I’ve finally settled into my new house, which means I’ve cleaned my bedroom window so I can see peoples feet more clearly as they walk past. After living for five years in a pre-gentrified old-industrial area of Cambridge, Portugal Place where I am now seems very busy. Although many tourists do walk past, not many […]
Did you know, you can make completely new people? Extra special people. They have super powers. They can split apart into multiple new people, or fuse together back into one. You can destroy them and nobody feels any pain, but sometimes they can live almost forever. All without the hard work of having a baby. […]
Even if a website isn’t yet as useful as it should be, sometimes it attracts attention and excitement. On Thursday, Julian and I were presented with an award for The Public Whip. It’s the winner of the “Civic Renewal” category for the New Statesman New Media awards. There are photos. Partly this was a good […]
Political engagement, it’s a struggle. It’s summer, the beer is fine, and house prices haven’t fallen for over ten years. Too busy being taught how to decorate by the latest television programme, why should anyone be bothered with politics? Imagine a manager who never came into work. A boss who never even rang you up […]
I have some interesting scrawled notes from a train conversation with Richard earlier today. He was talking about software engineering management (don’t go away, I’m going to relate it to other things in a moment), and how there is a scale upon which you can slide too far one way and things go wrong. This […]
Imagine that someone owned a patent giving them the exlusive right to know how to make a piece of toast, or how to lock a front door. Everytime you did one of these simple actions, you risk being sued and forced to pay huge damages for patent violation. In the world of software developers, this […]
The media is an interesting and double edged sword. Newspapers and TV can act for freedom and democracy, unearthing problems in government, championing what the common man would do himself (if he had the time and the contacts). On the other hand, they can be a divisive barrier, splitting us apart from our elected representatives, […]
Exciting national media fame. Yesterday, the Independent newspaper printed a story about MP voting records (view it now before the Indy charge you for it next week). It’s entirely based on data from Public Whip. I made them a special report of the voting record for the 2002-2003 parliamentary session. You can find the full […]