Obviously I love the Tom Daley knitting show and Tom looking *shocked* saying, "Gordon's steeking" is amazing.

Looking forward to speaking at this in a couple of weeks, alongside a great panel.

Via the DSIT analysis of the public value of R&D, I have been introduced to the rather amazing phrase "hard-to-capture but real impacts" which I will be using in as many contexts as possible from now on www.gov.uk/government/p...

I was interviewed by @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social about the exhibition 'Reimagining Digital ID' with drawings by Karen refugees from the Thailand-Myanmar border. Exhibition will officially open during conference on November 8th and will run until Nov 27th, details ⬇️ @mediacomgold.bsky.social

Looking at my kid's KS3 computer science homework, it seems possible they learn more useful things about computing from downloading and playing Minecraft mods

Looking forward to leading this foresight review over the next 9 months, examining how AI adoption intersects with worker safety, environmental safety and critical infra resilience. Also working with some brilliant partners including the Digital Futures Lab and Global Center on AI Governance

Just two slots left at the Hopeful Technologists meet-up on Thursday - and more than 200 people have signed up to our online events over the next three weeks luma.com/cr7kwsxy

After writing 52 columns, every columnist should have an enforced year-long break from column writing, because there is not one single person who can have 52 legitimate opinions a year for more than one year without sending themselves round the bend

I've been writing something on the lack of public consultation on data centres for wch I suspect this is an important bit of context. Data centres - wch vary in external form from colonies of megasheds to architect-designed windowless office blocks - look likely to swerve normal planning processes

Good bit of analysis here. 'Putting lay-offs down to AI sounds better than saying “we need to keep margins high so we’re sacking some low performers” and politically safer than saying “unpredictable Trump tariff policy means we are hiring less young people.”'

Really enjoyed this thought-provoking in conversation with @profafinlayson.bsky.social renewal.org.uk/articles/the... which is very timely as we start to organise the first Society for Hopeful Technologists community events

I am quite an expert in low-stakes things to listen to while ambling round the countryside doing parental admin (a specific bit of context that applies to other important but not very fascinating tasks), and can *highly* recommend the audiobook of Bob Mortimer's The Long Shoe

On a fairly busy coach and just had a call from home in which the only things I said were: No, I didn't use the blood, there's loads left... On the table in the sitting room. Yeah new bottle of blood. Should dry in time. Have fun Person in the next seat now giving me a funny look

It is almost impossible to have a coherent response to govt's plans for digital ID because it keeps changing its mind about what it's for. With Darren Jones at the helm, the new plan is to use it to "shut down the legacy state" www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

LOLing at this quote from a megashed stan from this BBC news article in April. Majestic and wonderful, indeed.

Previewing the new version of Consequence Scanning at this event, looking particularly at use of speech-to-text technologies (aka meeting minutes) and a handy "People, Resilience, Environment, Trust" framework for assessing trade offs

Also starting to see Starlink ads pop up (this one on a train yesterday).

It really is remarkable how some bits of govt cannot resist reviving "take back control" assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68d65f... in this instance, the actual policy points would be much more effectively described as "community power"

To be clear about this, this is a very very very bad idea.

M&S very much not catching a break with their online shop situation

Absolutely cracking day at the GMCA Digital Inclusion Summit. Started typing this and then realised no one I spoke to today is on Bluesky but it was A+++ *and* the sun was shining

I've been really enjoying this season of Bake Off, which we've been watching as a family, and in particular I love the way that obscure baking terminology is introduced with no explanation. Achieving "lamination" and "macaronage" both highly prized in last night's ep but remained utterly mysterious

This is really good; and why I'm very uncomfortable with the argument of some folks on here that "This will be great" with an implicit "for people like me". The better it is for the digitally privileged, the greater the harms caused to those who are digitally marginalised.

On an eye-bleedingly expensive (almost totally empty, are these two things related I wonder?) train to Manchester for today's GM Digital Inclusion Summit greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/d... basking in the enforced offline writing time provided by Avanti's wonky wifi

"Woman takes her children to Amsterdam for the day, now has to prove to HMRC that she came back" is like some kind of Kafka-esque joke. Except! It's true!! What sort of bizarre and unwarranted surveillance is taking place here?

Re: last repost, one of the problems of the bizarre info war is that sensible people do sensible things to counter crazy batshit, but perhaps a friendly millionaire needs to just fund some people to absolutely love bomb social media with content about how great everyone is as a temporary solution

This is an interesting piece but I just read it going “the missing bit is the section on how the internet has fried everyone’s brains”. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Earlier today @mildlydiverting.bsky.social described my spinach and pesto lentil and pea cakes as "posh Monster Munch" and really I've never been so accurately skewered. shop.kallo.com/products/spi...

EVENT | The government's digital ID plan: why now and what for?💳 @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social, @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social, @labourtogether.bsky.social, @timdurrant.bsky.social discuss the advantages and challenges of implementing digital IDs. 🎟️ www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern...

These numbers are so completely unaffordable as to be a v unfunny joke, and it makes me wonder about how the unaffordability of day-to-day life might also promote (for some people) increased use of genAI. When everything is a hustle, it completely changes yr relationship to effort and manageability

It's musically not really my thing, but I find myself momentarily obsessed with the Lily Allen album, which is like a modern revenge operetta - plus it includes a song called 4Chan Stan that, I see, has annoyed some people on Reddit who are saying 4Chain weirdos are weird in a v. diff way, actually

No matter how much I plan and try and whatever, there is something about long-form writing that absolutely always takes a deadline crisis to make all the bits stop floating around and concretely land in the right place. No amount of post its or planning or drafts seems to help. Why is that?

Good morning from our 10-week-old kitten Lemon and my regretful collection of open tabs

Something I don't super *love* #OnHere is the fact that you can see when someone has saved a post, but you don't know who it is. I feel like I'd rather either definitely know or not know.

Every time a UK politician pedals fear and hate, it gets us closer and closer to the possibility of this as a scenario in the UK. Every single time. We are only ever a whisker behind the US in our domestic aspirations to "progress".

What if Lime Bikes BUT umbrellas instead? *looks at light jacket* *turns to admire the pouring rain*

Internal GDS email saying digital ID is more than One Login and the Gov.uk Wallet. This plus shift to Cabinet Office are both potential early indicators of external suppliers - perhaps a positive sign for UK DVS providers of a mixed market, or an indicator that a delivery partner will be appointed

... and just as this study is released, we hear OpenAI have a deal with the UK Ministry of Justice Press release www.gov.uk/government/n...

Spoke to the BBC about yesterday's digital ID announcement, which I think contains good and distinctly "meh" elements. The good: clarity that people will only have to adopt the new system when they're changing jobs. This is a big improvement, BUT... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Absolutely +1 to this. It is completely baffling to me that this govt has decided on such an "all in" approach - what is the justification? Is that alignment with the EU would be seen to be weakness, or is it ongoing hope for crumbs from the table?

Imagine being 12 and saying, "Yeah I suck at Powerpoint, I'm better at GoogleDocs." 😬

I do actually think this is quite interesting - shifts it to Darren Jones and away from the "centre of digital govt", perhaps (?) in recognition of spillover impacts. Interesting to see if the DSIT team currently delivering on the Wallet and DVS framework will also move.

This isn't just a national issue either; it is the single biggest soft power asset we have in a globally degrading information economy.

Re-up for rhis! Reading group on 11 Nov. A chance for Q&A with the brilliant @karenhao.bsky.social and small group discussions on Empire of AI luma.com/lgaw69m8?utm... @elinorcarmi.bsky.social @mjlira.bsky.social

Labour definitely need to take some responsibility for creating this moment. If an allegedly left-wing (or even centrist) party seek to align themselves with far-right messaging, the actual party of the right are going to have to go further, faster

I don't think enough people talk about how great BBC Bitesize is. Secondary school textbooks are now vanishingly rare and Bitesize content is (a) not in a terrible app, (b) engaging and interesting and easy to understand, and importantly (c) FREE. A properly great digital public good.

Let me fix this for you. "This government deplores these racist, divisive statements." It is that easy! Just say the bad thing is bad straightaway and move on.

Would you like to hear my LinkedIn pet peeves? I mean, prob not, but I am loosely supervising some maths revision so bad luck. 1) People who contact you on LinkedIn to sell you financial advice, sorry, "wealth planning", because, well, who is buying that from a random social media guy?

Me: Posts freelance gig looking for *extremely detail-oriented* specialist researchers, am currently reading application 300 of 373 applications. Applicant: Forgets to delete the "delete as appropriate" text suggestions from ChatGPT in their very short email application

This morning's AWS outage prompted reflections in NHSE towers that "disaster recovery" and "inclusive services" directly overlap. For instance, the Record a vaccination service have designed a paper-only data capture process for when the internet is unavailable