Jim Williams
@lintywilliams.bsky.social
Former semi-serious person. Future board game designer. Current armchair political strategist. Running to be on the Lib Dem Federal Policy Committee.
Writes about data, politics, strategy and games at https://prototypepolitics.substack.com/
Writes about data, politics, strategy and games at https://prototypepolitics.substack.com/
Time for another half-finished prototype! Here’s Polly C, a work-in-progress AI chatbot designed to provide comparisons of UK party policies. Give her a spin and let me know what she gets wrong and how she could be improved.
prototypepolitics.substack.com/p/introducin...
prototypepolitics.substack.com/p/introducin...
November 4, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Time for another half-finished prototype! Here’s Polly C, a work-in-progress AI chatbot designed to provide comparisons of UK party policies. Give her a spin and let me know what she gets wrong and how she could be improved.
prototypepolitics.substack.com/p/introducin...
prototypepolitics.substack.com/p/introducin...
October 19, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Should I set this organisation up? It's a monstrous hybrid of a lean think tank and a full fat public communications campaign.
Could it ever work? Should it see the light of day? Come poke holes in it here:
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
With more art from the wonderful www.lengrant.co.uk
Could it ever work? Should it see the light of day? Come poke holes in it here:
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
With more art from the wonderful www.lengrant.co.uk
April 18, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Should I set this organisation up? It's a monstrous hybrid of a lean think tank and a full fat public communications campaign.
Could it ever work? Should it see the light of day? Come poke holes in it here:
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
With more art from the wonderful www.lengrant.co.uk
Could it ever work? Should it see the light of day? Come poke holes in it here:
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
With more art from the wonderful www.lengrant.co.uk
I've been playing around with messaging recently about cleaning up the crap (sewage, dirty money, crony contracts, etc), and decided that an image of Nigel Farage as a fatberg could be quite fun.
ChatGPT told me it could call Dall-E and make a cartoon for me, so I said yes. I'm so glad I did.
ChatGPT told me it could call Dall-E and make a cartoon for me, so I said yes. I'm so glad I did.
March 18, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I've been playing around with messaging recently about cleaning up the crap (sewage, dirty money, crony contracts, etc), and decided that an image of Nigel Farage as a fatberg could be quite fun.
ChatGPT told me it could call Dall-E and make a cartoon for me, so I said yes. I'm so glad I did.
ChatGPT told me it could call Dall-E and make a cartoon for me, so I said yes. I'm so glad I did.
@sarahgreenld.bsky.social - reporting from the Guardian today shows that raw sewage poured out of the Chesham sewage treatment works for 2,681 hours last year. That's 111 days' worth of sewage dumped on your patch by Thames Water.
Here's the article: www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Here's the article: www.theguardian.com/business/202...
March 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
@sarahgreenld.bsky.social - reporting from the Guardian today shows that raw sewage poured out of the Chesham sewage treatment works for 2,681 hours last year. That's 111 days' worth of sewage dumped on your patch by Thames Water.
Here's the article: www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Here's the article: www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Featuring polling from @moreincommonuk.bsky.social showing that 88% of the public think that the political system needs to change. (Thanks @luketryl.bsky.social for great data as always.)
March 18, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Featuring polling from @moreincommonuk.bsky.social showing that 88% of the public think that the political system needs to change. (Thanks @luketryl.bsky.social for great data as always.)
Issue 2 of Fair Votes Watch from @libdems4er.bsky.social is out now, bringing you the latest news on the fight to clean up Britain's democracy. This issue: Badenoch criticises FPTP; Farage praises it; and Diane Abbott backs Proportional Representation.
fairvoteswatch.substack.com/p/issue-2-18...
fairvoteswatch.substack.com/p/issue-2-18...
March 18, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Issue 2 of Fair Votes Watch from @libdems4er.bsky.social is out now, bringing you the latest news on the fight to clean up Britain's democracy. This issue: Badenoch criticises FPTP; Farage praises it; and Diane Abbott backs Proportional Representation.
fairvoteswatch.substack.com/p/issue-2-18...
fairvoteswatch.substack.com/p/issue-2-18...
It's heart-wrenching watching R1 reason on Perplexity. I've asked it to select strings of up to four words from larger strings, and the poor thing nearly has a breakdown. Got there in the end though!
February 24, 2025 at 8:14 PM
It's heart-wrenching watching R1 reason on Perplexity. I've asked it to select strings of up to four words from larger strings, and the poor thing nearly has a breakdown. Got there in the end though!
Final point to note, when looking in terms of which group cares most about a given issue (as opposed to exact %s who care), 2024 Conservative and Reform voters are very closely aligned. (Looks a bit like 2024 Greens are off doing their own thing... )
PS Usual formatting apology.
PS Usual formatting apology.
February 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Final point to note, when looking in terms of which group cares most about a given issue (as opposed to exact %s who care), 2024 Conservative and Reform voters are very closely aligned. (Looks a bit like 2024 Greens are off doing their own thing... )
PS Usual formatting apology.
PS Usual formatting apology.
And 2024 Lib Dem and Labour voters seem closely aligned on most local issues. I've highlighted cells where the differences between the two are within the margin of error.
February 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM
And 2024 Lib Dem and Labour voters seem closely aligned on most local issues. I've highlighted cells where the differences between the two are within the margin of error.
Well, almost half of those considering voting LD locally voted Labour nationally in 2024.
(Again, apologies to Opinium for the travesties I've inflicted upon their Excel sheets with my formatting.)
(Again, apologies to Opinium for the travesties I've inflicted upon their Excel sheets with my formatting.)
February 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Well, almost half of those considering voting LD locally voted Labour nationally in 2024.
(Again, apologies to Opinium for the travesties I've inflicted upon their Excel sheets with my formatting.)
(Again, apologies to Opinium for the travesties I've inflicted upon their Excel sheets with my formatting.)
Looks positive certainly, but there's a challenge in the underlying data, kindly shared by Opinium (and then befouled by my horrendous formatting). Breaking the 'NET' line apart shows that our support is not as strong as it appeared.
February 21, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Looks positive certainly, but there's a challenge in the underlying data, kindly shared by Opinium (and then befouled by my horrendous formatting). Breaking the 'NET' line apart shows that our support is not as strong as it appeared.
Almost certainly true! If you're interested to find out though, here's what Frederalist (my new and entirely unofficial Lib Dem policy chatbot-in-training) has to say about it.
chatgpt.com/share/e/67b5...
chatgpt.com/share/e/67b5...
February 19, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Almost certainly true! If you're interested to find out though, here's what Frederalist (my new and entirely unofficial Lib Dem policy chatbot-in-training) has to say about it.
chatgpt.com/share/e/67b5...
chatgpt.com/share/e/67b5...
Glad to see you're on here @reformuk.bsky.social! Here's a little reminder, courtesy of @washingtonpost.com that most of what comes out of that man's mouth is, sadly, total crap. (But you know that already.) If you'd like to talk about the article I posted though, happy to chat any time! Jim x 😊
February 13, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Glad to see you're on here @reformuk.bsky.social! Here's a little reminder, courtesy of @washingtonpost.com that most of what comes out of that man's mouth is, sadly, total crap. (But you know that already.) If you'd like to talk about the article I posted though, happy to chat any time! Jim x 😊
@reformuk.bsky.social have similar opportunities in the East Midlands and North East, but far fewer of them, and without the decades of organisation and local campaigning that @libdems.org.uk have. Reform will win some councillors, but it's not going to be the tidal wave that some are predicting.
February 13, 2025 at 8:23 AM
@reformuk.bsky.social have similar opportunities in the East Midlands and North East, but far fewer of them, and without the decades of organisation and local campaigning that @libdems.org.uk have. Reform will win some councillors, but it's not going to be the tidal wave that some are predicting.
Despite many winnable local elections being delayed to 2026, the @libdems.org.uk still can make big gains this year, with Conservative councils up for grabs in Lib-Dem held / contested constituencies.
Brilliant reporting here from @zoecrowther.bsky.social: www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Brilliant reporting here from @zoecrowther.bsky.social: www.politicshome.com/news/article...
February 13, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Despite many winnable local elections being delayed to 2026, the @libdems.org.uk still can make big gains this year, with Conservative councils up for grabs in Lib-Dem held / contested constituencies.
Brilliant reporting here from @zoecrowther.bsky.social: www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Brilliant reporting here from @zoecrowther.bsky.social: www.politicshome.com/news/article...
In the prototyping spirit of my new Substack, Prototype Politics, I've drawn back the curtain a little on how @markpackuk.bsky.social's feedback on a really bad idea of mine kickstarted the conversation that led us to write 'What Next for the Liberal Democrats?'
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
December 20, 2024 at 2:02 PM
In the prototyping spirit of my new Substack, Prototype Politics, I've drawn back the curtain a little on how @markpackuk.bsky.social's feedback on a really bad idea of mine kickstarted the conversation that led us to write 'What Next for the Liberal Democrats?'
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
open.substack.com/pub/prototyp...
New blog in the works! prototypepolitics.substack.com
About politics, games & political games - and flying the flag for a prototyping approach to all of them. Politicians don't get the luxury of having bad ideas. Thankfully, I'm not a politician, and I have *lots* of bad ideas.
About politics, games & political games - and flying the flag for a prototyping approach to all of them. Politicians don't get the luxury of having bad ideas. Thankfully, I'm not a politician, and I have *lots* of bad ideas.
December 17, 2024 at 9:02 PM
New blog in the works! prototypepolitics.substack.com
About politics, games & political games - and flying the flag for a prototyping approach to all of them. Politicians don't get the luxury of having bad ideas. Thankfully, I'm not a politician, and I have *lots* of bad ideas.
About politics, games & political games - and flying the flag for a prototyping approach to all of them. Politicians don't get the luxury of having bad ideas. Thankfully, I'm not a politician, and I have *lots* of bad ideas.
Can board games be used to shed insight on how systems work, and what incentives they create? I'm hoping to find out by designing an elections game that tests whether different electoral systems incentivise different strategies. Let's see!
#PR #FPTP #GameDesign
docs.google.com/videos/d/1Q_...
#PR #FPTP #GameDesign
docs.google.com/videos/d/1Q_...
December 17, 2024 at 12:55 PM
Can board games be used to shed insight on how systems work, and what incentives they create? I'm hoping to find out by designing an elections game that tests whether different electoral systems incentivise different strategies. Let's see!
#PR #FPTP #GameDesign
docs.google.com/videos/d/1Q_...
#PR #FPTP #GameDesign
docs.google.com/videos/d/1Q_...
Very excited to play Poll & Write 2024 by @tzartzam.bsky.social in my political games group tonight. Looks great!
December 16, 2024 at 1:17 PM
Very excited to play Poll & Write 2024 by @tzartzam.bsky.social in my political games group tonight. Looks great!