Mark Dalgarno

200k for the plot!

That'll never catch on!

Call for Sessions Our SDinGov call for sessions is now open

The Call for Sessions for September's SDinGov event closes on Monday: govservicedesign.net/call-sessions

This year's theme: Democratising Design. Read on: sdingov.net/democratisin...

TICKET OFFER 2 for 1 tickets Carole Cadwalladr talk: Big Tech and Democracy

Head to the Members' Events page at thenerve.news for discount code - two for £10 with no booking fee - to see @carolecadwalla.bsky.social in conversation with Peter Florence. Event is Mon 9 March, 7pm Part of The Conversation series at St Martin-in-the-Fields at Trafalgar Square.

@sianmurrayhuynh.bsky.social Any thoughts?

And wise!

Service Design in Government

Virtual SDinGov runs next Wednesday (11th). 1 day, online.

Event programme: virtual.sdingov.net/programme-2026

Ticket prices increase today...

Definitely a lot of focus on symbolic AI back in er, the 80s.

Modern approaches enabled by several orders of magnitude greater compute power, compute as commodity etc.

I don't remember that distinction though.

I feel your pain.

I’m glad it’s not just me!

The more I knew about conference organising the more problems I saw.

Over time fewer problems but those early days were a steep learning curve.

Correct!

When I ran my first conference I made a list of all the things that needed improvement. At the end, I had 60 things. I said to myself, at least next time there will be fewer. Turned out there were 100 things after the second conference!

It'll soon be 'DevOps Shorts Day' / @rogger.bsky.social @zomda.bsky.social

Confirmed.

If there is evidence of irregularities at some polling stations at the Gorton and Denton byelection, then that evidence should be properly and promptly investigated in accordance with due process by the proper authorities. And that is what is being done. Any denunciations of the election result should thereby await the result of this process. The losing party spokesperson candidly admitted the day after the election that any irregularities were not enough to have affected the result, which was emphatic. But this did not prevent the losing party’s leader from loudly promoting grave allegations of sectarian voting, corruption and dishonesty. Yet if the irregularities are not upheld on investigation as invalidating the result, it is unlikely that those findings will be shouted about. And such a response is irresponsible. Parts of the United Kingdom have a history of sectarian violence. Parts of the United Kingdom have histories of racial tension. Responsible politicians should not exploit such allegations for partisan advantage. Making such allegations is to play with fire, literally. Responsible politicians should be careful to avoid subverting the very fundamentals on which a functioning democracy rests. Such “poisoning of the wells” is familiar to those following the politics of the United States, and it lay behind the lethal violence that took place in Washington DC on 6th January 2021.

New

The poisoning of the wells

Why discrediting election results without waiting for due process is unhealthy for a democracy

This week's Weekly Constitutional by me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

A good counter I’ve heard to this is asking how long they are willing to fund that promotion.

Big money has bought British politics

75% of Reform’s money has come from three rich white men

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-refo...

Book look: The secrets of consulting, by Gerald Weinberg - neil-vass.com I’d seen recommendations for this book in lots of places, for years, before I got round to reading it. I assumed it’d be long, serious, and probably not too relevant to me (my job isn’t consultancy). ...

neil-vass.com/book-look-th...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once-on...

Sun headline about £500k compensation for migrants, discussing human rights, and public outcry over payouts.

Did you see this headline?

Did you feel the requisite anger and rage at asylum seekers that The Sun was asking of you?

Did you maybe blame Starmer because.... um... it was probably his fault🤷‍♀️

Would you like to know the reality behind the headline?

Course you would!😜

Let's take a look

🧵

1/25

How many hours do you need to work to afford a pint of beer? I dropped into a pub in central London and ordered two pints of draught beer. Obviously the price of everything is nuts these days - and doubly so in London - so I only winced a little bit when the cost came to about twelve quid. Shocking, obviously. But as we supped on our pints and discussed the state of the world, I tried to remember how expensive it was to have a pint when I was a lad young…

New blog post: How many hours do you need to work to afford a pint of beer?

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/03/how-many-hours-do-you-need-to-work-to-afford-a-pint-of-beer/

I dropped into a pub in central London and ordered two pints of draught beer. Obviously the price of everything is nuts these …

Ian!

Last chance to speak at Agile Cambridge 2026

A friendly reminder that the Call for Sessions for our 15th edition of Agile Cambridge closes this coming Monday, 9 March.

If you've got an idea for a session, workshop, case study, discussion, or maybe something a little more out of the box, we'd be thrilled to hear from you!

Annoyed a Yorkshireman once by saying that Yorkshire was in the South of Britain.

Isabel Oakeshott: anti-migration commentator, economic migrant to Dubai, possible future evacuee of the very British state she insists is broken.

Isn’t it funny how mobility becomes acceptable when it’s your own?

Call for Sessions Our SDinGov call for sessions is now open

Reminder that the Call for Sessions for September's @sdingov.bsky.social event is open: govservicedesign.net/call-sessions

Conference theme: Democratising Design: sdingov.net/democratisin...

I maintain hope despite every time I hear about some interesting astronomical event I can see from London and check the weather and it is 100% cloud.

Timely reminder.

I was thinking about this today as I start a new project.

/ @georginawatts.bsky.social

I retain my optimism. (Despite appearances!)

If some folks are being more productive in their roles then perhaps there is an opportunity for others to be productive in their roles.

But unless folks working at the bottleneck are more productive the 'system' will continue to be constrained there.

Bonus #TypoOfTheDay snack ox