Before we all get buried in preparations and cooking and baking and family time, I want to remind everyone of the /r/fantasy megasale set for the 26th and 27th--a portion of proceeds go to the Mary Cariola Center, so go find some great reads! Over 750 books available! megasale.yrliu.com

Just wanted to give everybody a heads up that tomorrow is the start of the annual /r/fantasy MegaSale. More than 650 indie books by hundreds of authors, and The Living Sword is once again part of it. megasale.yrliu.com

I have a book in the same sale, and I'll be donating all my author royalties to charity (as I always do). megasale.yrliu.com

Look, you can have low taxation or you can have functioning public services. You can't have both. Lots of people, including the UK government, seem to have forgotten this fact. Taxation isn't theft. It's the foundation of society.

In 2026 we are reinstating the regular One Team Gov breakfast club in London and also running a virtual one for anybody who doesn't have a meetup near them. If you're interested you can sign up for both using the link (and please retweet/skeet!) www.linkedin.com/posts/onetea...

I said it before, will say it again -- generative AI fetishizes "ideas" while sneering at effort, execution, and education. That, despite Gen-AI being built on and out of other people's effort, execution and education.

Algorithm post for visibility to other nerds 🤓 📚 TTRPGs 🖖 Star Trek ⭐️ Star Wars 🖤 80s music 👽 The X-Files 🎮 Videogames 🎲 Board games 📕 Comic books 🎥 Horror Movies 🧙‍♂️ Lord of the Rings 👨‍🎨 Miniature painting 🧙 Magic: The Gathering 🦸‍♀️ Smart and heroic women

Movie I've watched the most is probably Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves because it was the only VHS tape in Lochgoilhead Scout Centre and there was no TV signal in the summer I spent there on the hill team!

just gonnae keep publishing this until the government(s) leave Twitter digitalpolicy.substack.com/p/how-the-go...

On my way to Edinburgh for "Lit By Another Sun" my first full #megagame design to run. Almost all of it is in one huge box in my boot. This is going to be chaos, but the fun sort of chaos! www.tickettailor.com/events/truen...

I can report that I'm out of the house with shoes on for the first time in a week, even though I have actually spent more time outside my house than in it in the last week!

We’re looking for a venue partner who can help with physical space to support this open, community-driven, and free-to-attend event. 🗓️ When: A Saturday in Spring 2026 (Flexible) 👥 Size: 100-120 people 📍 Where: Accessible UK location, ideally Leeds Please get in touch! ukhealthcamp.com/venue

Just seen my first snowfall of the winter from Ninewells.

We @connectedbydata.org are planning a conference next year (early March, in Manchester) about people, power and participation in (public sector) data and AI. If you were coming, who would you really like to hear from as a keynote speaker to kick off the day?

What is Pride in Place? The government’s Pride in Place Programme will see up to £5 billion given to nearly 250 areas across the UK. Each area will receive up to £20 million of funding & support over the next 10 years to make long-term improvements that residents want. You can find out more here!

"A civil servant cannot answer back publicly. Holding a civil servant to account is what ministers should do... but that has to be in private." Speaking to @christopherhope.bsky.social, @fdagensec.bsky.social challenges briefings against civil servants who cannot defend themselves publicly.

The format of the book about Randomness that @sonofsuntzu.bsky.social and I are writing forces readers to do some work. It's slightly depressing how many people are mildly horrified by that idea. That somehow books should be frictionless insight devices. Randomthebook.com

I am recruiting a Senior Accessibility Specialist to be part of the Government Digital Service accessibility and digital inclusion team. Applications open until Sunday 26th October. www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg... #a11y #Accessibility #AccessibilityRegulations

Because a lot of people are finding this week hard….

How should governments rewire the state to get things done? Join us and Onward at #CPC25 on Tuesday 7 October as we explore how UK institutions can better deliver national priorities with our expert panel featuring Jesse Norman MP zurl.co/Y0fzz

Starting a spud van in Westminster and calling it Political Hot Potato. Park it near the Red Lion so it can get the spads after they're pissed up. Van tagline! Spuds 4 spads.

Digital folk (esp public sector!) - Where's the place to look for great, senior delivery management folk in Leeds / W Yorks? I know a lovely booming agency there seeking a Head of Delivery, pronto, to take their delivery work to the next level. I don't normally tout jobs around but this is a beaut

Work in or around the #PublicSector? Fancy a breakfast time natter, and optional co-working day? The last 3 #OneTeamGov North #Manchester meetups of 2025 are on Tuesday: 🐝 21 October, 🐝 18 November, 🐝 16 December. Sign up via www.eventbrite.com/o/hosted-by-...

A while back Historic England asked for my opinion on which was the oldest pub in London. The result is a new online article that outlines the variables, busts some myths, and points to a couple of genuinely ancient pubs in and around the city... heritagecalling.com/2025/09/25/w...

A personal project of decades of long gestation is nearing fruition. I have finally designed and written a megagame! www.tickettailor.com/events/truen... Inspired by the Expanse, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and Star Trek this is a game about what happens when humans take to the stars!

Received some meeples from an eBay seller today in the most wonderful envelope

I started a new role today. Still with CO, but in another part of the organisation. Looking at other ways we can change the system to make it better.

Good to see @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social address an issue that successive govt’s have chosen to ignore. Pay in the civil service is uncompetitive across the spectrum of grades, roles and locations. (1/3) www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

You might not know: There used to be a hidden page for many services on GOV.UK, which would display the underlying user need through a user story and its alignment with the platform proposition. You just had to insert /info to any service landing page’s URL. I still think it’s brilliant.

Current view

UK Parliament Week 2025 is just around the corner 🎉 Sign up for free, unbox your kit, and learn how Parliament works step-by-step.

Govt innovation nerds may be interested in this "Scan > Pilot > Scale" approach to some keystone public sector AI projects that are being flagged as the "Prime Minister's AI Exemplars" gds.blog.gov.uk/2025/08/18/t... and which appears to be a diff methodology to Test and Learn

I have been organising a series of events for public servants in Scotland. First event is on 2 Sept in Edinburgh where I'll be sharing how to do inclusive workshops using liberating structures. Book via www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/facilitati...

Looking for some of the old #OneTeamGovCan folks. Where you at. #oneteamgov #gcdigital

We are hiring two content designers to join Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). We mostly work remotely, with our team members spread across multiple locations. Apply by 10am on Monday 14 July: www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...

Am just clearing through loads of stuff before going on holiday. I'm organising some workshops on using Liberating Structures in Edinburgh and Glasgow in September for civil servants (SG, UK depts & ALBs). PM me if interested and I will send details when I'm back from holiday

Good vibes, kilts and planning at today’s GovCamp Scotland at Edinburgh Futures Institute #GovCampScotland

Sort of vaguely still here, but lost the spark for social media for some reason. Will no doubt get back on with it in the fullness of time....

"The triumph of joy over hatred". We should all aspire to this.

Made a resolution to walk in the hills at least one day a month. Almost missed it in Feb. About to go up Càrn Liath near Blair Atholl

Played Clans of Caledonia 2 times on 2025-01-23 boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21... #bggplay via @boardgamegeek.com

Correct. If the birthdate field contains corrupt or mismatched data, it defaults to 1875-05-20, which serves as a flag. May 20, 1875, is the day the international standards and metrics treaty was signed. Everything is a conspiracy when you don’t know how anything works.

Did some backwoods cooking with my explorers the other night. I reprised the "egg on a stick" and took more photos this time!

Apropos of nothing in particular: I know some people prefer videos, but if you must do a video guide to <thing>, please also do a written piece so that those of us who don't want to sit through a long video can scan the written piece for the bits we need. Thank you.

Not just this talk - a large number of presentations at Public Sector AI Week look excellent. Confusingly they're not all about AI - which is great.

I find it truly remarkable the number of intelligent, knowledgeable people who have been bamboozled by LLM-based chatbots. Just a total inability to believe any scholarly evidence to the contrary, and total investment in their own emotional fallibility as truth.

The weekly One Team Gov breakfast is starting back up 🥳 Initially it'll be virtual only, from 0830 to 0930 every Wednesday. We'll use leancoffeetable.com to facilitate the discussion. The videoconference will be on Microsoft Teams. Q: Would you like to run 1 of them, please?

With pleasure! Wanna hear more about citizen participation in policymaking? Wanna hear more about the new era of government digital? Of course you do! Sign up for this 👇🏽, it'll be awsm

Once a month on a Monday, we want to offer the data community some motivating words! Here's ours for today: Data architecture is the blueprint for achieving business goals with data. This means that everything you are doing MATTERS as it underpins the success of everything else!