Image thanks to NYMag Inequality has bothered me for a long time. It is firmly in my mind that it is the cause of much, if not most of human misery. I see it on an international scale where wars are fought over resources, on a national scale, where people are worried that immigrants will … Continue reading Why inequality?
Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival day 1
I must admit to being quite tired when writing this. A few days have passed since the amazing Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival and I should have caught up by now but standing in your feet for large parts of the day while trying to focus on broad concepts and chatting with colleagues old and new … Continue reading Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival day 1
Morality versus legality
I purposefully have not added a picture. Over the last few months we have seen two examples of the most virulent excesses of our media, two exposés that resulted in a feeding frenzy of speculation and accusation leading to the end of the careers of two broadcasters. The first was the story of Schofield and … Continue reading Morality versus legality
15 years at Thinking Digital
I must admit it took me back a bit when Herb Kim announced that this was the fifteenth Thinking Digital. As I sat in the audience I tried to think of how many I had been too. It isn’t fifteen but it can’t be a long way off. I did notice, however, that I recognised … Continue reading 15 years at Thinking Digital
What’s Up with WhatsApp
It’s hard to get your head around what is going on within the Tory party at the moment. The issue with private WhatsApp messages is a case in point. Baroness Hallett, who is leading the COVID inquiry into government and ministers actions before, during and after the pandemic, has asked for the unredacted WhatsApp messages … Continue reading What’s Up with WhatsApp
You should go to Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival
CyberNorth is back at Europe’s largest innovation festival for the second time, following the amazing time we had last year. Northumbrian Water Group’s innovation festivals are big, loud, exciting and very unique events where they gather some of the greatest and most innovative minds from the worlds of business, science, tech, engineering, utilities and customer … Continue reading You should go to Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival
Seven years too long
Image thanks to GoneWithTheTwins I remember that fateful day, seven years ago, coming down to check the result on my phone to find that leave had won the referendum. Almost immediately I got a WhatsApp from my youngest daughter asking me what it means. My reply was ‘that’s it, we’re out.’ It wasn’t quite that … Continue reading Seven years too long
Learning your lessons
Sometimes things don’t turn out quite as you had expected. A Tuesday evening in Hexham was one of them. I’ve long got myself hung up on numbers when planning events, worried that nobody would turn up, indeed I often say once there are more in the audience than speakers I can start to relax. But … Continue reading Learning your lessons
Abstain
Abstaining in a free vote in Parliament is a cop out. Yet at the vote on the Commons Privileges Committee’s report into Boris Johnson and his statements to the house on Partygate, over 100 Tory members did just that. In the end it made no difference. The report had found that Johnson repeatedly misled parliament … Continue reading Abstain
A trip to Seamer
I don’t think I had ever been to Seamer before, just on the outskirts of Scarborough. I may have passed through by car as we visited Scarborough as a family when the children were young. They are grown women now so it was some time ago and all I remember was visiting the rock factory. … Continue reading A trip to Seamer
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 