Pants, Manchester
@fantasticlife.bsky.social
I make ontologies for the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. An odd job and not one I would have chosen for myself
Pinned
A quick hiya to new followers. You may have come across me as Clerk E. Smith, the Mouse of Commons or indeed The Emperor Palatine. These days I prefer to be known as Pants, Manchester Pants
That the BBC loves nothing more than reporting on itself is, in my opinion, a misunderstanding. There is no BBC in that sense. Just hundreds of journalists working for dozens of programmes, all of whom hate each other
November 10, 2025 at 12:01 PM
That the BBC loves nothing more than reporting on itself is, in my opinion, a misunderstanding. There is no BBC in that sense. Just hundreds of journalists working for dozens of programmes, all of whom hate each other
Having served under Tim Davie I can only say he brought a lot to the BBC. The most massive watch I’ve ever seen, for one
November 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Having served under Tim Davie I can only say he brought a lot to the BBC. The most massive watch I’ve ever seen, for one
All flights departures, assembled don’t return
November 6, 2025 at 1:59 PM
All flights departures, assembled don’t return
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I find myself agreeing with this. We appear to have taken the conversations that should be happening between people who can write code and people who want code writing, and turned them into a series of job titles and process gestures
'...Sometimes that means through layers of intermediaries, user researchers, service designers and workshops. All of that has its place, but nothing beats an engineer being there in person to witness the problems first-hand.'
November 6, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I find myself agreeing with this. We appear to have taken the conversations that should be happening between people who can write code and people who want code writing, and turned them into a series of job titles and process gestures
There she blows
Department for Business and Trade treaty Republic of Korea No. 1 (2025) has been laid by the FCDO https://api.parliament.uk/procedure-browser/work-packages/n9T6FIP3
November 6, 2025 at 11:22 AM
There she blows
Hear me out. An internet connected knitting machine that fires up every morning and knits you a scarf with today’s Order Paper in a yarn of your choice
November 5, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Hear me out. An internet connected knitting machine that fires up every morning and knits you a scarf with today’s Order Paper in a yarn of your choice
git clone github.com/design-syste...
November 5, 2025 at 7:54 AM
git clone github.com/design-syste...
Speaking as someone who accidentally helps run an election website, I do wish my fellow psephologists would not communicate entirely in colours. It makes life difficult for those of us with colour divergent eyes
A likely 75 per cent of votes have already been counted and Mamdani's on course to win with half the vote.
If the figs stay then Silwa has undergone some extensive squeezing to Cuomo's benefit. But Mamdani has outperformed the polls too.
If the figs stay then Silwa has undergone some extensive squeezing to Cuomo's benefit. But Mamdani has outperformed the polls too.
November 5, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Speaking as someone who accidentally helps run an election website, I do wish my fellow psephologists would not communicate entirely in colours. It makes life difficult for those of us with colour divergent eyes
There’s nowt wrong wi facilitating workshops. Mi father facilitated workshops, an is father before im
November 4, 2025 at 9:38 AM
There’s nowt wrong wi facilitating workshops. Mi father facilitated workshops, an is father before im
Reports from a friend that her hound is suffering fireworks anxiety. No such problems with these lads, who are waiting for their second supper. Proving, perhaps, that cats have absolutely no interest in protecting their homes or their loved ones
November 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reports from a friend that her hound is suffering fireworks anxiety. No such problems with these lads, who are waiting for their second supper. Proving, perhaps, that cats have absolutely no interest in protecting their homes or their loved ones
Started here to earn your pay
Clean neck and ears on your first day
Tap one another as you walk in the gate
We’d build a canteen but we haven’t got much space
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Clean neck and ears on your first day
Tap one another as you walk in the gate
We’d build a canteen but we haven’t got much space
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
November 1, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Started here to earn your pay
Clean neck and ears on your first day
Tap one another as you walk in the gate
We’d build a canteen but we haven’t got much space
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Clean neck and ears on your first day
Tap one another as you walk in the gate
We’d build a canteen but we haven’t got much space
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Yeah, yeah, facilitated workshop
Reposted by Pants, Manchester
21 years ago today I thought, huh, looks interesting, and created a Wikipedia account. Things sort of snowballed from there. It's been fun.
21 thoughts on Wikipedia, in no particular order: 🧵
21 thoughts on Wikipedia, in no particular order: 🧵
October 30, 2025 at 9:54 PM
21 years ago today I thought, huh, looks interesting, and created a Wikipedia account. Things sort of snowballed from there. It's been fun.
21 thoughts on Wikipedia, in no particular order: 🧵
21 thoughts on Wikipedia, in no particular order: 🧵
Head Office is awfully quiet. I hope the Azure outage is not impacting my ability to attend brown bag innovation sessions
October 29, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Head Office is awfully quiet. I hope the Azure outage is not impacting my ability to attend brown bag innovation sessions
Using Grok - or any other LLM - to prove Mr Musk or his online encyclopaedia are wrong is exactly the kind of trap we’re supposed to fall into
October 29, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Using Grok - or any other LLM - to prove Mr Musk or his online encyclopaedia are wrong is exactly the kind of trap we’re supposed to fall into
Much brighter today, but still worth a read I think
It's a dark and miserable night. Why not cheer yourself up with more tales of daring do and excellent librarianship from everybody's favourite library. More weeknotes from @anyaso.bsky.social and I
ukparliament.github.io/ontologies/m...
ukparliament.github.io/ontologies/m...
2025 - Week 43
Work in progress to design data models for UK Parliament
ukparliament.github.io
October 29, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Much brighter today, but still worth a read I think
It's a dark and miserable night. Why not cheer yourself up with more tales of daring do and excellent librarianship from everybody's favourite library. More weeknotes from @anyaso.bsky.social and I
ukparliament.github.io/ontologies/m...
ukparliament.github.io/ontologies/m...
2025 - Week 43
Work in progress to design data models for UK Parliament
ukparliament.github.io
October 28, 2025 at 7:43 PM
It's a dark and miserable night. Why not cheer yourself up with more tales of daring do and excellent librarianship from everybody's favourite library. More weeknotes from @anyaso.bsky.social and I
ukparliament.github.io/ontologies/m...
ukparliament.github.io/ontologies/m...
I can’t speak for New York, but if you grow up in Oldham you have more aunts than Bertie Wooster
October 28, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I can’t speak for New York, but if you grow up in Oldham you have more aunts than Bertie Wooster
Reposted by Pants, Manchester
How to avoid concreting cowpats (and other AI hokem)
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
October 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
How to avoid concreting cowpats (and other AI hokem)
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Or, six questions to help scrutinise the AI system or policy solution you're being sold
Delighted to write for @thehousemag.bsky.social @politicshome.bsky.social
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Adverts should be more representative of the traditional …
Nah, forget it. No one’s buying owt off them
Nah, forget it. No one’s buying owt off them
October 27, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Adverts should be more representative of the traditional …
Nah, forget it. No one’s buying owt off them
Nah, forget it. No one’s buying owt off them
The future is NIH (slight return)
October 27, 2025 at 7:07 PM
The future is NIH (slight return)
Speaking as an inveterate user of the interobang, I feel that the over exuberant use of punctuation is one of the lesser problems of corporate email life. The top posting, on the other hand …
on.ft.com/42VdEuO
on.ft.com/42VdEuO
Not another work email with exclamation marks!
It turns out there is less to worry about than you might think
on.ft.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Speaking as an inveterate user of the interobang, I feel that the over exuberant use of punctuation is one of the lesser problems of corporate email life. The top posting, on the other hand …
on.ft.com/42VdEuO
on.ft.com/42VdEuO
My nest is full :-))))))))
October 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
My nest is full :-))))))))
Slightly later than expected, we're delighted to announce that @tweaty-twacker.bsky.social is back. It posts every time a treaty is laid before the UK Parliament under the procedure set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
October 24, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Slightly later than expected, we're delighted to announce that @tweaty-twacker.bsky.social is back. It posts every time a treaty is laid before the UK Parliament under the procedure set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Blimey. It worked. Not surprised, obviously. Always knew it would work. Coughs
Department for Business and Trade treaty Poland No. 1 (2025) has been laid by the FCDO https://api.parliament.uk/procedure-browser/work-packages/ziMl9LH2
October 24, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Blimey. It worked. Not surprised, obviously. Always knew it would work. Coughs
Been down this neck of the woods for the best art of 30 years and can’t say I feel “culturally coherent”
October 23, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Been down this neck of the woods for the best art of 30 years and can’t say I feel “culturally coherent”