Bought a new laptop bag last week. It was a distress purchase as the zip on my old one was looking iffy. Today after a full 5 days of lugging it around, I discovered a whole extra compartment that I'd somehow overlooked, still stuffed with scrunched up paper wadding. Bonus!

Lads If you get an NHS invite for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm screening then please do go along. It’s a short and painless process which will be over in 10 minutes and it could save your life. www.nhs.uk/conditions/a...

Google Photos reminding me it's a year since I first reported fly tipping in our street. Good times!

has heating in the new house!

Writing about a year in the new house: the romance of maintenance https://blog.mattedgar.com/2025/10/12/a-year-in-the-new-house-the-romance-of-maintenance/ #history #maintenance

Just spotted a UFO descend rapidly over my garden and land in the street beyond. If anyone in the north #leeds area is missing Peppa Pig and a deflated unicorn I can point you in the right direction

"Tony Harrison (30 April 1937 – 26 September 2025) was an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University." R.I.P.

The Intelligence is in the User https://tomstafford.substack.com/p/the-intelligence-is-in-the-user Today's newsletter, on ways we underestimate how much user skill goes into getting good results from AI models #genai #cogsci #llms #chatgpt

Heritage Open Days peak inside one of #leeds' rarely seen but most spectacular interiors https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1375329?section=official-list-entry

Drying in front of the stove after a rain-soaked day out in North Yorkshire

OMG these consultants are so old school that their deck is in 4:3 aspect ratio

Lovely bank holiday out at Kiplin Hall, North Yorkshire

Pondering as a I listen to clinicians' hopes for how AI could transform their practice. What I hear is deep frustration with the terrible tools inflicted on them in previous waves of digitalisation, and a nostalgic yearning for the simplicity symbolised by a conversational interface

Weeknote: 14 to 18 July 2025 Enjoying the peace and quiet in our local woods on a very hot weekend What did I enjoy? Seeing the publication of the Public Design Evidence Review, which explores the role and value of design in the public sector. It includes a section on public design for […]

Yes, exam board, this is definitely the top thing your users are seeking when they search on your website for "proof of qualifications"

Back to work note: 7 to 11 July 2025 A visit to one of London's livery companies with my son What did I enjoy? Getting back to work at the London and Leeds offices in the gorgeous sunshine. I worked at Waterloo on Monday, Canary Wharf on Tuesday, back home in Leeds on Wednesday, and the Leeds […]

Breaknote: 21 June to 6 July 2025 I took a whole fortnight off. First proper holiday since the house move. Week 1 floating in the Ionian sea, lying on stoney beaches, scrambling up and down rocky paths, and some inept hire boatmanship. I always go on holiday with an e-reader full of good […]

Back from a lovely week of floating in the Ionian sea, lying on stoney beaches, scrambling up and down rocky paths, and some inept hire boatmanship

Consumer networking devices come in two varieties: Altar to a Dark God and Aromatherapy Machine.

Move slowly and fix things! This wall had been repeatedly plastered over by the previous owners without addressing the damp that was making it fail. We've had the gutters replaced, let it all dry out, and now the wall can be redone with breathable lime plaster #theromanceofmaintenance

A few minutes to spend in the Merrion Centre so I visited the wonderful Emett machines on the upper level https://merrioncentre.co.uk/promotions-events/emett-machine-exhibition

Rainy day reminder: check your gutters, people! Top image is the wall of our house when we moved in last September Below, the same wall this month, with no other intervention than replacing the gutters and clearing some weeds Next job: cut back the concrete hard […] [Original post on social.coop]

Every rule tells a story

Enjoyed a visit to the Landmark Trust's newly renovated Calverley Old Hall. Amazingly preserved wall paintings and holiday accommodation for up to 10 people

Microsoft: Leaving New Outlook... What made you switch back? Me: At the end of a Teams call, the other person clicked "Leave" a split second before me. The "New Outlook" toggle in the window below is in exactly the same place as the "Leave" button was when I went to click it. Confused? Me too!

Fortnightnote: 28 April to 9 May 2025 Bluebells in the garden What did I enjoy? The highlight for me was an event hosted by Leeds City Council and the Cabinet Office's 'Test, Learn and Grow' team to explore a collaborative approach to neighbourhood health. It was a rare chance to catch up with […]

Fortnightnote: 28 April to 9 May 2025 Bluebells in the garden What did I enjoy? The highlight for me was an event hosted by Leeds City Council and the Cabinet Office's 'Test, Learn and Grow' team to explore a collaborative approach to neighbourhood health. It was a rare chance to catch up with […]

Thinking about discussion in doing #codesign workshop. The explicitness of asking and then leaving a gap for answers, questions, requests and offers. Taking a breath and pausing

Reminder! If you're a progressive, socially liberal technologist or thereabouts and are interested in building a movement with likeminded people, there's a survey open to find out what you'd want from a Society for Hopeful Technologists. www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-...

Enjoyed Tim Harford's Cautionary Tale about the strange fate of the Doves Press type https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0l7w1dy?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Re-upping this blog post, because it took me freakin' ages to write. What do we talk about when we talk about AI? Is it a field of technology or an extractive social process that makes a few people rich and powerful? And why is it so hard to define? www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-...

Train announcement: "Good morning to all passengers. I've noticed that the seat reservation service hasn't loaded up. This service is quite temperamental..."

Enjoyed this account of a year at NHSE. We're so fortunate to have Irina working here

Cautionary tale continues... Why the Post Office paid £600m to stay shackled to the faulty Horizon system - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgm8lmz1xk1o

Are you a UK-based technologist interested in joining a body that acts in solidarity against the excesses of extractive platform capitalism? Fill out this survey, and help design the Society for Hopeful Technologists www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-...

Fascinated by the market research that tells manufacturers of induction hobs that what people desperately want is more touchscreens and fewer knobs, when I feel like the number one anti-induction opinion on social media is “I don’t want to have a touch hob”.

There is literally no question that can't be answered by a thumbs up

Communications technology has seen many innovations in recent years, but emoji reactions really are the game changer for my chronic email reply procrastination

Can recommend the classic Alan Plater/Ray McAnally drama, 'A Very British Coup' now streaming on Channel 4, wonky 80s sound effects and all https://www.channel4.com/programmes/a-very-british-coup?cntsrc=social_share_android_a_very_british_coup

Re-reading some stuff I wrote about history when the new tech hotness was all about "big data" and wondering how we might think about place and care in the current moment of "AI" https://blog.mattedgar.com/2011/06/28/the-past-is-a-platform-from-which-we-launch-into-the-future/

Brilliant talk from @richardpope.org closing the User Needs First conference by asking the audience to think about more than user needs 😆 Was thoughtful and demonstrated that pragmatic ambition that @mattedgar.social.coop.ap.brid.gy blogged about recently 🙌

Enough already with the fake anime and action heroes. I asked ChatGPT to make my family into a Staffordshire figurine. Long out of copyright and quite pleased with the result

I enjoyed this podcast from North East & Yorkshire #nhs colleagues: the role of digital technology in addressing health inequalities and improving health outcomes for underserved groups and communities […]

Weeknote: 31 March to 4 April 2025 A bit of a blur Happy New Year! The end of one financial year, and the start of another. In the grand sweep of things, this arbitrary boundary shouldn't matter very much. Yet it still dictates the yearly rhythm of the public service worker, much as it did for […]

On the train to London, looking forward to meeting with our wonderful Patient and Public Voice Board for Digital Urgent and Emergency Care

Between the tepid bath and the cloud of vapour: a plea for pragmatic ambition A man visiting a health resort is sitting in a steam box. Engraving, May 1869. Wellcome Collection In my most recent weeknote, I promised a blog post... Somewhere in all this between the tepid bath of short termist […]

Weeknote: 24 to 28 March 2025 Magnolia blooming in the garden What did I enjoy? After the frustrations of the last month or so, the last full week of financial year 2025/26 brought many gifts: The team going live with a new approach to maternity self-referral, which stemmed from the work I […]

Between the tepid bath and the cloud of vapour: a plea for pragmatic ambition A man visiting a health resort is sitting in a steam box. Engraving, May 1869. Wellcome Collection In my most recent weeknote, I promised a blog post... Somewhere in all this between the tepid bath of short termist […]

Weeknote: 19 to 21 March 2025 Visit to Charleston, home and studio of Bloomsbury Group painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant A 3-day working week following a long weekend exploring 19th and 20th Century art and architecture in Surrey and Sussex. Highlights for me included Watts Gallery and […]

New post acuity.design/surviving-hi... of Siena Palio, Leeds Pub Crawl and linking past and present together