A woman on the till in Tesco thanked me for choosing her and not the self serve option. It landed hard. Never really gave it much thought. A simple choice I'm free to make. We can change things for the better in easy, peaceful ways sometimes.

What's a bit mad about this is that as far as I can tell, it is only me – a guy with a Substack – who has covered a significant government announcement today that is directly linked to a manifesto commitment.

South Coast friends! I am so far only doing one public-facing talk on the Post Office scandal this year and it is on Thu 2 July at the Ropetackle Theatre in Shoreham. Please come - there's LOADS of new stuff to tell you... (20% discount code is POST20) ropetacklecentre.co.uk/events/nick-...

Exeter Comedy Festival kicks off today with the Gala. Still tickets available. Loads of great acts on throughout ECF. The big names have sold out but there are some real gems with seats available. We're so lucky to have this going on, don't miss it! www.exetercornexchange.co.uk/book-tickets...

Aside from the wider unfairness in access to funded childcare/early education hours only being for 'working' families - if you are going to restrict it, I cannot see any reasonable justification for excluding people in education or training - www.theguardian.com/money/2026/m...

🌱 Growing Your Own Resilience: Herbal Leys 📅 Thu 25 June ⏰ 10.30am–1pm 📍 Lesquite Farm, PL13 2QE Join us at Lesquite Farm in Cornwall & explore how herbal leys can 🐝 boost productivity 🍀 improve soil fertility & animal health 📈 support farm profitability 🖇️: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/growing-yo...

Tell me a legal truism that isn’t true at all. I’ll start “A Grade 2 listed building isn’t protected on the inside; only the exterior is protected”

Robert Venables KC is currently being prosecuted for tax evasion at Southwark Crown Court. I've posted the prosecution's opening note here. buff.ly/kKLjJVI If anyone has access to the Defendant's opening note or other documents, do please send & I'll update the post.

Are there any classroom teachers that follow me on here? I have a fun question to ask you (anonymously). DM me or wave to say hi 👋

Perhaps this will help, Trish. I built this 13 years ago for the Orange County Register.

Re-upping this helpful infographic from @charlesapple.bsky.social on water safety and what drowning really looks like. (It doesn't look like the splashing and crying out seen in TV/film.)

Any Glasgow folk at a loose end this evening and fancy a walk round the Gorbals in the sun, come and join me on this tour! Fine to just turn up, meet outside old St Andrews Printworks on Pollokshaws Rd, 6pm www.eventbrite.com/e/radical-hi...

“You could meditate on the historical shift to monotheism by reading a weighty biography of Julian, the last non-Christian emperor. Or you could do it by reading Small Gods, which has jokes in it.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

I know that the LotR was viewed as unfilmable until Jackson but... I do wonder if Pratchett is actually unfilmable. Too much is contained in the asides and its too comic to work live action. Just looks silly and the juxtapositions don't quite work.

"While over 6 million companies appear on the Companies House register, a substantial fraction never trade, file dormant accounts, or dissolve before submitting their first annual return" www.ons.gov.uk/businessindu...

If you know anyone who'll be voting for the first time in this year's #isleofman General Election, @edge-law.bsky.social and I have created a short video exploring why young people should vote. youtu.be/vEGMca-y5Q0

On the train back to Glasgow now - but a great excuse to talk about FOI, Parliamentary transparency and AI at the same time. Thread walking between the links.

This week’s free to read is the fruit of a bad night’s sleep and thoughts on how to view German military personnel or figures post World War II. jerijerod14.substack.com/p/the-proble... #history #ww2

I’m here all day and terrible at networking so please do come and talk to me if you want to know about #dementia support. @gerisoc.bsky.social

Interesting. The Law Society of Scotland requires the study of succession; parentage; parental responsibilities and rights, children's rights; the creation, consequence and termination of marriage and civil partnerships; and rights and obligations arising from cohabitation.

Can you imagine an English academic writing a book about English law which started with English Family Law, followed by Inheritance; with commercial and criminal law being topics 3 and 4? Family, inheritance and international law weren’t even taught on my Law Conversation Course.

I recently finished Mashood A. Baderin’s Islamic Law — A Very Short Introduction which is excellent & the best of the VSI books I have tried. Something that interested me is how he framed his discussion of the substantive law. The chapters are: Family Inheritance Commercial Crime International

Companies House targets for 2026/27: 1) Clean up the register by scaling up automated data quality metrics 2) Scale up data sharing efforts 3) Complete ID verification rollout 4) Targeted enforcement action against those misusing the register www.gov.uk/government/p...

It was kind of Robert Jenrick to set me up for an obvious joke at his expense.

I’m absolutely fuming that the chief executive of a national organisation (BASC*) had the audacity to say that vocational deer managers shouldn’t have to meet mandatory training/competence

People with spinal cord injury deserve consistent standards, specialist expertise and joined up support throughout their lives. That must remain at the heart of future NHS planning.

I hadn't realised that the recent changes to UK employment law limit the use of NDAs - summary here

One of my favourite Spotify playlists for when I’m out running is this Old Skool Piano House playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/1GE...

Eat that Frog! do amazing work here in Torbay. It was then great to meet with Lucy Lewis from Build Torbay as well as five young people who Eat that Frog! are helping to build their confidence with work in the construction industry.

I remember looking a few years back and couldn't find anything like this but it is possible to get sheet music for some classic tracks and there are also some really good online resources. I found this one pretty useful and interesting. unison.audio/house-chord-...

Calling piano & dance music lovers I’d love to find a book of piano music of 90s dance/trance songs with great piano rifts. Any sggestions? I’m thinking stuff like: • Robert Miles - Children • Livin' Joy - Dreamer • Baby D - Let me be your fantasy • Lil Louis & the world - I called U

Just had a kingfisher land on the apple tree in front of my house. The shimmering blue, the vibrant orange, the stillness, the speed. Glorious to see.

HMRC have published a warning, and have successfully contested three of these cases in court. But this shouldn't be treated like a polite game of cricket. It looks like fraud, and all those involved should be the subject of criminal investigations.

This scheme is bonkers. Obviously. But it's being widely used. Sometimes by desperate normal businesses (Halifax Rugby League Football Club Limited!) Sometimes by people already engaged in abusive or fraudulent tax schemes.

A company called Liberty Rock claims you can pay your tax with a magic cheque. They'll make all your tax go away, for the small, small fee of 30% of the amount. The only problem: it's a fraud. We’ve obtained the documents and are naming the names. Thread:

Free emergency info seatbelt covers available to collect in Exeter Police are offering drivers and passengers with additional needs free seatbelt covers to help make communication easier after incidents including road traffic collisions. #disability #Devon #driving

Would you like to share your thoughts on the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)? Disability Together have a short survey to gather evidence. #PIP #Timms #review #disability forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...

Free emergency info seatbelt covers available to collect in Exeter Police are offering drivers and passengers with additional needs free seatbelt covers to help make communication easier after incidents including road traffic collisions. #disability #Devon #driving

🚗 When should you appeal a parking ticket? It will depend on the type of parking ticket you have. Here's what you need to know ⤵️ bit.ly/4dbFCqj

The ICO has produced proposals to cut the number of FOIs government gets. Some of these could be defended, but others would undermine FOI. The ICO should be focussing on defending FOI, not giving government the intellectual cover for a crackdown relightmyfoia.blog/2026/05/11/i...

Libraries improvement fund • £5.5 million for 2026/27 • Capital expenditure between £50,000 to £500,000 • Eligibility: A local authority making an application on behalf of a library service in England Ask your local authority to apply!

EVENT | What next for restoration and renewal of parliament? 📆Today, 12:30-13:30 Join us today as the IfG assembles a panel to discuss what the Restoration and Renewal programme could mean for parliament, industry and the wider public, and what lessons can be drawn from global projects.

Fascinating event on a project that is a metaphor for much of what is wrong with governing in the UK. come along

🚐 The Rural Reach Information & Advice Bus is visiting Catterick Village! 📍 Booth Hall, DL10 7LL 📅 Thurs 14th May ⏰ 10am–1pm Get basic advice, information and signposting to local support services including benefits, housing, debt & more. Come along and say hello 👋 #Catterick #CitizensAdvice

What happens when the state quietly disappears? A new paper finds that support for populism in Italy (2008–18) rose where hospitals closed, especially in remote municipalities. Greater distance to public services reinforced feelings of abandonment and boosted populist voting.

If any UK based vendors going to @dinoconuk.bsky.social could reach out: I am thinking of sending some merch ahead of time to avoid chaos (and anxiety) during flying, any help in having me send some 3D-prints and bringing them to the venue for me would be greatly appreciated!

NDAs I’d like to discuss gov depts using NDAs Who should I follow on Bluesky to learn about the murky world of non disclosure agreements? #NDA #gov #UK @cbmsuk.bsky.social @organisehq.bsky.social @visage66.bsky.social

Pension scams: Britons warned over criminals offering inheritance tax loopholes www.theguardian.com/money/2026/m...

“the Thurrock #datacentre will produce more emissions than an international airport, and Elsham Tech Park's peak emissions will reach 1m tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2033-34 - just short of the 1.2m tonnes of carbon emissions of all the UK's domestic flights.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Do No Evil? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...