Jerry Fishenden
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ntouk.bsky.social
Jerry Fishenden
@ntouk.bsky.social
Technologist, writer, composer | Govt adviser—large scale transformation esp. security, identity & privacy + fixing disasters | FIET | London & Lerwick | Latest book https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F23N7WSS
Pinned
Here's my regular reminder about the 'Digital Government and e-Government Archives' — my attempt to curate the major digital government initiatives of the past three or so decades ... all ideas for additions and improvements always welcome
Digital Government and e-Government Archives
This is a living, curated list of documents and links related to UK Government e-government and digital government initiatives since the early 1990s. More will be added as and when time allows. Wherev...
ntouk.wordpress.com
This is in danger of becoming an evergreen tweet …
I see road charging is back in the news ahead of the budget, although it's hardly "news"—here's a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology note on this very topic from, er, 1998!
ntouk.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
ntouk.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
“Digital Government at the Crossroads”—in this article for the Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art I explore why ‘digital government’ needs a rethink and reset to help democracies learn smarter, react faster, and adapt better to the growing challenges they face
Digital Government at the Crossroads
Introduction Governments have launched a series of ambitious digital strategies over recent decades to improve how they operate and interact with citizens. However, many of their anticipated benefits ...
www.cjlpa.org
July 9, 2025 at 5:56 AM
I’m going to start serialising extracts from my book ‘Fracture’ in the new year.

It explores what the past three decades of “digital government” initiatives reveal and why democracy and democratic values need to become the essential foundations of a modern and accountable digital state.
The second edition of 'Fracture. The collision between technology and democracy—and how we fix it' is out
a flavour of what my latest book, 'Fracture', is all about—in which I manage to include a reference to 'Hot Fuzz' and a clip of 'the greater good'
November 3, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
With digital ID back in the news, I thought I'd resurface my @computerweekly.bsky.social piece from 2020—exploring what *good* citizen-centric, democratic ID might look like in place of the hype and failed approaches of the past …
Implementing a 21st century approach to digital identity | Computer Weekly
We need a better, more convenient and effective solution to identity. One that lets us manage our own identity-related data and choose where, when and with whom we share it.
www.computerweekly.com
October 1, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
Here's my regular reminder about the 'Digital Government and e-Government Archives' — my attempt to curate the major digital government initiatives of the past three or so decades ... all ideas for additions and improvements always welcome
Digital Government and e-Government Archives
This is a living, curated list of documents and links related to UK Government e-government and digital government initiatives since the early 1990s. More will be added as and when time allows. Wherev...
ntouk.wordpress.com
August 30, 2024 at 9:31 AM
"How playing a musical instrument helps children learn to read"

www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
How playing a musical instrument helps children learn to read
Learning to play an instrument has long been linked to improved reading skills among children, and we may finally understand why
www.newscientist.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:46 PM
With digital ID back in the news, I thought I'd resurface my @computerweekly.bsky.social piece from 2020—exploring what *good* citizen-centric, democratic ID might look like in place of the hype and failed approaches of the past …
Implementing a 21st century approach to digital identity | Computer Weekly
We need a better, more convenient and effective solution to identity. One that lets us manage our own identity-related data and choose where, when and with whom we share it.
www.computerweekly.com
October 1, 2025 at 1:53 PM
GOV.UK One Login is a mess. Alongside reported security issues & missing features like delegation & support for business, it breaks the government’s identity assurance principles: it's impossible to switch easily between different One Login accounts. How did it ever pass a service assessment?
September 28, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Using AI to automate and accelerate what government currently does replicates the same mistaken approach as the “website government” mindset of the past three decades: it’s “faster horses” instead of improving how government — and democracy — works
September 28, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Good to see the FT exposing some of the hybrid warfare we’re currently encountering

www.ft.com/content/0b35...
The Russian spy ship stalking Europe’s subsea cables
Covert operations in waters surrounding the British Isles pose a grave threat to critical infrastructure and a fresh challenge to Nato
www.ft.com
September 27, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Here’s a brief selection of photos from my recent US road trip along the Blues Highway … a most welcome intermission from the day job :)

fishenden.wordpress.com/2025/09/23/t...
Travellin’ the Blues Highway
Images and reflections from a recent road trip up through the Great Smoky Mountains and down the Blues Highway. Great Smoky Mountains Cherokee, North Carolina First up is the capital of the Eastern…
fishenden.wordpress.com
September 23, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Clarksdale … another great experience of the blues and its history
September 20, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Great to have been in BB King’s Blues Club, Memphis, just a few days before the 100th anniversary of his birth
September 20, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Musical road trip, USA — Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans
September 17, 2025 at 1:39 AM
“Digital Government at the Crossroads”—in this article for the Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art I explore why ‘digital government’ needs a rethink and reset to help democracies learn smarter, react faster, and adapt better to the growing challenges they face
Digital Government at the Crossroads
Introduction Governments have launched a series of ambitious digital strategies over recent decades to improve how they operate and interact with citizens. However, many of their anticipated benefits ...
www.cjlpa.org
July 9, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
my guest article for the Digital Government Network giving some insights into my book 'Fracture. The collision between technology and democracy—and how we fix it'

digitalgov.network/fracture-col...
Fracture: The Collision Between Technology and Democracy—and How We Fix It - Digital Government Network
Drawing on over thirty years of digital transformation initiatives to explore how governments can get their mojo back—and learn smarter, react faster, and adapt better.
digitalgov.network
June 18, 2025 at 9:17 AM
my guest article for the Digital Government Network giving some insights into my book 'Fracture. The collision between technology and democracy—and how we fix it'

digitalgov.network/fracture-col...
Fracture: The Collision Between Technology and Democracy—and How We Fix It - Digital Government Network
Drawing on over thirty years of digital transformation initiatives to explore how governments can get their mojo back—and learn smarter, react faster, and adapt better.
digitalgov.network
June 18, 2025 at 9:17 AM
A few snaps of the local birdlife here in #Shetland
June 12, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Back with the tammie norries … as the excellent Wikipedia entry tells us: “they breed in muckle colonies on seawart cleuchs or islands, nestin in craggy scores or in bourie ben the yird”
May 31, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
BREAKING: George Wendt, who played a beloved barfly on "Cheers" and found another home onstage, dies at 76.
George Wendt, who played a beloved barfly on 'Cheers' and found another home onstage, dies at 76
George Wendt, an actor with an Everyman charm who played the affable, beer-loving barfly Norm on the hit 1980s TV comedy “Cheers,” has died. He was 76.
bit.ly
May 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
Another one for the digital identity crowd...

The government’s GovUK One Login digital identity system has lost its certification against the government’s own DIATF trust framework for digital identity systems. Read the full story here:

www.computerweekly.com/news/3666238...
Gov.uk One Login loses certification for digital identity trust framework | Computer Weekly
Computer Weekly has learned that a key technology supplier to One Login chose to allow its certification to lapse, and as a result One Login has also been removed from the accreditation scheme.
www.computerweekly.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Too short of time to read through 30 years of strategies to digitally reform and modernise government? No problem! Here's your friendly AI "bingo card" digest of some of the most regularly re-used soundbites ...
April 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
ah, the latest episode has landed in the UK's ~28 year quest for digital identity...

"the sudden...announcement...gave...the impression digital identity was being nationalised...a threat of a national ID card by the back door"

www.computerweekly.com/news/3666228...
Digital ID sector calls for changes to government data legislation | Computer Weekly
The digital identity sector is calling on the government to amend its forthcoming data legislation, and to change policy around use of the Gov.uk Wallet – which was technology secretary Peter Kyle’s f...
www.computerweekly.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Love living in London, although also looking forward to being back in Lerwick again soon
April 20, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Jerry Fishenden
These alleged failings with GOV.UK One Login remind me of similar issues I encountered in major government programmes ~8 years ago:
April 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM