It was really good to be back with the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration, not that I’d ever really been away. The pan-cluster meeting at Leicester was the first time I had met with everyone since stepping down as a director. Despite the long drive it was well worth attending. As an aside, I don’t know … Continue reading The Prodigal Son
Old maps
I’m always on the lookout for something interesting for us to do. My wife has an interest in local history, especially that of Newcastle, while cartography holds a fascination for me, so when I saw an event called Historical Maps of Newcastle upon Tyne and Tyneside, organised by Northumberland & Newcastle Society, I put our … Continue reading Old maps
Campaigning Mindset
There has been a spate of books about modern politics doing the rounds since before Christmas. I have bought some of them including Rory Stewart’s, Bernie Sanders’ and Alistair Campbell’s and it has taken me a while to get through them. I am reading Campbell’s now. I’m only half way through and so will reserve … Continue reading Campaigning Mindset
School revisited
Back in December I blogged about how I had been invited back to my old school to give a talk to some of the students about my time there, my career and what I was up to now. Time marches on and my visit has now been and gone. I wouldn't say that I was … Continue reading School revisited
Unrepresented
Image thanks to FreePik Here's a challenge. How do you get your message across to a group that is outside of your sphere of influence? This is the problem I am facing with the new Cyber Security Innovation Centres. The people it is aiming to attract are probably students or working already in a business. … Continue reading Unrepresented
Confidence in AI
Image thanks to the BBC Half-watching the local news, my ears pricked up when Carol announced that ‘The University of York has set up a living lab to reassure people about Artificial Intelligence’. The screen was filled with pictures of clever people interacting with semi-humanoid robots, with friendly faces and smiling eyes (the robots that … Continue reading Confidence in AI
Prove it
Proving who you are can be quite difficult. Other than looking in the mirror and saying that’s me, there aren’t that many options. All of us carry many forms of ID with us, bank and credit cards etc, but they are not always that effective, or so I found out. It seems that all documentation … Continue reading Prove it
Shute
Image thanks to Realestate I have mentioned reading Nevil Shute before. I’ve been working through his canon ever since reading a recommendation by Peter Oborne writing in the Byline Times (you can buy this in the shops now by the way). If you recall, he suggested to his readers that we should read ‘A Town … Continue reading Shute
Brief encounter
The train ride from Newcastle to Edinburgh is very beautiful if you get a chance to look out of the window that is. Danielle and I weren’t there for the view however but rather to work. We were on our way to visit ScotlandIS and had a boat load of other things to catch up … Continue reading Brief encounter
I only want to pay my tax
Image thanks to Freepik.com Here is some advice, if someone is offering, never miss the opportunity to take someone's money. It was a Sunday morning, I had a corporation tax bill and I was happy to pay it. I went online to transfer the money and this is where the fun began. I had the … Continue reading I only want to pay my tax
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 