Keir Starmer famously said there was "no such thing" as Starmerism. He was half-right: there is no such ideology. There is however an approach to managing and running the country that is core to so many of the government's difficulties that we probably should call 'Starmerism'. In tomorrow's paper:
I’ve written, with my colleague @davehillonlondon.bsky.social , what is basically a short book about the London borough elections. Want to know the recent history, the key wards, the local parties? It’s here londondecides.lowickhedry.com
"Labour’s formidable vote-getter @annebclarke.bsky.social presents Cricklewood" 😀
londondecides.lowickhedry.com/private-docs...
It’s been 10 years since I published Building Successful Communities of practice…. To celebrate I’ve published a second edition. Currently at a special price to pre-order (UK only) hellotacit.com/building-suc...
Many AI conversations sound familiar right now. That’s what led to my keynote on Team Topologies as the infrastructure for an agency with AI. Instead of asking what AI can do, we sit with quieter questions about autonomy, boundaries, and trust. Discover a different approach to AI adoption ➡️
Service Design & Social Complexity
youtu.be/ZJuwJN8kYvY
— @camerontw.bsky.social
Ahead of the local elections, here's an easy guide of how best to assess the results as they come in, including the best metrics to use and some historical benchmarks.
It's on the longer side, but is split into sections and filled with lots of (hopefully) useful data, and completely free-to-read.
The number of wards that now have to be considered marginal has increased
The ways in which split votes can be cast has increased.
My advice to electors wishing to vote tactically - really look your ward in depth, at each and every polling district if you're to avoid unexpected consequences.
Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.
An important read.
[The Atlantic-gift article]: What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center
I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows.By Josef Palermo
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
The very, very final touches are being put to the most comprehensive guide to the 7 May London borough elections you will find anywhere. Compiled by me and @lewisbaston.bsky.social in partnership with Lowick Hedry. Get your name down for one via here: londondecides.lowickhedry.com
My hand holding the stylishly designed book cover up for the camera.
Just arrived! New edition of @ewebber.bsky.social's Building Successful Communities of Practice book, I look forward to seeing what's changed in 10 years.
Happy digital record store day! Here is the transcript from a Bandcamp Listening Party for our live release with friends, What’s Past is Prologue dadadrummer.substack.com/p/whats-past...
Reform have held on to 7 out of 15 (47%) of the seats it has been defending since the 2025 Local Elections.
Retention Rates for Other Parties:
LDM: 35/44 (80%)
GRN: 8/15 (53%)
CON: 16/51 (31%)
LAB: 16/70 (23%)
Localist Groups: 1/11 (9%)
electionmaps.uk/council-by-e...
Healthcare teams spend more time managing tech than improving care. Our research reveals why healthcare tech and product teams need to focus on root causes, not symptoms.
https://link.testdouble.com/a8bdb4
What were the signals Olly Robbins was receiving from higher up that led him to make the bold call to waive Mandelson’s vetting?
Had it been made clear that No10 wanted Mandelson, chequered past and all?
Even if PM didn’t know about the failed vetting, had he created the reckless motivation?
A photo of a tray with three sections empty. One has chopped carrot in it. The other has what can only be described as a posit of brown dog vomit and an insole liner of a sneaker (or a used panty liner from the mid 1700s). The kind of meal that would have you happily tossing yourself overboard.
NEW: Growing fears of food shortages on USS Tripoli & other US ships in the Middle East.
This photo is the kind of meals now being served. It was sent by a sailor to her family.
Families are now trying to send food parcels to the ships.
Full story 👉 www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
I'm hosting a listening party FRIDAY APR 17 3:30pm ET (12:30pm PT, 8:30pm UK) for our Bandcamp-exclusive release of live covers of Galaxie 500 songs performed with friends!
damonandnaomi.bandcamp.com/merch/whats-...
And I want to make a passionate plea: before your organization goes off and fires all of its “glue people” on the assumption that AI can pick up what they were doing, please stop and think about what those people were actually doing.
cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-417-be...
GKOSFD
Go
Knock
On
Some
F**king
Doors
The number of times I've pointed this out only to be told by some party official 'but the government has done x and that has resulted in y'
GKOSFD
This ⬇️ in every focus group feelings of insecurity, cost of living crisis, “not living, just surviving” dominate and it’s clearly not because theyre misled by the media as some allege - they’re talking about actual cut backs/degredations in quality of life they’ve made in spite of “the data”
#GOTOpodcast: @laurspilca.bsky.social joins @thomasvitale.com to break down Software Security for Developers.
* encoding vs hashing vs encryption
* rolling your own “quick” solution
* trusting AI-generated code
* skipping PKI and certificates
🎧 Listen in: gotopia.tech/podcast
🏴“I want to wake up & not have to worry & go to sleep without having to worry”
Spent the weekend in focus groups across south Wales from Cardiff to Merthyr, to Port Talbot & Pembroke Dock, above all else we heard deep pessimism about the state of Wales, the UK & the wider world
The Sun’s accounts are out and I haven’t seen anyone report on them so…
*Pre-tax loss of £31m
*Revenue down from £296m to £273m (Sub now in the same ballpark as the Guardian)
*Phone hacking costs (now into its third decade) of £36.6m
*Big fall in audience but still claim to be UK’s number one brand
ISEC update Your Party Scotland Interim Scottish Executive Committee in mass resignation
Interim SEC Resignation Monday, 13 April, 2026 Last December, after the Liverpool founding conference, a group of representatives from Your Party Scotland proto-branches were chosen by members to form the Scottish Conference Organising Group (SCOG). After our Dundee conference, SCOG became the Interim Scottish Executive Committee (ISEC) as per the documents passed by the conference and became the interim leadership of YPS. We were all volunteers from different parts of the country and immediately started to work closely together. Some of us didn’t know each other, some had never been actively involved in politics but we all shared a common goal: to deliver a strong, structured and member-led founding conference, and we succeeded. We drafted the Your Party Scotland founding documents, which were then amended by members through assemblies and ratified at our Dundee conference in February.
At the conference, members voted to stand candidates at the Holyrood election in May, we voted in favour of organisational independence and dual membership, and we voted for an elected SEC to be in place by the beginning of April. Since then, we have faced constant undermining and delays by the UK party. Our clear asks to progress our conference mandates have been consistently ignored, resulting in our inability to run candidates in the Holyrood election and to elect a permanent SEC. Scotland’s sole CEC rep on the CEC has been consistently excluded and overruled on Scottish matters without basis. Requests to discuss these issues with Your Party’s leadership across Britain have been resoundingly ignored. The most egregious example of their disdain towards our members came when the UK party overruled the decision made at conference to stand in the Holyrood elections by rerunning the vote mere days before the deadline after ignoring our simple requests to progress this work for weeks beforehand. The email sent to Scottish members last Friday afternoon from Your Party UK is the final insult.
Having ignored Scotland’s elected representatives, blocked the Scottish party from standing in our national elections, and prevented Scottish members from electing an executive, the UK party informed members of their plan to install an unelected leadership over members’ heads which it appears will re-examine decisions already voted on and settled by Scottish members. It is absurd to expect a political party in Scotland can be dictated to by England, and it is antidemocratic to try and overrule any outcomes the ruling English faction simply does not like. As a result of this consistent denial of autonomy for Scotland, and a willingness by the UK leadership to sideline an entire nation by withholding funding and mailing lists and refusing to engage, we have, after careful thought and consideration, taken the collective decision to resign our positions on ISEC, having found ourselves completely blocked when we attempted to carry out the clear mandate set for us by members from across Scotland.
All 12 members of the Interim Scottish Executive Committee (ISEC) have unanimously left their roles and pledged to help form a new party.
Niall Christie, the sole Scotland rep on Your Party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), has also resigned with immediate effect.
Full statement below (1/2)
There's a bit of me in this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtWQ... Paul Smith cardigan and everything.
Sign up, sign up, sign up in advance for the ultimate 2026 London borough elections guide, written by me and @lewisbaston.bsky.social - available really ,really soon: londondecides.lowickhedry.com #london
