDesign #Facilitation

Whichever option didn’t make Brutus the leader. Sometimes you are just the would-be or actual assassin.

Nomadic people building sites for death or play? The sites in Africa and America that aren’t cities in any economic or political sense.

Boundaries are where lost people seek security Ruptures in boundaries are where people see alternatives Create boundaries around people so they feel more secure then break the boundaries with them to see new possibilities.

Disruptive environmental activism (2023–2025) had mixed but mainly positive effects on UK public opinion boiledfrogs.substack.com/p/disruptive...

How to stop words destroying your new project acuity.design/finding-the-... #ContentDesign #Facilitation

Margaret Calvert, designer of UK road signs, got a special cake on her 90th birthday yesterday

Happy birthday to Margaret Calvert, designer for much of the UK road signage system. 90 today! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...

folx, I’ve been working on AI "ethics" for almost a decade now & hate to tell you there’s no such thing as "ethical AI" the only "ethical principle" that works is regulating the shit out of the industry & to take back control of our autonomy, fundamental rights, freedoms & right to exist w/out AI

Fully Automated Ditch Digging and Filling

Stickers for sticking it to the #AI techbros Humans have lived and living experiences.

In other news, the government today announced 26 life peerages for hereditary peers, including for one Duke, three Earls, and three Viscounts. Such is the break with the status quo. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Professors (and all humans) have knowledge that is impossible for AI to know or comprehend. Staff and students together have more value than AI. It’s being human, being embodied and being alive that matters.

On words and projects. Some words are unusable because either people don’t share a meaningful definition or they find the word simply too annoying. Learn this quickly at the start of a project.

Fun fact: the magical child safety solution which Jess Philips cited in her resignation letter is a vendor-specific offering, which benefited from an intense PR and lobbying campaign, and was previously praised by ... Prince Andrew. I always keep the receipts. heatherburns.tech/2026/02/20/t...

Posting because of BBC Scotland use of Outwith. It’s such a good word.

Wrote some post Camp Digital reflections helivans.medium.com/camp-digital...

For anyone who missed Channel 4 News tonight or wanted to find out more, the good news ash tree story is worth knowing about channel4news.substack.com/p/hope-for-b...

Checked in to Canva, 33 Hoxton Sq, United Kingdom Here for Lisa's book launch. See on Swarm

Slightly increase a band The Overtones

Now have very detailed knowledge of trains from Amsterdam to Prague, Prague to Ljubljana, Trieste to Munich and Munich to London. Interrail planning coming together.

“F*** me that’s unprofessional” text from GP about mum’s care today.

Big museum opening in London. I have views on interpretation #accessibility. Read the requirements but so many red flags so we backed off.

UXLisbin is excellent and the freebie pack is outstanding. My Lisbon and Leuchturm biases are showing.

Man, two all-timers in the space of a month. Nice job, New Yorker cartoon editors. The idea of this one is brilliant, but the execution is maybe even more so—getting the figure in the coffin to read both ways like it’s supposed to is something.

Stickers - anti #AI or pro Human depending on your perspective DM if interested.

God, when you’re pining for the solid delivery capability of the Johnson regime

Starmer playing out the Dr Who ‘looks tired’ narrative of how to push a PM out

Reminding people of Brexit and Europe questions while leaving Reform as the answer (if not changing anything about movement or trade)

Bob Geldof anecdote about touring 70’s UK Secondary schools for afternoon concerts with The Ramones and Talking Heads. School kids were over-excited by leather-clad Ramones, excited by Boomtown Rats and bored/confused by cardigan-wearing Talking Heads.

Parent with changing care needs plus fuel crisis means I’m getting a lot of use from Senior Railcard

The slow folding away of public services never trigger the sense of rupture that engages mutual aid action (like Hurricane Sandy/Covid). Thus only a feeling of regret or resentment is there and exploited by the Right

A very long email from TrainPal to say my train is delayed by 1 minute #ContentDesign

Designers, researchers, PMs: Running “workshops” that end in vague notes & no decisions? I’m running a 4‑hour live online Workshop Workshop on Tuesday May 19 to help you plan and design sessions that actually deliver. Info: spydergrrl.com/workshop-wor... #ux #uxdesign #productdesign #facilitation

Flung back in time from watching The Pitt to St Elsewhere

Quick reminder that Reform aren’t vastly popular. They remain, like the Greens, a minority party in UK councils.

On train tomorrrow so can address and post stickers if interested. Not so much anti-AI as pro-Human

Technical skills around tools or methods have very short relevance nowadays. This isn’t even about AI.

Shifting to #Sociocracy mutual aid as committee structure doesn’t help our volunteer group. De-leader structure

Tricky for Scrabble tho

No need to stop the 'brain rot': Modern kids aren't less intelligent www.newscientist.com... Neuroscientist Dr Dean Burnett tackles a common, but unfair, claim about modern young people. For New Scientist magazine #Brains #BrainRot #Youth #GenZ

Pivoting www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...? from bursting film studio building bubble to #AI data centre building boom as sustainable strategy 🤷🏼‍♂️

How most systems are filled with people scurrying heroically to keep things going and management clean up the narrative later. Description of British Army in 1940 in Spufford’s new novel.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar inaugural speech: "The psyche of the whole country was poisoned by politics that was artificially inciting hatred. The Hungarian state is not allowed to do anything like this ever again... This era is, once and for all, finished."

Continuing to enjoy Francis Spufford’s Nonesuch and had flashback to Hawksmoor with same mix of magic and architecture

New version of that damned path photo has dropped Old post acuity.design/that-damned-... - muddiness is not good data

Live near to the tennis ball cloth factory in Stroud and often see the yellow cloth - never knew this.

When slavery was banned (from UK perspective) there was a great event to celebrate. Many men were praised on stage. No women It was always women who were the infrastructure and organisation of that campaign Many saw that moment & founded the Suffrage movements with those unrecognised skills