Paul Skidmore
@paulskidmore.bsky.social
Founder @risingacademies.bsky.social; Trustee @gsf_talks; ex @institute.global @demos. Entrepreneurship; education; politics; global development. Dad of two. Enthusiastic but unskilled triathlete.
FWIW, I'm sure practices varied, but I checked old emails and my letting agent in Southwark included a reminder about the forthcoming licensing regime in every monthly statement from Oct 2022 onwards, a full year before it went live.
October 29, 2025 at 11:07 PM
FWIW, I'm sure practices varied, but I checked old emails and my letting agent in Southwark included a reminder about the forthcoming licensing regime in every monthly statement from Oct 2022 onwards, a full year before it went live.
(4/4) That's not about policy preferences per se, it's about definition and the arguments you choose to pick to give you that definition.
September 29, 2025 at 11:27 AM
(4/4) That's not about policy preferences per se, it's about definition and the arguments you choose to pick to give you that definition.
(3/x) Namely, to find a way of talking to its own coalition that suggests they actually like them, and are listening to them even if they don't always agree or can't always do what they want.
September 29, 2025 at 11:27 AM
(3/x) Namely, to find a way of talking to its own coalition that suggests they actually like them, and are listening to them even if they don't always agree or can't always do what they want.
(2/x) Ezra acknowledges it but in the most perfunctory way - he almost seems annoyed - and skips straight past it. Which is a shame, because I think TNC's putting his finger on something that the left often does very badly (especially at the moment) and the right very well.
September 29, 2025 at 11:27 AM
(2/x) Ezra acknowledges it but in the most perfunctory way - he almost seems annoyed - and skips straight past it. Which is a shame, because I think TNC's putting his finger on something that the left often does very badly (especially at the moment) and the right very well.
With any technology, the temptation is to argue that this changes everything or this changes nothing, when the reality at any given moment is nearly always somewhere in between. Then suddenly you look back and it's permeated everything. What feels different this time is how quickly that's happening.
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
With any technology, the temptation is to argue that this changes everything or this changes nothing, when the reality at any given moment is nearly always somewhere in between. Then suddenly you look back and it's permeated everything. What feels different this time is how quickly that's happening.
But more than any one task, the thing I suddenly noticed yesterday was the breadth of tasks. Other tech revolutions in my lifetime have been similarly wide-ranging. But the transition from landlines to mobile phones to smartphones to smartphones that can do everything a computer can do took 25 years
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
But more than any one task, the thing I suddenly noticed yesterday was the breadth of tasks. Other tech revolutions in my lifetime have been similarly wide-ranging. But the transition from landlines to mobile phones to smartphones to smartphones that can do everything a computer can do took 25 years
The important thing about this last category of tasks is that AI is useful to me precisely because they _are_ within my capability, so I can judge its quality. E.g. none of the email drafts it offered up were quite right, but in that moment, to move forward, I needed to be an editor not a writer.
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The important thing about this last category of tasks is that AI is useful to me precisely because they _are_ within my capability, so I can judge its quality. E.g. none of the email drafts it offered up were quite right, but in that moment, to move forward, I needed to be an editor not a writer.
Some were things that the Old Internet couldn't do. Helping me iterate on the right phrasing for a tricky email. Providing advice on the structure of a potential transaction. Tasks that in the past were certainly within my capability to do, but which it can now help me do better and faster.
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Some were things that the Old Internet couldn't do. Helping me iterate on the right phrasing for a tricky email. Providing advice on the structure of a potential transaction. Tasks that in the past were certainly within my capability to do, but which it can now help me do better and faster.
In some cases it was tasks the Old Internet has (or at least feels like it has) got worse at. Making new book recommendations for my son based on books he's enjoyed before was supposed to be what recommendation algorithms were for, until they were enshittified. ChatGPT nailed it.
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
In some cases it was tasks the Old Internet has (or at least feels like it has) got worse at. Making new book recommendations for my son based on books he's enjoyed before was supposed to be what recommendation algorithms were for, until they were enshittified. ChatGPT nailed it.
Some were things that the Old Internet could do, but it can do better. Finding a flight that satisfies more complex criteria than the comparison sites can handle. Helping me diagnose and fix a problem with my washing machine.
August 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Some were things that the Old Internet could do, but it can do better. Finding a flight that satisfies more complex criteria than the comparison sites can handle. Helping me diagnose and fix a problem with my washing machine.
(11/11) But that doesn't make it more likely to succeed. If anything, it's a red flag that it won't. The "It's Always The Principal Principle" should make us extra cautious about proposing new structures to compensate for the weaknesses of a Principal, rather than to amplify their strengths.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(11/11) But that doesn't make it more likely to succeed. If anything, it's a red flag that it won't. The "It's Always The Principal Principle" should make us extra cautious about proposing new structures to compensate for the weaknesses of a Principal, rather than to amplify their strengths.
(10/x) Sometimes we focus on structure because changing these other, lower cost things seems too difficult or not something the Principal is interested in or willing to do. A new structure in this scenario *is* actually the easier thing to do.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(10/x) Sometimes we focus on structure because changing these other, lower cost things seems too difficult or not something the Principal is interested in or willing to do. A new structure in this scenario *is* actually the easier thing to do.
(9/x) There are lots of lower cost tools to reach for first: the leaders you pick, the teams they hire, the culture they build, the ways of working and coordinating they develop. The results might not look as neat but if they work, who cares? Conceptual neatness is over-rated.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(9/x) There are lots of lower cost tools to reach for first: the leaders you pick, the teams they hire, the culture they build, the ways of working and coordinating they develop. The results might not look as neat but if they work, who cares? Conceptual neatness is over-rated.
(8/x) Partly this is because they are really hard and really distracting, with tons of the most senior people's time consumed by managing a messy change process, not focusing on the day job. The track record of Machinery of Government changes is particularly dire for this reason.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(8/x) Partly this is because they are really hard and really distracting, with tons of the most senior people's time consumed by managing a messy change process, not focusing on the day job. The track record of Machinery of Government changes is particularly dire for this reason.
(7/x) Second, a new structure is about the most costly way to bring about a change in an organisation's ability to coordinate. Leaders quite like them because they are a way To Be Seen To Be Doing Something. But less than a third lead to the gains they are meant to.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(7/x) Second, a new structure is about the most costly way to bring about a change in an organisation's ability to coordinate. Leaders quite like them because they are a way To Be Seen To Be Doing Something. But less than a third lead to the gains they are meant to.
(6/x) The problem with (b) is twofold. First, all structures are wrong, they are just wrong in different ways. Even if they make some problems better (not a given), they will make others worse. Yet "Grass is Greener" thinking tends to dominate "Better The Devil You Know" thinking.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(6/x) The problem with (b) is twofold. First, all structures are wrong, they are just wrong in different ways. Even if they make some problems better (not a given), they will make others worse. Yet "Grass is Greener" thinking tends to dominate "Better The Devil You Know" thinking.
(5/x) It might not be easy to find those sources of promise or potential right now, but I'd argue that trying to find them is essential if we want to actually make progress.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(5/x) It might not be easy to find those sources of promise or potential right now, but I'd argue that trying to find them is essential if we want to actually make progress.
(4/x) (Digression but worth thinking about why building on what works...works. I think some of it is about knowledge and methods, some of it is about personnel, and some of it is about morale and motivation.)
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(4/x) (Digression but worth thinking about why building on what works...works. I think some of it is about knowledge and methods, some of it is about personnel, and some of it is about morale and motivation.)
(3/x) This is true in general and is specifically true of the TB second term CoG: neither the Delivery Unit nor the Strategy Unit were conjured from thin air. The former brought a template from DfEE to the centre; the latter built on units (PIU and FSU) set up in the first term.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(3/x) This is true in general and is specifically true of the TB second term CoG: neither the Delivery Unit nor the Strategy Unit were conjured from thin air. The former brought a template from DfEE to the centre; the latter built on units (PIU and FSU) set up in the first term.
(2/x) The problem with (a) is that often the best way to make progress is to figure out what *is* working and build on that.
June 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
(2/x) The problem with (a) is that often the best way to make progress is to figure out what *is* working and build on that.