New post: press reports that a Derbyshire police office is under criminal investigation over their use of AI made me think about designing AI for accountability in public services peterkwells.com/2026/07/17/d...

Imagine if other countries realised they did, in fact, possess sovereign power?

Anyone trusting a Musk company with anything is a downright idiot at this point, but this (predictable) theft is still funny (source iconomy, link goes to www.axios.com/2026/07/14/s...).

Show me something that should be illegal edition.cnn.com/2026/07/16/b...

Unknown Cheese Scone

Also: open source repo is coming soon 👀🎉

On a more personal trip The Fylde being abolished* just one week after I completed the sale of my mum's house thus leaving the family with no strong links to the Fylde for the first time that my generation's been alive is a vibe * only as an administrative geography, I know...

*looks at the two uses of the name 'West Lancashire'* *remembers the joy of ever-changing administrative geographies* www.blackpool.gov.uk/Your-Council... www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/...

I can't see any risks in this www.technologyreview.com/2026/07/15/1...

audio speakers with a "personality" and "mechanical elements that can move on their own" 🤔 techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/o...

Miracle Mile (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle...

If Parliament can get £xxbn to revamp its unmaintained physical infrastructure then perhaps the senior folk should find a relatively few quid down the back of the sofa to develop and maintain digital infrastructure that can handle AI bots

Every non-prem football fan knows its much better to win the playoffs than finish in the top two.

🚨Exclusive🚨 Two ministers filmed a video for a child-protection software firm that lost £17m in three years, made just *£112* in the UK in 2024 and gets 90%+ of its income from overseas subsidiaries that haven't cooperated with auditors for three years. 1/ theuglygame.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/p...

This bit was good

It might be the worst thing to have ever happened

UKGovCamp: want more info? look at the website or go on social media and ask someone UKPolicyCamp: here's a 29-page guide It's like there's different cultures... ;)

Don't panic and keep a towel with you at all times prepare.campaign.gov.uk

I have seen everything I could ever have dreamed of in football.

“Currently, some public sector data assets cannot be produced, or made available for re-use in a valuable format, because there is insufficient investment to do so.”

"the [UK] Government is considering how to create greater flexibility to charge above marginal costs for more public sector data assets without undermining the benefits of Open Data" www.gov.uk/government/c...

That invasive breaches of health records are still coming to light 2 (two) years after the attacks is a damning indictment of English healthcare system's protections against abuse of data access & makes me wonder about lower profile cases that might not be investigated www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

They had to rent the CEO a house for his security, a totally normal thing for a well run essential utility.

The inability of our democratic system to deal with this is the source of a lot of the unrest in the electorate.

Have checked and have never had an email like this before. Is it new? New for sign-ins to Claude? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Great! (, but this kind of thing shouldn't only be for the "digital" bits of public services and the people/services that appear as digital things...) www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

"‘UK politicians are a lot more easily impressed than American politicians. It costs a lot less to influence them,’ a former Global Counsel employee said" www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Old: Shipping the org chart New: Shipping the data structure based on a weak understanding of the current law 'cos bigots

I’m quite unconvinced on this. Either a 30-35 page form is actually collecting necessary information - in which case I’d rather it wasn’t filled in using transcription software - or it isn’t, which in case cut down the form.

There's a reason the Government Service Manual talks about putting a team on a project, not just 1 person www.gov.uk/service-manu...

Useful looking piece from the IETF on differing architectural approaches to online age verification and their differing implications for efficacy, privacy, rights &c  www.ietf.org/archive/id/d...

WTH is this filter? www.parliament.scot/msps/current...

The Scottish Parliament's decision to collect and present data based on 'biological sex' has made it harder for researchers to use data to understand and tackle inequalities. 📝 I've written to the Scottish Parliament requesting information on this change: kevinguyan.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Wife: while you were away I tidied up the records in your office Me:

I see the ~kind~ of people who falsely claimed changing planning rules would 'fix' UK housebuilding now think changing planning rules will 'fix' UK mobile networks www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consum...

Someone on this train is trying to 'explain' the Falklands/Malvinas to some strangers sitting on the table with him There are 2 hours left to go on this journey...

Anecsongdata from a Mancunian venue full of a thousand or so 20-30ish year olds (plus me): 1. Hey Jude . 2. Vindaloo . . 3. Three Lions . . . . 4. Wonderwall

"Those at the coalface say that HMRC’s digital system works well for most people. Problems arise when something goes wrong and taxpayers cannot resolve their problems through the online services which they are encouraged to use." www.thetimes.com/money/tax/ar...

Care home helped mum paint a unicorn for Pride and, she says, with a mix of personal pride & indignation: "They told me I drew it very good, thankyouverymuch"

5 years ago I started work on a short doc about Ghost Town by The Specials. As I began interviews and research, I realised there was a much wider story to tell. The film lays dormant for now, but I’ve written a fragment of the tale in this piece for @thequietus.com thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

I've found the Northern Powerhouse! Its currently on a train heading North from Doncaster...

llms didnt help but that decline was pretty bad anyway, they had a poor culture that actively discouraged questions and new users

With the roll-out of Making Tax Digital going ahead, HMRC must provide an in-house, government-developed, fully-functional software that allows easy and confident compliance with MTD. Self-employed people should not be obliged to hand data to private companies. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

"The next 24 months will shape both AI, and Britain’s place in the world, like no period in our lifetime" says Liz Kendall uksovereignai.substack.com/p/24-months

Exciting to see clips on the news of the giant Bayeux ball being walked to its temporary home in London

"Drop Palantir’s Federated Data Platform and look for alternative, [health and social care committee] tell Health Minister" committees.parliament.uk/committee/81...

Estate agent: and for every property we put out a video on social media, a recent video got 2 million views!! Me muttering under breath: I wonder if this would be a good time to talk about meaningless metrics that don't matter...

I'm joining @danhon.com for a 'Hallway Track' conversation based his 'How People Work' workshop (www.verylittlegravitas.com/how-people-w...) on Friday @ 5pm You can sign up here --> calendly.com/verylittlegr...

Reform showing how much they're learning from some actual elected power in local government by spending all their time fighting bins www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Clacton by-election bin chat has reminded me of the time Mark Thomas came up with a new meaning for the word Farage (I might even still have some of these stickers lurking around somewhere...) markthomasinfo.co.uk/store/#!/Ple...