Tom King
@acertaintom.bsky.social
overmighty citizen
publicstatistic.substack.com
publicstatistic.substack.com
Pinned
Tom King
@acertaintom.bsky.social
· Mar 28
A year ago this week, I was vexed that professions were not speaking about lessons to learn from the Post Office, so this is an update those reflections
publicstatistic.wordpress.com/2025/03/28/o...
publicstatistic.wordpress.com/2025/03/28/o...
I love the idea that 'dogs that look like chickens' is a tag that might be the leitmotif of multiple articles
If the tags I've just added to the post I'm publishing first thing tomorrow morning appeal to you, sign up to London Centric to have it in your inbox: www.londoncentric.media
November 20, 2025 at 8:35 AM
I love the idea that 'dogs that look like chickens' is a tag that might be the leitmotif of multiple articles
@peterkwells.com bons voyages
If eurostar went to Blackpool...
My lovely colleague Abdel announces the stops from Preston with a Marseille twist. Nearly 4 years later, this still makes me guffaw.
My lovely colleague Abdel announces the stops from Preston with a Marseille twist. Nearly 4 years later, this still makes me guffaw.
November 19, 2025 at 2:29 PM
@peterkwells.com bons voyages
@ceefaxisbetter.bsky.social Saw this and thought of you
November 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
@ceefaxisbetter.bsky.social Saw this and thought of you
Reposted by Tom King
And I did go out of my way to emphasise — in response to a post criticising the ONS — that the ONS data revisions were a good thing! 😅
Which is a drum I have consistently been banging for months, e.g this from Jan on the same topic www.ft.com/content/522d...
Which is a drum I have consistently been banging for months, e.g this from Jan on the same topic www.ft.com/content/522d...
November 18, 2025 at 1:24 PM
And I did go out of my way to emphasise — in response to a post criticising the ONS — that the ONS data revisions were a good thing! 😅
Which is a drum I have consistently been banging for months, e.g this from Jan on the same topic www.ft.com/content/522d...
Which is a drum I have consistently been banging for months, e.g this from Jan on the same topic www.ft.com/content/522d...
Reposted by Tom King
The government doesn’t see UK data assets as priorities at all - includes ONS. Did the idea of a ‘National Data Library’ & data infrastructure in the AI Opps Action Plan just evaporate?
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:38 AM
The government doesn’t see UK data assets as priorities at all - includes ONS. Did the idea of a ‘National Data Library’ & data infrastructure in the AI Opps Action Plan just evaporate?
Reposted by Tom King
How to be taken seriously as a junior data scientist: www.divingintodata.com/p/how-to-be-...
November 11, 2025 at 8:54 PM
How to be taken seriously as a junior data scientist: www.divingintodata.com/p/how-to-be-...
Reposted by Tom King
The basic model is:
1. Hugely hyped tech promises.
2. Vast, unstaged funding with no stage gate reviews.
3. "Christmas list" organisation, bringing in collaboration based on "garbage can" matching of problems to pre-existing solutions.
4. Weak governance. Often with bullies at the top.
4
1. Hugely hyped tech promises.
2. Vast, unstaged funding with no stage gate reviews.
3. "Christmas list" organisation, bringing in collaboration based on "garbage can" matching of problems to pre-existing solutions.
4. Weak governance. Often with bullies at the top.
4
November 10, 2025 at 9:49 AM
The basic model is:
1. Hugely hyped tech promises.
2. Vast, unstaged funding with no stage gate reviews.
3. "Christmas list" organisation, bringing in collaboration based on "garbage can" matching of problems to pre-existing solutions.
4. Weak governance. Often with bullies at the top.
4
1. Hugely hyped tech promises.
2. Vast, unstaged funding with no stage gate reviews.
3. "Christmas list" organisation, bringing in collaboration based on "garbage can" matching of problems to pre-existing solutions.
4. Weak governance. Often with bullies at the top.
4
Reposted by Tom King
arXiv CS clarifies its policy on narrative reviews:
"The goal of the moderators of each category is to make sure the work being submitted is actually science, and that it is of potential interest to the scientific community."
blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
"The goal of the moderators of each category is to make sure the work being submitted is actually science, and that it is of potential interest to the scientific community."
blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 2, 2025 at 11:42 AM
arXiv CS clarifies its policy on narrative reviews:
"The goal of the moderators of each category is to make sure the work being submitted is actually science, and that it is of potential interest to the scientific community."
blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
"The goal of the moderators of each category is to make sure the work being submitted is actually science, and that it is of potential interest to the scientific community."
blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
Reposted by Tom King
Just yesterday I was on a panel with colleagues from @bankofcanada.ca & @banquedefrance-off.bsky.social and we were discussing the risks of central banks NOT being multi cloud / only using a single provider. I didn't expect to have such a clear example of how those risks could crystallise so soon.
October 29, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Just yesterday I was on a panel with colleagues from @bankofcanada.ca & @banquedefrance-off.bsky.social and we were discussing the risks of central banks NOT being multi cloud / only using a single provider. I didn't expect to have such a clear example of how those risks could crystallise so soon.
Reposted by Tom King
UK Reproducibility Network is having a conference, July 2026 in Manchester!
Please register your interest: www.ukrn.org/conference/
Bringing together researchers, institutions and research stakeholders from the UK and beyond to drive collaborative change within the UK #research sector.
Please register your interest: www.ukrn.org/conference/
Bringing together researchers, institutions and research stakeholders from the UK and beyond to drive collaborative change within the UK #research sector.
October 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
UK Reproducibility Network is having a conference, July 2026 in Manchester!
Please register your interest: www.ukrn.org/conference/
Bringing together researchers, institutions and research stakeholders from the UK and beyond to drive collaborative change within the UK #research sector.
Please register your interest: www.ukrn.org/conference/
Bringing together researchers, institutions and research stakeholders from the UK and beyond to drive collaborative change within the UK #research sector.
Reposted by Tom King
And join us on Tues 18 November for Data Bites #60, with:
- Welsh Govt chief statistician on StatsWales
- Office for Stats Regulation on new Code of Practice
- @mhwauben.bsky.social on Data for London Library
- ONS on Census 2031 consultation
public.digital/events/data-...
- Welsh Govt chief statistician on StatsWales
- Office for Stats Regulation on new Code of Practice
- @mhwauben.bsky.social on Data for London Library
- ONS on Census 2031 consultation
public.digital/events/data-...
Data Bites #60 — Public Digital
public.digital
October 24, 2025 at 7:15 AM
And join us on Tues 18 November for Data Bites #60, with:
- Welsh Govt chief statistician on StatsWales
- Office for Stats Regulation on new Code of Practice
- @mhwauben.bsky.social on Data for London Library
- ONS on Census 2031 consultation
public.digital/events/data-...
- Welsh Govt chief statistician on StatsWales
- Office for Stats Regulation on new Code of Practice
- @mhwauben.bsky.social on Data for London Library
- ONS on Census 2031 consultation
public.digital/events/data-...
Reposted by Tom King
Adding to this that PPI often has unexpected benefits. In the case of my doctoral thesis, learning that many clinicians interpret predictive models causally, and want things from them that are often not even possible. This work also informed a future grant application - it's not wasted!
We did this paper as part of a methods-focused grant that required patient involvement and I honestly found it so valuable that I tried to add similar involvement to all my grant submissions. Not that any of those got funded, but…
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29966732/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29966732/
Patients and investigators prefer measures of absolute risk in subgroups for pragmatic randomized trials - PubMed
We made four recommendations for pragmatic trials to improve patient centeredness: (1) focus on superiority in effectiveness or safety, rather than noninferiority; (2) involve patients in specifying a...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
October 24, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Adding to this that PPI often has unexpected benefits. In the case of my doctoral thesis, learning that many clinicians interpret predictive models causally, and want things from them that are often not even possible. This work also informed a future grant application - it's not wasted!
Reposted by Tom King
(Yes, I'm dropping them a boring mail. I'm not only a social media whinger)
October 16, 2025 at 9:16 AM
(Yes, I'm dropping them a boring mail. I'm not only a social media whinger)
Reposted by Tom King
![Comic. [Giant balloon reminiscent of a hot air balloon but wavy and laying on the ground with “bloop” “bloop” sound effects. Two people are in a basket attached to one end of the balloon.] [caption] Hot water balloon rides turn out to be significantly less romantic than the air kind.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiekfxpa7ftvzd2xpsuyjv5czmrpb5ihpmvnhj3ug5gadsrbbybx6m@jpeg)
October 14, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Tom King
UKRIO @ukrio.bsky.social is introducing an Authorship Integrity Toolkit:
a set of practical, adaptable resources designed to support both individual researcher contributors in their day-to-day practice and organisations in developing policies and managing projects.
ukrio.org/resources/th...
a set of practical, adaptable resources designed to support both individual researcher contributors in their day-to-day practice and organisations in developing policies and managing projects.
ukrio.org/resources/th...
The Authorship Integrity Toolkit - UK Research Integrity Office
The Authorship Integrity Toolkit Practical resources to support responsible authorship in research UKRIO is pleased to present the Authorship Integrity Toolkit – a new collection of resources to help ...
ukrio.org
October 3, 2025 at 4:07 AM
UKRIO @ukrio.bsky.social is introducing an Authorship Integrity Toolkit:
a set of practical, adaptable resources designed to support both individual researcher contributors in their day-to-day practice and organisations in developing policies and managing projects.
ukrio.org/resources/th...
a set of practical, adaptable resources designed to support both individual researcher contributors in their day-to-day practice and organisations in developing policies and managing projects.
ukrio.org/resources/th...
Reposted by Tom King
Reposted by Tom King
Are you a senior finance leader in government or the public sector?
We have a new guide for you all about financial reporting and how this impacts decision-making.
1/3
We have a new guide for you all about financial reporting and how this impacts decision-making.
1/3
September 30, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Are you a senior finance leader in government or the public sector?
We have a new guide for you all about financial reporting and how this impacts decision-making.
1/3
We have a new guide for you all about financial reporting and how this impacts decision-making.
1/3
Reposted by Tom King
*reads a thing suggesting citizens must be consulted at every stage of every procurement process of everything that might include some AI stuff*
*looks at the sizeable space between "removing all governance so loads of bad things happen" and "implementing so much governance that nothing happens"*
*looks at the sizeable space between "removing all governance so loads of bad things happen" and "implementing so much governance that nothing happens"*
a canyon with a blue sky and a few clouds
Alt: the Grand Canyon
media.tenor.com
September 24, 2025 at 8:21 AM
*reads a thing suggesting citizens must be consulted at every stage of every procurement process of everything that might include some AI stuff*
*looks at the sizeable space between "removing all governance so loads of bad things happen" and "implementing so much governance that nothing happens"*
*looks at the sizeable space between "removing all governance so loads of bad things happen" and "implementing so much governance that nothing happens"*
Reposted by Tom King
About fifteen months ago, someone handed me a bad study. Today it was retracted. So far, so normal.
But do I just want to yell at journals and publishers again? Hell no. What could they actually DO to be better at handling this sort of nonsense?
open.substack.com/pub/jamescla...
But do I just want to yell at journals and publishers again? Hell no. What could they actually DO to be better at handling this sort of nonsense?
open.substack.com/pub/jamescla...
In Which The Rube Goldberg Machine Behind Retractions Delivers A Limp Payload A Year Late
No, I'm not thinking of a better title.
open.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:48 PM
About fifteen months ago, someone handed me a bad study. Today it was retracted. So far, so normal.
But do I just want to yell at journals and publishers again? Hell no. What could they actually DO to be better at handling this sort of nonsense?
open.substack.com/pub/jamescla...
But do I just want to yell at journals and publishers again? Hell no. What could they actually DO to be better at handling this sort of nonsense?
open.substack.com/pub/jamescla...
Reposted by Tom King
Reposted by Tom King
if you want to understand tailoring, you only need to watch mid-century movies, when actors were dressed by tailors, not brands. in the 1944 film cover girl, gene kelly's suit drapes beautifully, moving with him, not against him. collar stays on his neck, even as he dances.
September 19, 2025 at 4:35 AM
if you want to understand tailoring, you only need to watch mid-century movies, when actors were dressed by tailors, not brands. in the 1944 film cover girl, gene kelly's suit drapes beautifully, moving with him, not against him. collar stays on his neck, even as he dances.
Reposted by Tom King
And ended on a few points for discussion:
September 16, 2025 at 8:10 AM
And ended on a few points for discussion:
Reposted by Tom King
One of the best things in the Hillsborough Law Bill is not the duty of candour on public officials, as welcome as that is, but news that bereaved families will have publicly funded legal representation at inquests. Finally an equality of arms that's been lacking for so long
September 16, 2025 at 6:47 AM
One of the best things in the Hillsborough Law Bill is not the duty of candour on public officials, as welcome as that is, but news that bereaved families will have publicly funded legal representation at inquests. Finally an equality of arms that's been lacking for so long
Reposted by Tom King
I mean...I want to help you out. I want to answer this survey. But christ on a cracker kids, you can't just send out this garbage.
statsepi.substack.com/p/your-usele...
statsepi.substack.com/p/your-usele...
September 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I mean...I want to help you out. I want to answer this survey. But christ on a cracker kids, you can't just send out this garbage.
statsepi.substack.com/p/your-usele...
statsepi.substack.com/p/your-usele...