Hard agree.

UK publishing generated £7.4 billion in revenue last year. Compare that to: Premier League football: £6.6 billion Home entertainment: £5.6 billion UK film industry: 2.8 billion Now tell me again why authors don't deserve fair contracts and better pay.

Renewed my Society of Authors subscription mostly to a) remind myself I once wrote a book, and b) maintain the notion that I might one day write another. 🙃

My pal Myke is an excellent podcaster and this will be an excellent podcast. 🍎

1000+ unique visitors for @clearlanguage.club over the last 30 days, which is a pretty decent beginning.

I find myself off work, feeling much better post-op, with some time on my hands, alone in the sunshine. Currently paralysed by an abundance of opportunity. So many things I could do. And yet, look at me, browsing barbecues on the B&Q website.

Reading The Wax Child for book club while off work recovering. I like the writing. All rather grim though for a sunny Tuesday morning.

Easy no-cook dinners for the heat this week: Monday: Cornetto Tuesday: Magnum Wednesday: Solero Thursday: Calippo Friday: Viennetta

Got a @clearlanguage.club newsletter out into the world. Lots of good stuff for content and designer types. 💌

Not sure if recovering from surgery in this weather is a) a good thing, nice to sit outside, or b) a massive missed opportunity to do nice things in the world. I suspect it's more c) feeling guilty I can't do fun things with the kids.

Had my gall bladder removed yesterday. Unless like me you need yours removing on medical grounds, I can’t recommend the experience.

I have 1 million tabs open. 🎉

One for the spite village @lapope.bsky.social. 😢

You're probably wondering just how metric my socket set is

This is great. Go watch it. ❤️

Less than two weeks and I am taking part in The Tor Divide, which is a very long bike event that I consider myself entirely unprepared for. Seemed a good idea when I signed up. 😰

One my favourite things is when entire content teams sign up to Clear Language Club at the same time. 💌

Finally shared the new blog news with folk subscribed to the Clear Language Club newsletter. This edition also contains many links to lots of great content about content. 💌

Before AI, I'd start a creative project and slowly lose momentum until I abandoned it. With Claude Code, I can abandon projects at speeds I never dreamt possible.

Problem solved. Now using @echofeed.app from the ace @rknight.me and happily paying a small amount to do so.

Few content design roles on here.

Wrote an official launch post for the Clear Language Club blog. I'm quite excited about it. Looking forward to sending an email to 1000ish folk to tell them it's ready. 😬 💌 www.clearlanguage.club/say-hello-to...

Wrote an official launch post for the Clear Language Club blog. I'm quite excited about it. Looking forward to sending an email to 1000ish folk to tell them it's ready. 😬 💌 www.clearlanguage.club/say-hello-to...

There is no reason to be on Substack. There are plenty of free options. And if you need the membership stuff, consider paying for @ghost.org or @buttondown.com and keeping all your income.

I can’t recommend using a mitre saw and having a tiny piece of wood fly up and cause an abrasion on your cornea. Vision is fine. It will be fine. Right now it absolutely wails.

I’ve lived in Sheffield for 27 years and tomorrow I’m doing the half marathon fo the first time. Very hilly first half. All tips welcome. 😬

Today was the last day of working on an almost two-year project with the team at @publicdigital.bsky.social. It has been challenging and rewarding in all the right ways. Have found myself feeling slightly more emosh than anticipated. 🥹

Started a new work project today and my brain is absolutely bursting with information. In a good way. 👍

This is a fantastic resource fyi. 👍

One of the fun things about AI is that someone has taken an existing image of our kitchen and asked a robot to make it the same but slightly different. Including all our art. Some of which was made by our kids. And then posted it everywhere. (My wife does interior design, hence initial image)

Working on three things for Clear Language Club. – An introduction to the new blog – A post on working in the open as a content designer – A newsletter to tell everyone about the above Also done some minor faffing with the design that no one will ever see or care about. 👍

So, this is the Clear Language Club account on Bluesky. It's where new posts go and a way to follow what I publish to the site. I don't plan on using it for much else, but it's handy if you want to see links to content-related stuff in your feed. Like this post by @darekkay.com, which is ace.

So, I have been adding posts based on stuff I have previously shared in the newsletter. Just kicking the tyres and making sure everything works. And I think we are about ready for a proper launch later this week. 💌

I am very close to abandoning my attempts to autopost new posts on Clear Language Club to Bluesky. 🙃

The absolute softest of launches for the Clear Language Club blog. Just trying to make all the doodahs work, like the auto-post to Bluesky, which currently does not. Feel free to click about. www.clearlanguage.club/coming-soon/

This is interesting. A tool that uses AI to automatically write alt text for you if you give it an image. All processing done locally on your Mac, so in theory private and secure. Going to check it out. eyedrop.ai

Made a new little thing. Storing my #usability bookmarks, and thought I'd try to drop them here regularly. Here's 'Issue 1'. Kind of... an un-newsletter? A very mini publication? You decide! #digital #design #UCD

So I know a lot is going on right now, but I do want to share this: I’m excited to share the launch of the new Microsoft Inclusive Design website 💙 This project is my love letter to the community and practice that’s shaped my work for nearly a decade. inclusive.microsoft.design 1/

Latest edition of the now-called Clear Language Club newsletter from last week includes: – plain language vs plain English by @cjforms.bsky.social – user research with disabled people – designing for people who are deaf by @vitalyf.bsky.social – screen readers misconceptions by @tetralogical.com

Agree. Found myself nodding away at this too. And immediately removed the unread count badge from the app icon of my RSS reader. 👍

If you are on a Mac, this is the Bluesky app you have been waiting for. It’s fantastic. 👍

My pal and former colleague Rich Wells is featured on the @thisiscolossal.comossal website today. One of the most talented people I have ever worked with. Lovely bloke. Very tall. www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/01/rich-w…

A lovely, hearty recommendation, which is, of course, the very best kind. Thanks @thompsonsimon.com

Officially moved from Plain English Club to Clear Language Club. Waiting for some late-night DNS shenanigans. Also, here on Bluesky: @clearlanguage.club

My book, Accessibility For Everyone, is now free and online as a website. accessibilityforeveryone.site The book was first published by A Book Apart in 2017 but it holds up! It covers web accessibility for designers, developers, content folks, and really everyone who works in tech.

I've been working on the Plain English Club website to turn it into a blog and resource hub, as well as a newsletter. But I am in a tizz over the name.

One of my favourite internet things is still Carrd, which allows you to quickly and cheaply set up a one-page website. I've used it for all sorts of things, including my freelance website and a prototype user research library I once made for HM Land Registry.

Ace stuff from Ema Thornhill at Scope, neither of which I can find on Bluesky. "Sometimes the research sessions we do look nothing like the research sessions we planned. But that is OK because it means the participant took part in a way that was accessible, inclusive and comfortable for them."

I have a stack of things to add to Plain English Club Bookmarks. I also need to send a first newsletter of 2026. And turn the whole thing into a blog. I still think Bookmarks is a really brill resource. www.plainenglish.club/bookmarks/

Thanks @timapple.com! The good news is that I just about remember it. The podcast was called Write for Your Life and it still lives right here. This final episode was almost exactly 10 years ago. wfyl.captivate.fm/episode/red-...