Impressive how it is possible to spot an @anothertimbre.bsky.social cover design at twenty paces - with the attendant promise of something weird and glorious.

A fundraiser for people affected by the flooding in Monmouth has been set up by the town council and the mayor. You can donate here: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

also you know refugees are allowed to have unremarkable lives - they don't need to prove that giving them refuge was 'worthwhile' their need is justification enough

This is absolute gold from @richardpope.org on digitally enabled preventative healthcare

It's sometimes hard to remember that public services can be delivered with pride and self confidence

It's sometimes hard to remember that public services can be delivered with pride and self confidence

The very excellent @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social seems to have quietly died a couple of days ago. Does anybody know what might have befallen it and whether it can be revived?

The theme of the walk was autumn ending

It's completely optional, other than not being at all optional. #FixTheForms

Tangentially reminded of an extraordinary weaving installation in a tunnel in Holborn years ago - eerie, mesmerising, and strangely beautiful clapham-omnibus.blogspot.com/2009/10/chor...

Register is open for UKGovCamp 2026! Join us on 17 January 2026 for a free, community-led unconference where public sector people meet to share ideas, collaborate, and improve services. Spaces are limited. Secure your spot today: forms.gle/tL5q1ZBHYxAq...

Music stands in place for the solo performer

My hero is a farmer, not a duck. Which will only make sense if you read this new piece by me, the start of a new substack which I am bravely calling How To Run A Country. howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/its-the-de...

"When you’re trying to bring about significant change in any complex system, it’s impossible to know up front exactly what’s going to work, how the various risks are going to pan out or how the context is going to change."

A strange little demonstration outside Broadcasting House - a handful of people with a banner bigger than they are proclaiming that "Bullets will not silence us - RIP Charlie Kirk" against a stylised union flag. The ratio of confusion to word count seems remarkably high.

Thick mist last night, clear blue skies this morning. Autumn beyond doubt.

Much of what is written about "digital identity" veers (often wildly) across two broad lanes: 1) the concept of your 'identity' and 2) means by which you prove a claim in relation to that (usually that you are either The Person, or that some fact is true - without necessarily revealing who you are).

This is even more than usually heart stopping. My cousin was on that same transport from Tarnów. He died in Auschwitz in 1941 - and I suddenly wonder, if he had survived a longer, might he too have been released. And how much would have been different if he had.

ID cards aren't about the cards. @paulclarke.com has been thinking longer and harder about this than most of us, and this thread is an excellent place to start

The theme of the walk was orchards.

Not from the Onion Who needs the top bit anyway?

Some ministers make clear decisions and stuff happens as a result. Some ministers avoid making decisions and so stuff doesn't happen. Every civil servant I have ever worked with prefers the first kind to the second mind.

There is a certain pleasing irony in this list

A #FixTheForms masterclass today from @edfenergy.com A bill arrives with an estimated meter reading. It's a bit off, so let's update it with a more accurate one. Off we go to the website. Log in to MyAccount it says. Which is reasonable enough, except that I don't have any such logon details.

A superb rendition of Alexander's Feast from the Irish Baroque Orchestra at the proms The hallelujah chorus was a rousing encore - extra credit to the woman in the row behind me who felt inspired to sing along and who definitely knew some of the notes.

Never had Bletchley down on my list of places to search for gold

Adaptive brickwork

The theme of the walk was beyond the harvest

I wrote something about being a postman: hmshale.com/2025/08/22/o...

Usually, the best thing about a recording is the music. Just occasionally, it's a footnote in the liner booklet, clearly only there because the author couldn't bear to leave it out.

Email treat of the day. I am definitely looking for the most experienced and highly qualified Not currently hiring there is to be found. Great to know that there are people ready to help.

Work phone is connected to work Teams so voicemails appear as a Teams alert and are helpfully transcribed in an email. Which I have just noticed rather deliciously arrives from noreply@skype.voicemail.microsoft.com #GhostsOfSoftwarePast

The theme of the walk was unexpected framing

Not seen a sign like this before. Do landowners have the right to ban photography from a public right of way? @paulclarke.com? @gsoh31.bsky.social? (the don't be a jerk rule obviously does apply)

Sam Pepys gets to NPM a few centuries ahead of time

I am left wondering how many cups of tea there are in a swimming pool, and what the conversion rate is to Wales.

To the surprise of no one, these are views worth reading. Describing a better future is always the easy bit. Understanding how to get there from here is hard, and doubly so if there is no real recognition of the ways in which it is hard.

The theme of the walk was the thin blue line

The theme of the walk was disappearance

"(although the Treasury lays part of the blame on the Department for Work and Pensions for, it claims, dragging its heels over the reform package)" Treasury chutzpah really is limitless.

And does this mean that as your mouse goes across a menu, the words jump up and down?? It cannot be so. It must not be so.

Completely dotty

Hello internet. I have started a substack. I want to talk about concepts vs experience, agile and its philosophical underpinnings, how to use all that to change the way organisations do things. If that sounds interesting, please join me! harrymetcalfe.substack.com/p/look-a-sub...

On this day 85 years ago, the first transport of prisoners left for Auschwitz from Tarnów. My cousin, Zbyszek Matys, was one of them. This film carries the voices of some who survived. My cousin was not one of them. It is not easy to watch, but it must be watched.

I was gently escorting the apparently homeless person out of the basement of our fringe theatre, until one of my colleagues suggested that we might instead give Ronnie Corbett a ticket for the show

There is currently a black hole where digital social policy should sit. Viewing AI and digital delivery as cost-saving measures is one half of the story; digital policy across government should be outcomes based and not solely driven by short-term imperatives to drive down in-year spend.

It’s publication day for The Penguin Book of Polish Short Stories. It took 39 authors 100 years to write, and me about 4 years to compile and translate, with the help of 11 other translators. It aims to show the variety and brilliance of modern Polish literature.

Remembering the olden days with my little short wave radio, trying to hear the faint voice proclaiming "Tu mówi Londyn," often almost drowned out by more powerful stations, and chasing the BBC from frequency to frequency to hear news which at least tried to be honest. And now here we are again.

"Amongst" doing some impressive work here - sometimes the small print really matters. Share with care, indeed.

The theme of the walk was lines and boundaries