Philip Brien
@statisticalphil.bsky.social
Researcher at the Commons Library. Public spending, local government, anything else that looks interesting.
Experimenting with 3D datavis in QGIS (this is using the Qgis2threejs plugin). The data shows railway station entries/exits for 2023/24. I'm enjoying the fact that this turns London into a horrifying gothic spire.
September 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Experimenting with 3D datavis in QGIS (this is using the Qgis2threejs plugin). The data shows railway station entries/exits for 2023/24. I'm enjoying the fact that this turns London into a horrifying gothic spire.
We're using a new version of Excel at work. Good things:
- The formula bar is finally in monospace font by default! No more pixel hunting!
- The colour picker is huge and clear and includes high-contrast filtering
Less good:
- The chart "Select Data" dialog remains exactly as buggy as ever.
- The formula bar is finally in monospace font by default! No more pixel hunting!
- The colour picker is huge and clear and includes high-contrast filtering
Less good:
- The chart "Select Data" dialog remains exactly as buggy as ever.
July 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
We're using a new version of Excel at work. Good things:
- The formula bar is finally in monospace font by default! No more pixel hunting!
- The colour picker is huge and clear and includes high-contrast filtering
Less good:
- The chart "Select Data" dialog remains exactly as buggy as ever.
- The formula bar is finally in monospace font by default! No more pixel hunting!
- The colour picker is huge and clear and includes high-contrast filtering
Less good:
- The chart "Select Data" dialog remains exactly as buggy as ever.
Interesting phrasing on today's Commons order paper. I haven't seen "the matter of" used for a general debate before - maybe it looked bad to say that the House "has considered giving every child the best start in life" as if it might say "nah, won't bother".
July 16, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Interesting phrasing on today's Commons order paper. I haven't seen "the matter of" used for a general debate before - maybe it looked bad to say that the House "has considered giving every child the best start in life" as if it might say "nah, won't bother".
Well, this is exciting - I've been grumbling for *years* about how figures at Budgets and Spending Reviews are only given to the nearest £100 million, which makes data analysis needlessly difficult. And the Treasury have just gone ahead and published the unrounded data! www.gov.uk/government/p...
Supporting documents for Spending Review 2025
Supporting documents alongside the main Spending Review 2025 document: distributional analysis, policy costings and data sources.
www.gov.uk
June 27, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Well, this is exciting - I've been grumbling for *years* about how figures at Budgets and Spending Reviews are only given to the nearest £100 million, which makes data analysis needlessly difficult. And the Treasury have just gone ahead and published the unrounded data! www.gov.uk/government/p...
Time for some initial Spending Review analysis!
As expected, this is a very health-centric Spending Review - most of the day-to-day spending increase goes there. Depending how you count it, 20 or so departments will have to share about £5 billion of the remaining increases.
As expected, this is a very health-centric Spending Review - most of the day-to-day spending increase goes there. Depending how you count it, 20 or so departments will have to share about £5 billion of the remaining increases.
June 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Time for some initial Spending Review analysis!
As expected, this is a very health-centric Spending Review - most of the day-to-day spending increase goes there. Depending how you count it, 20 or so departments will have to share about £5 billion of the remaining increases.
As expected, this is a very health-centric Spending Review - most of the day-to-day spending increase goes there. Depending how you count it, 20 or so departments will have to share about £5 billion of the remaining increases.
It's out! Everything* you ever wanted to know about next week's Spending Review.
*probably not everything
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
*probably not everything
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
Spending Review 2025: Background briefing
Ahead of the Spending Review on 11 June 2025, this briefing looks at the process, the public spending context, and the factors affecting the government’s plans.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
June 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
It's out! Everything* you ever wanted to know about next week's Spending Review.
*probably not everything
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
*probably not everything
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
A little pope data for you all this fine morning. I like any dataset that goes back 2,000 years (although the chart only goes back to 1404).
(Source: www.theguardian.com/news/datablo...)
(Source: www.theguardian.com/news/datablo...)
May 9, 2025 at 8:08 AM
A little pope data for you all this fine morning. I like any dataset that goes back 2,000 years (although the chart only goes back to 1404).
(Source: www.theguardian.com/news/datablo...)
(Source: www.theguardian.com/news/datablo...)
Today in Baffling Web Design Decisions: what on earth is going on with Glasgow City Council's year selection for their council meetings calendar?
April 11, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Today in Baffling Web Design Decisions: what on earth is going on with Glasgow City Council's year selection for their council meetings calendar?
We've published a new short article on the aid cut (and defence spending increase) announced by the PM yesterday. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/uk-to-reduce...
UK to reduce aid to 0.3% of gross national income from 2027
The UK will reduce aid spending to 0.3% of gross national income in 2027 (the lowest level since 1999) to fund higher defence spending.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
February 26, 2025 at 4:15 PM
We've published a new short article on the aid cut (and defence spending increase) announced by the PM yesterday. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/uk-to-reduce...
Behold, a 91% rural local authority!
(Why? Because the ONS defines "urban" as "within a built-up area which has a population of 10,000 or more", and "rural" as everything else. And in the 2021 Census, the City of London built-up area had a population of about 7,500.)
(Why? Because the ONS defines "urban" as "within a built-up area which has a population of 10,000 or more", and "rural" as everything else. And in the 2021 Census, the City of London built-up area had a population of about 7,500.)
January 21, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Behold, a 91% rural local authority!
(Why? Because the ONS defines "urban" as "within a built-up area which has a population of 10,000 or more", and "rural" as everything else. And in the 2021 Census, the City of London built-up area had a population of about 7,500.)
(Why? Because the ONS defines "urban" as "within a built-up area which has a population of 10,000 or more", and "rural" as everything else. And in the 2021 Census, the City of London built-up area had a population of about 7,500.)
The big news from 2024 that I missed at the time: HM Treasury have finally changed the font in their "official forecasts for the UK economy" document so that capital letters no longer have little "horns". (First image from March this year, second one from December.)
December 23, 2024 at 1:29 PM
The big news from 2024 that I missed at the time: HM Treasury have finally changed the font in their "official forecasts for the UK economy" document so that capital letters no longer have little "horns". (First image from March this year, second one from December.)
Here are some National Park Facts (TM), occasioned by my having to look at the boundaries for something for work:
FACT 1: The only non-contiguous National Park in Great Britain is Pembrokeshire Coast, which is divided into four main chunks and a few islands.
FACT 1: The only non-contiguous National Park in Great Britain is Pembrokeshire Coast, which is divided into four main chunks and a few islands.
December 17, 2024 at 4:37 PM
Here are some National Park Facts (TM), occasioned by my having to look at the boundaries for something for work:
FACT 1: The only non-contiguous National Park in Great Britain is Pembrokeshire Coast, which is divided into four main chunks and a few islands.
FACT 1: The only non-contiguous National Park in Great Britain is Pembrokeshire Coast, which is divided into four main chunks and a few islands.
Quick chart showing just how extraordinary last week's Test was. There have only been six occasions - ever - where a Test side scored as many runs in their first innings as Pakistan did and then went on to lose the match.
October 14, 2024 at 11:06 AM
Quick chart showing just how extraordinary last week's Test was. There have only been six occasions - ever - where a Test side scored as many runs in their first innings as Pakistan did and then went on to lose the match.
Shall we explore together why Google's "AI Overviews" are, um, somewhat less than helpful when you're looking for something specific?
🧵 (1/n)
🧵 (1/n)
October 11, 2024 at 9:18 AM
Shall we explore together why Google's "AI Overviews" are, um, somewhat less than helpful when you're looking for something specific?
🧵 (1/n)
🧵 (1/n)
Reposted by Philip Brien
Really pleased to announce the launch of a thoroughly updated version of Locating London's Past: locatinglondon.org - new functionality, better mapping, cleaner data. @ihr.bsky.social @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social
October 2, 2024 at 8:54 AM
Really pleased to announce the launch of a thoroughly updated version of Locating London's Past: locatinglondon.org - new functionality, better mapping, cleaner data. @ihr.bsky.social @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social
Going through old Commons Journals for something, and this keeps popping up: before the Royal Assent Act 1967, the Commons had to go and physically attend in the Lords for any bill to be passed. As this entry from November 1921 shows, this was often right in the middle of other business.
October 1, 2024 at 1:20 PM
Going through old Commons Journals for something, and this keeps popping up: before the Royal Assent Act 1967, the Commons had to go and physically attend in the Lords for any bill to be passed. As this entry from November 1921 shows, this was often right in the middle of other business.
RIP to the National Rail app, which has gone from a functional (if slightly clunky) experience to...literally just running the website inside an app container. Why, precisely, would anyone bother?
October 1, 2024 at 7:30 AM
RIP to the National Rail app, which has gone from a functional (if slightly clunky) experience to...literally just running the website inside an app container. Why, precisely, would anyone bother?
Two things to note from the FCDO's latest aid stats:
1) In cash terms, the UK's aid budget in 2023 was the largest it's ever been;
2) If spending on refugees within the UK didn't count under OECD rules, aid spending would be below 2013 levels.
(Source: FCDO, www.gov.uk/government/c...)
1) In cash terms, the UK's aid budget in 2023 was the largest it's ever been;
2) If spending on refugees within the UK didn't count under OECD rules, aid spending would be below 2013 levels.
(Source: FCDO, www.gov.uk/government/c...)
September 27, 2024 at 1:41 PM
Two things to note from the FCDO's latest aid stats:
1) In cash terms, the UK's aid budget in 2023 was the largest it's ever been;
2) If spending on refugees within the UK didn't count under OECD rules, aid spending would be below 2013 levels.
(Source: FCDO, www.gov.uk/government/c...)
1) In cash terms, the UK's aid budget in 2023 was the largest it's ever been;
2) If spending on refugees within the UK didn't count under OECD rules, aid spending would be below 2013 levels.
(Source: FCDO, www.gov.uk/government/c...)
In an interesting but otherwise fairly unremarkable article about the North Korean women's football team, this sentence just comes out of nowhere.
(article for the curious: www.theguardian.com/football/202...)
(article for the curious: www.theguardian.com/football/202...)
![Screenshot of a paragraph from a Guardian article. Text is as follows:
Then came the great interruption. In 2011 five national‑team players tested positive for a rare steroid. [Highlight begins] The excuse offered was the use of a traditional medicine made from the glands of a musk deer, applied after the players were struck by lightning. [Highlight ends] Oddly enough, Fifa didn’t buy this and North Korea were banned from the 2015 World Cup, lost their ranking position, failed to qualify in 2019 partly as a result, then went into major isolation during the pandemic, re-emerging only towards the end of 2023.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fpwahcmbxl54w2fifoom5rxd/bafkreiae3n3deanuho4u5tijvwtwmizearqyq7ji6wojp44wexnmr6ek7y@jpeg)
September 26, 2024 at 10:46 AM
In an interesting but otherwise fairly unremarkable article about the North Korean women's football team, this sentence just comes out of nowhere.
(article for the curious: www.theguardian.com/football/202...)
(article for the curious: www.theguardian.com/football/202...)
If you had somehow invested in stamps in 1989, that investment would now be worth more than if you had invested in housing across the UK.
(Sources: ONS series D7BT, HM Land Registry, priceofastamp.co.uk)
(Sources: ONS series D7BT, HM Land Registry, priceofastamp.co.uk)
September 12, 2024 at 1:45 PM
If you had somehow invested in stamps in 1989, that investment would now be worth more than if you had invested in housing across the UK.
(Sources: ONS series D7BT, HM Land Registry, priceofastamp.co.uk)
(Sources: ONS series D7BT, HM Land Registry, priceofastamp.co.uk)
Just found this gloriously 90s cover on an old NAO report. I miss when the internet was this fresh and exciting thing.
(Report comes from here, for reference: www.nao.org.uk/reports/gove...)
(Report comes from here, for reference: www.nao.org.uk/reports/gove...)
September 6, 2024 at 9:08 AM
Just found this gloriously 90s cover on an old NAO report. I miss when the internet was this fresh and exciting thing.
(Report comes from here, for reference: www.nao.org.uk/reports/gove...)
(Report comes from here, for reference: www.nao.org.uk/reports/gove...)
Almost every paragraph of this gets more and more bonkers. Excellent article.
The cocaine kingpin’s wildest legacy: what can be done with Pablo Escobar’s marauding hippos?
The long read: The Colombian drug lord’s exotic menagerie fell apart after his death, and now wild hippos are breeding out of control
www.theguardian.com
August 27, 2024 at 12:42 PM
Almost every paragraph of this gets more and more bonkers. Excellent article.
Great example of the counterintuitive nature of inflation stats in this morning's release. The main rate is largely up because of gas prices, but not because they've gone up - they haven't! It's because they haven't gone down as fast as they did a year ago.
August 14, 2024 at 10:43 AM
Great example of the counterintuitive nature of inflation stats in this morning's release. The main rate is largely up because of gas prices, but not because they've gone up - they haven't! It's because they haven't gone down as fast as they did a year ago.
To give a little context to these pictures of Yusuf Dikec looking effortlessly cool: I used to shoot air pistol competitively, and there are really good reasons to kit yourself out like this. Short thread to follow...
August 2, 2024 at 9:46 AM
To give a little context to these pictures of Yusuf Dikec looking effortlessly cool: I used to shoot air pistol competitively, and there are really good reasons to kit yourself out like this. Short thread to follow...