Listening to our users: I am at the first of 3 day-long workshops with citizens and residents to unpick the quality of government services. Over 6,000 people across all of Germany were randomly sent a letter by the minister and invited to share their views on service experience.

Apologies for blowing my own trumpet but I’m amazed and beyond thrilled that ‘Potholesville’ has somehow hit 150k views in less than a week. Branching into film was a random experiment so to see the channel take off so fast is, er, thought provoking. m.youtube.com/watch?v=RKiV...

I'm afraid there *is* an obvious answer: it can't.

Wrote about my first 7 months transforming the technology underpinning the national breast screening programme: lizlutgendorff.substack.com/p/lessons-le...

Along with #duvetknowitschrismas, time for a new yearly tradition: #ITschristmas, where we share IT support horror stories from helping family over Christmas. Here's mine to start:

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know what KPI meant: www.instagram.com/reel/DSp1ukm...

Been going shopping with my dad this week, as he’s coming to Mexico with us. I don’t think I have ever been shopping with my dad before.

I am going to make a bingo card of things to do in 2026. like visit a London museum that I’ve never been to before, doing another sportive. Anyone do any fun / different things that they’d recommend for my bingo card.

For the afternoon crowd

Henceforth the red robes will only be worn as an away kit when the Canadian Supreme Court is playing the US one.

Had some thoughts after reading @hayleygullen.com's graphic novel about her breast cancer treatment: lizlutgendorff.substack.com/p/can-you-ap...

My birthday is this month. And I am I would like 5aH Makita LXT Lithium Ion batteries for a present years old.

Thank you everyone who bought my book this week - on Amazon or elsewhere. Love to see that orange #1 Best Seller tag 😎 #cansky #graphicmedicine

I'll be chatting about the new job and some of the complexities of working within health if you fancy it: leedsdigitalfestival.org/events/the-s...

Why is it after visiting a university, I’m all “Maybe I should do another degree”. Like I have a PhD, I really don’t need a fourth degree.

Very sorry to have to do this - usually I post threads in more than one place. Today, however, my partner is telling me to get in the car or find a divorce lawyer. So with apologies - here's a Substack link instead michaeldnes1.substack.com/p/what-reall...

Fans of the pod/Substack will be delighted to know we've been protesting at Old Bridge Way this morning...

NEW! James and Martin have a big fight about AI! A very special episode of The Abundance Agenda, in which @mjrobbins.com and I argue about whether large language models like ChatGPT are a big deal or a big nothing. Listen/subscribe here: www.abundancepod.com/p/james-and-...

This is one of those very weird things that I experienced moving to the UK (but at least it’s not as bad as Germany where we had to plan our holiday around the nothingness of Sundays).

Now the working day is over you can read this:

Good time for some bin chat open.substack.com/pub/jamesoma...

What new towns can learn from Ebbsfleet takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/what-new-t...

There ain’t no Podcast like an abundance podcast.

Nothing reminds you of the passage of time as sailing through photo based age verification with no problem.

I’m having a little book launch on 17 September. I have a really special venue that’s not normally open to the public. There are a few tickets left: get them here if you fancy it! thismightsurpriseyou.eventbrite.co.uk

Lovely bit of business

New episode of THE ABUNDANCE AGENDA podcast: 🏠 Is the government undermining its own Planning Bill? ☀️ Why 'climate emergency' declarations require actual action 🏙️ Plus we speak to Deputy Mayor @tomcopley.bsky.social about building housing in London! Listen! www.abundancepod.com/p/declaring-...

On Thursday night, we heard that government was making big concessions on its planning bill, putting lots more controls on its nature recovery plans. I find this disappointing. And to explain why, I have to tell a story I’ve been holding off from sharing.

Wrote about my initial impressions of working at my new job. lizlutgendorff.substack.com/p/the-tangle...

This is going to be a big hit so make sure you pre-order!

James and I keep joking we’ll do a 7-part series on HS2 on the pod, but honestly 100 wouldn’t be enough. You’d barely fit Euston in that.

At least some good things are happening in the policy world. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/c...

I feel this deep on my bones for digital projects as well (especially in my new job) 😩

Really interesting post from Martin! I think this paragraph is the best way to reconcile stats with subjective feelings – it's not that things haven't got better, it's that the public's expectations have raised.

New episode of THE ABUNDANCE AGENDA podcast! 💧 New reservoirs! And four other signs of progress 🚄 Some *good* HS2 news ☀️ How infrastructure made and broke Skegness 🏠 Plus we speak to @antoniabance.bsky.social about housing, industrial policy and more www.abundancepod.com/p/five-small...

The other good thing about removing the requirement for planning consent for heat pumps within 1m of a neighbouring property is that it takes a burden off over-stretched planning authorities. A relatively small one, but helpful none the less.

Wife: so, I tried to return X for repair but Royal Mail won't accept the package as they say computer doesn't recognise address. What do I do? Me: well, you start with a campaign to bring the Postcode Address File back into public sector & then you redesign the data flows & then... Wife: *sigh*

Crypto may be eating up the U.S. political system but back in the real word its use by regular folks is dropping. Fed data shows the 8 percent of adults who used cryptocurrency either as money or investment last year is down from 12% in 2021. Data also shows almost no use as actual money.

Arrived a bit early for my train.

An 800-year-old document leasing a shop on London Bridge is currently on display in the City of London’s Guildhall as part of an exhibition about the history of the trust fund that manages the City’s bridges. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/fro...

A quick thread on how comparative costs drives people mad. If you're working for, say, a TV company - then you know exactly the cost of an average hour of TV programming. If you want to build a website, it's natural for people to evaluate its budget in terms of how many hours of TV it costs. But…

If you load this page it contacts 82 IP addresses executing 256 separate HTTP transactions to download 18MB of data writing 64 cookies to your device to tell you “no”

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” HL Mencken

More of this please. Co-designing play spaces with children and young people near their homes led to “what researchers say is the highest increase in children’s physical activity ever recorded by an intervention of its kind”

The National Parking Platform is a big, exciting deal and you should know about it (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/national-p...

Why empty homes won't solve the housing crisis in one chart. jonn.substack.com/p/the-empty-...

I have been a guest on the greatest new nerd-policy-pod out there. Terrific fun. My memory of the recording is hazy but I’m pretty sure we solved the housing crisis.