My last post about digital ID today, but reading this Independent piece (in which I'm quoted) and what is this quote from Morgan Wild at Labour Together? Using the NHS app doesn't mean "your data is online". If this is the level of digital understanding of people writing digital policy, god help us

He once lived just a few minutes walk away from where I live now, but sadly the house has been demolished. Campaign to save home fails - Surrey Live share.google/cK9LKvnGfwg0...

Looking forward to this!

Exposition of liberalism by Cass Sunstein. Nothing to do with left v right. www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/o...

What dastardly schemes will this evil council conjure up next in its mission to.... checks notes... stop people getting killed by bad drivers

Monday morning dystopia.

"In our current moment of polarized certainties, von Foerster reminds us that we are not spectators of the world, but co-creators of it."

Tremendous thread!

Tom Lehrer made all of his music 100% public domain so if seeing people sad about his death makes you want to check them out… it’s free. he wanted you to share them. tomlehrersongs.com

"He added it was “disappointing” that the arresting police officers did not appear to have heard of Private Eye. “That’s really depressing, isn’t it? That’s probably the most appalling thing,” he joked." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

I hated doing this quiz, some questions meaningless out of context (everyone will interpret 'system' differently) some stupidly binary (who wants to prefer their children to be curious OR good-mannered). I'm a member of the tribe that doesn't like being labelled.

Interesting experiment on what AI does to students' brains observer.co.uk/news/science...

Raye's guitarist is a Keir look-a-like.

Perfect for Brexit Day

While this is funny, it's also a vivid example of how too many people are still unready for a so-called 'digital-first' world.

One of these men - Chancellor Merz - sounds much clearer than the other about which side they would be on in 1941-45

"But for every social benefit AI brings, there is a company desperate to be top of their game and damn the consequences."

Fabulous anecdotal thread.

Wish Starmer's people would read this. They are getting communication so wrong.

"As the discussion unfolded, it became clear that what we often label as “slowness” or “waste” might actually be where our best work happens"

Hilarious replies to these observations on our ex-PM comedy troupe.

Today we have marches to celebrate VE day... while people standing up against fascism in our former ally are treated like this.

Hooray

Hope I get back in time to watch this talk by @ianwalker.bsky.social . Here's a great example of Motonormativity just around the corner from my house, prioritising keeping the road clear for drivers over keeping the pavements clear for pedestrians. Why isn't pavement parking illegal in Surrey?

Reading the new Observer.. nice illustration of how Musk misread the HHGTTG, proving he's not as smart as he thinks. observer.co.uk/news/interna...

On my way to this and looking forward to picking up some good tips.

Production at this facility was temporarily shut down as they assessed the impact of tariffs going forward.

I’ve got bad news for you if you use ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini as your main search tool - AI web search isn't worth your time, yet

After seeing what's going on in the US, a fiver a month seems quite a reasonable price to pay to help protect democracy. (Cheaper yearly)

This is so true. All too often, technology acts as a distracting magnet for our thoughts and attention.

This list compiled by the NYT from documents and websites is absolutely chilling. The article says that some of these words are banned, others are discouraged.

Well worth a read by anyone who is trying to communicate their knowledge and expertise on social media.

Bird nesting season starts tomorrow. Got the tree surgeons working on our overgrown garden wood in the nick of time.

These stories amount to "the left was so annoying about pronouns or liberals made people feel so guilty about plastic straws they had no choice but to get on board with the second coming of the Third Reich and the destruction of the planet."

Saw this in the theatre. Joyous is definitely the word!

Great to see this new consultation guidance on on community engagement from Active Travel England. Introduction mentions need for ongoing engagement between local authorities and the people who live, work or study in an area or travel through it. #activetravel www.gov.uk/government/p...

This is a particularly good one.

You may be looking to pundits to tell you where all this is going. Well, I have not a clue, other than US is nearing a constitutional crisis. And if so: nobody can know what will happen next. For that is the nature of any genuine crisis: it is a situation the outcome of which cannot be foreseen.

I'm inclined to agree with people who say "don't call it a coup". Of course any argument over semantics is a distraction. open.substack.com/pub/theconne...

This is a good read.

@davidheniguk.bsky.social Are you aware someone is impersonating you on Twitter? They just tried to interest me in 'an investment opportunity'. I exchanged a few DMs and thought it seemed odd, until I noticed the id was @davidheng.

Good night people of the Americas, this is Europe waking up ready to take over the “WTF are the fascist US government doing now” shift. Hope you get some sleep

Is our Chancellor systemically literate? Doesn't look like it to me?

Very useful canter through the Guardian this morning, for some context on different parts of the "what's going on in tech policy" puzzle 1) Rachel Reeves wants to see faster growth, less consulting, more "doing doing doing" www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I do indeed enjoy these conversations about the idiosyncracies of political communication.

"Enshittified tech platforms shouldn’t be able to command attention forever. Their own lust for growth should be the start of their downfall." h/t @jjn1.bsky.social roblog.co.uk/2025/01/the-...

"No 10 was approached for comment." I hope the comment was "we'll get back to you when we've stopped giggling."

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A thought-provoking and inspiring conversation to start off the year.

Aimed at the US, but relevant in UK as well.