Seems like a good day to just say out loud that being from a different country does not make you a stranger. What did the VE Day Celebrations mean last week, if not that?

Wagner on the radio is not helping my tense morning (little alarm clock radio totally confused by clocks going forward and decided to stay quiet).

Another great team of people from MHCLG Local Digital, @tpximpact.com and friends have been working on updates to the Open Referral UK data standard. Too much for a single post, but topped off with improvements to the website and data feed validation tools openreferraluk.org

It always a surprise that we haven't solved the "year end" problem. A frantic period for many people, where we all have to pretend that work stops on March 31st then starts again on April 1st. Money getting lost because the work is somehow invalid if it happens in April rather than in March. Nuts.

Choppy waters, economic headwinds... The Day Today graphics are coming out later aren't they?

Good clear eyed report from the Public Accounts Committee showing that getting AI to work in government means investing in data, tackling legacy IT, paying for skills and managing procurement to avoid dominance by a few providers
committees.parliament.uk/committee/12...

I'm v. much in the "beware too much read across from the private sector" crew re: digital public services (see @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social 's recent posts on why they are different). HOWEVER, I ordered a Clematis online last week, and crikey, the *transparency* of my plant's progress has been a joy

Astonishing fact on #bbcr4today earlier, discussing the Heathrow power failure. Heathrow requires 41MW; a new data centre nearby needs 150MW. Stark illustration of the underpinning energy consequences of data storage.

How can we break down silos for collaboration across government & local communities? Let’s explore the possibilities at our next Digital Forum!

📅 20 March 2025 | 5:30 PM
📍 The Hickman, Aldgate East
Register now: lnkd.in/e7AtP85g

Bring your questions and ideas!
#GovTech #FutureOfGovernment

The UK AI Opportunity Plan and Gov's response is now live...

There's lots to comb through, but a few first thoughts below 🧵(1/8).

www.gov.uk/government/p... @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social

Loosely formed thoughts on AI (written by my actual self, not by AI, as LinkedIn suggested I might prefer). www.linkedin.com/posts/thomas...

This was my first thought this morning. Exciting that the Government has committed to it, but savings/ productivity/growth so soon?

Just imagine for a second what this press release might have looked like if the government were aiming for endorsements from eg the TUC and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
www.gov.uk/government/n...

A pal with a Politico subscription has shown me the "early access" version of the AI Action Plan. No spoilers from me on the contents of the plan, but a quick 🧵 on a paragraph from the PM's introduction, which I suspect is ultimately more important.

Public services should be like booking flights.

Only just catching up on budget. Wondering if digital public infrastructure is still outside context as a growth intervention as per www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/pub... from @deaves.bsky.social Mariana Mazzucato and Beatriz Vasconcellos

Nice to see more bits of Government properly interrogating what it means to design policy. Jury's still out for me on whether it requires further professionalisation of "policy design" as per the rest of DDAT (I'm probably against but ready to be convinced). mhclgdigital.blog.gov.uk/2024/10/30/w...