One of the best jobs in civic tech has just been advertised Head of AI at the mighty @fullfact.org

In which the Councillor is told not to report Planning breaches because the hollowed out public service function can't cope

Running into football fans in town is usually nasty & threatening, but today the city has come out for Arsenal and it feels joyful, kind and inclusive and everything I love about the greatest city in the world.

We really need to fully bed in the idea that the default position of someone wearing the Meta camera glasses is that they are a pervert

How vulnerable children became a gold mine for investors This piece by Chris Smyth, Alan Smith and Jennifer Williams is worth your time as.ft.com/r/b1fb6cb0-4...

Good data is essential for policy. Today it’s been a year since we had a permanent National Statistician. No news on what is happening with the current recruitment which began Oct 2025. This is an under the bonnet issue that points to state failure 🧵 uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/stateme...

New blog post: GDS weighs in on the NHS's decision to retreat from Open Source https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/05/gds-weighs-in-on-the-nhss-decision-to-retreat-from-open-source/ Within the UK's Civil Service you occasionally hear the expression "being invited to a meeting without biscuits". It …

I love Middlemarch.

If, like me, you are a muppet who managed to lose her polling card and want to check where to vote, this website is useful. (Remember: while you need ID to vote in England, you DON’T need to bring your polling card, that’s purely for convenience). wheredoivote.co.uk

Anyone who hasn't really should get themselves into the Pleasant Green-iverse. The best horror/drama/comedy/mysteries that you feel *should* be prestige tv, but you're sort of glad they're not because the pictures are better this way.

Every system that was regulated, either explicitly or implicitly, by the fact that they were effortful for humans (letters of recommendation, government filings, essays, or, as this paper finds, lawsuits) will break under a wave of AI.

Our annual State of the Nation report contains the most comprehensive summary of social mobility data in the UK. It allows policy makers to understand what is diving and what is blocking social mobility at a national and a local level. Explore more: https://bit.ly/47V1cOb

The opinion I have held since I first heard anything about Bob Dylan, which is that Bob Dylan is a wanker, remains unchallenged

I’ve shared this report with plenty of people over the years, but sharing it again as I had a reason to point someone at it today. Learn how posh people level up: www.gov.uk/government/p...

we found that internal party divisiveness seems to be a feature of many of the most successful policies. Lots of case studies from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk - smoking ban, climate change act and devo and the minimum wage in this from 2012 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

NEW: Ben Houchen's Tees Valley Combined Authority intends to redirect £100m of transport funding it received from the government to the highly-indebted development corporation which leads regeneration of the Teesworks site.

When your cat has watched Die Hard too many times.

London’s “worst mass eviction in recent history” is underway; hundreds of households across London told to get out of their homes this week by the same landlord, ahead of the renters rights act. The landlord? Billionaire Asif Aziz’s Criterion Capital. www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

Very good thread. Depressing quote: "... my team has to spend a reasonable part of their week trying to make sure none of us get murdered".

The funding for this work ends in March so we're considering what happens next to the community of practice. We ask you to take a little time to complete a survey on your thoughts. MS form: forms.office.com/r/gPvfrr2eAW Google form: forms.gle/tcwEY28KG5q... (2/2)

Ditto Pisa

What could #AI do for public services if we built it around real challenges, led by those closest to the problem? 💰 We're offering up to £25k for new projects between researchers & local authorities. ➡️ www.ai.cam.ac.uk/calls/local-... Watch our challenge fair 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZ0...

Started following the Radio 3 now playing bot for the pictures. Love Vivaldi being proud as punch.

Never invite a linguist to do a political theorist’s job

Now might be a good time to follow @written-statements.bsky.social, if you don’t already

So often with these stories, people see the big numbers - hundreds of kids in illegal settings - and not connect with the personal story. That's why I spoke to Lucy*, who has been in 18 placements since she was 11, five of which were illegal observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Solid Eurovision bop, douze points

If this is the weekend to watch Nazis being killed in the arctic circle, I recommend the excellent Sisu m.imdb.com/title/tt1484...

In May alone, [China] added enough renewable energy to power Poland (We might be ok?)

I wish to be friends with whoever organised these drawers in the Ashmolean Museum

Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

This is the 15th year of #DuvetKnowItsChristmas, which is preposterous. Rules: if you find yourself dealing with unusual / claustrophobic / gaudy sleeping arrangements this Christmas Eve, share a picture with the world. Use the hashtag (with capitalisation) and cc me if you can be bothered.

Happy #NewgrangeSolstice livestream day! I love watching it with @heliolithic.bsky.social and @sgthowie.bsky.social every year ❤️

Nuts in May is being repeated on BBC4 on Sat 10th Jan at 21:50. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

Complaints came from a nearby Travelodge, as well as their own landlord Full story: www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourn...

Worth a read. AI will save us all when the focus is on replacing dangerous jobs and precision tech to avoid overexploitation.

Not stars in the night sky but rather clusters of offshore wind turbines in the Southern North Sea, and the ships steering their course around them. Yesterday's image of the day from Copernicus, acquired by a Sentinel-1 satellite on 15 October 2025.

Thanks to @ringwiss.bsky.social for the heads up that this year's Parliament Christmas jumper is an absolute stunner 😍 www.shop.parliament.uk/products/big...

"Scientists targeted by dark PR tactics" Good coverage of the coordinated, anonymous attacks that have hit scientists who have been critical of Colossal Biosciences (me included) www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

I just want the good stuff. I want to be able to define the good stuff for myself and for my phone to be on my side in getting what I want not constantly trying to trip me into compulsive loops of self-loathing to get me to buy more stuff. I want the objects I own to support the way I want to live.

🚨 Today is the day! Applications close at midnight today! 🌱 Want to make real change in your community, but not sure where to start? 🎓 Then The School for Everyday Democracy could be the programme for you. 🧵 👇

This claim is starting to REALLY irritate me. It’s endlessly made by people who know lots about AI and very little about cancer research. I’ve never heard it from people who actually research cancer drugs. We also haven’t had any significant drug developments yet through it, let alone massive ones.

One of the unintentionally impressive things about LLMs is that by dint of huge technical innovation, massive compute costs, and quite a lot of stolen data, they’ve managed to make computers bad at maths.

Also more seriously: I had to read a book in Italian to learn that London has the lowest level of ethnic violence of any comparable-size city in the world. Multiculturalism works. (Deleted and reposted to correct stupid late night mistake.)

If you like gossip and messy bitches you should watch the Watergate documentary on iplayer

This about parks reminded me that not enough is written about how the all bar one chain became successful by designing for women - big glass windows, long bar and open plan space.

This comes from engagement work with teenage girls in a park in York. And you see all those things with two dots by them. Those make up 90%+ of what we currently provide for young people in public space. Whereas the things that girls want - they just aren't there. Let's do better.

MPs have accused Apple and Google of “dragging their feet” in combating mobile phone theft for commercial gain. The Metropolitan Police asked both companies 18 months ago to carry out a key change that they believe will reduce phone crime, but it has not been implemented, MPs were told