Phil Archer

"Nigel Farage clutching at more straws than a masturbating scarecrow…" is a sentence for the ages. Thank you.

I think it's simpler than that, Lewis. The lowest estimated cost of refurbishing the Palace of Westminster is around £15.6bn. Having an in-house plumber and plasterer is going to bring that cost right down.

My experience matches yours precisely...

Agh! Now I need to rearrange the short break I booked less than 24 hours ago that has me returning home from Cardigan on March 27th. I saw and really enjoyed your previous preview show at Mwldan and would love to come and see you both again.

I like to think that @waterstones.bsky.social chose to do this a few days after I'd pre-ordered VLV at full price just for the lols ;-)

Vile Lady Villains duly pre-ordered from Waterstones. Before April, I really need to somehow get up to speed on Lady Macbeth. I should read the Isabelle Schuler novel that has sat on my shelf for too long. Maybe tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. C/Klytemnestra I know. @danaiwrites.bsky.social

Thanks Tom. See ref.gs1.org/standards/ep... :-)

Planning a F2F meeting for an international technical working group. USA is not an option as a venue for all-too obvious reasons.

"This was the whole problem with the past, that it was never really over, when the dreadful bricks of yesterday were what tomorrow would be built from." Alan Moore, The Great When.

If celebrities aren’t dressing as books then explain this:

I got my ticket a while back. PFH has said "bring your books for me to sign". Hmm... methinks I'll have to limit myself...

We're hiring

We're looking for a Project Manager to join our team on a fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave.

This role is part-time with excellent benefits.

Please read the full job description for more information: misc.tetralogical.com/careers/2026...

The closing date is Sunday 11 January.

Looks terrific, yes. Makes me think of the first time I met "Claire North". She did a author event in Norwich with Isabelle Schuler. They were promoting their Songs of Penelope trilogy and Lady Mabethad respectively. Clymtemnestra is a terrific character for sure.

Draft of the next charter for the W3C Verifiable Credentials WG is now at "refinement stage" meaning that W3C members are invited to comment. w3c.github.io/vc-charter-2...

We're losing a dynamic, capable young person for entirely sensible reasons. Are you the person who could take her place? You could be *anywhere* in the world. We're good on gender equality and LGBTQ, less good on ethnic and disability diversity (not bad, just not great) www.gs1.org/about/career...

Humans are lousy ay understanding scale, as in, the difference between millions, billions and trillions. So a little light recreational coding led me to create this handy guide philarcher.org/diary/2025/m...

A (highly respected and much liked) colleague just began a post on LinkedIn: "Ein kleiner Barcode". Hasn't quite got the ring of Mozart about it but, you never know, it might catch on.

TIL: One denier equals a mass of 1 gram per 9 kilometres of length. Betcha didn't know that.

Japanese people being silly.

Oh my

The W3C is calling for speakers for the W3C Workshop on Smart Voice Agents, an online conference from February 25 to 27, 2026.

They’re looking for contributions on voice interaction, smart devices, and related standards.

Read the full details at: w3.org/2025/10/smartagents-workshop

It was the obvious gap in my set of first editions. My wife kindly bought it for my 50th birthday.

For some reason, Anti-Ice remains on my TBR pile, despite having read almost everything else on these shelves. Will be interested to hear what you think of it.

I'm hoping he's still alive when the ballroom is demolished but hope is slim as I'm sure he'll die in office, sometime in the 2030s.

I've been haunting the BB website hoping to order one of these but it's not listed anywhere. Have they all been snapped up?

Data Strategist W3C has an open full-time position for a Data Strategist, responsible for leading our standardization work around data on the web, to continue our efforts to represent, discover, query, and exchange d...

My old job at W3C is up for grabs! www.w3.org/careers/data...

RFK Jr must be very confused that someone who has received his annual flu and COVID-19 boosters can have such a clean bill of health.

Ohhh hellllow, I see a fellow @nickabbot.bsky.social listener?

Me want!

I'd say it's head and shoulders above most SF books I've read in recent years.

I find it almost quaint that you have such faith in the institutions of the US. IMO, it's a given that, if he's still alive, the tangerine toddler will still be in the Whitehouse way beyond noon on 20 Jan 2029. Can you give me some hope that I'm wrong, please. (Phil from Ipswich)