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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 18h

And even Wałęsa will only be 91, so still plenty of time for a comeback.

Though the possibility is rather less eminent.

Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 1d

How quintessentially Hadley!

Congratulations - and it's reassuring to know that the world is now a slightly safer place.

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Reposted by Stefan Czerniawski

Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

My hero is a farmer, not a duck. Which will only make sense if you read this new piece by me, the start of a new substack which I am bravely calling How To Run A Country.

howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/its-the-de...

It’s the despair that’s going to kill us

Time to cheer up

howtorunacountry.substack.com

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 1d

A lovely example of performative concern was when
I remember puzzling over how best to respond to a Chancellor when the real - and very obvious - answer to their constituent's question was 'because the Treasury won't pay for it.'

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 1d

but (b) are a colossal distraction from doing the things which MPs can uniquely do and (c) can all too easily be a performance with no real benefit to anyone, least of all the concerned constituent.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 1d

My experience of responding to MPs casework queries on and off for 30+ years is that (a) they mean MPs can get a better sense of how public services are - and are not - working than the people responsible for those services

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 4d

No - nor to read children's books more generally. This is good as a general licence to read:

Cover image of an essay by Katherine Rundell, Why you should read children's books, even though you are so old and wise

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 5d

I've been on the gauge changing train from end to end. It seemed more than sufficiently nice and and spacious. I can't compare that with the non-gauge changing experience, but if those trains are markedly better, they must be very good indeed.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 10d

The voice of @janethughes.bsky.social rings out clearly, inimitably and, one might say, boldly.

h/t @jacattell.bsky.social

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 10d

"When you’re trying to bring about significant change in any complex system, it’s impossible to know up front exactly what’s going to work, how the various risks are going to pan out or how the context is going to change."

'Being a leader isn’t about becoming great at everything': Civil service reform DG Janet Hughes sets out her priorities

Hughes, who became Cabinet Office DG for civil service reform and efficiency in June, on bringing the spirit of One Team Gov to her new role, test ...

www.civilserviceworld.com

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 10d

A strange little demonstration outside Broadcasting House - a handful of people with a banner bigger than they are proclaiming that "Bullets will not silence us - RIP Charlie Kirk" against a stylised union flag.

The ratio of confusion to word count seems remarkably high.

A very small crowd outside Broadcasting House in London

A long banner is held up with a handful of people standing in front of it

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 10d

Still haven't forgotten being ambushed by a minister from another department by being asked to go to a meeting in the Commons - where it turned out that a dozen of their officials had been lined up to interrogate me. Business of the executive at its very finest.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 10d

There are also designated ministerial meeting rooms, as well as offices allocated to people on the basis of their ministerial roles. So there is no doubt that the executive arm to some extent functions there. Whether it's reasonable to say that it's housed there might be a different question.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 11d

There is also a strange category of "doesn't apply to my use" which isn't further explained, but might or might not skew the aggregate numbers

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 11d

To say nothing of the fact that if the national security of the USA depends on the generals being able to run fast, they have considerably bigger problems

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 12d

And those people are of course often in most contact with public services and most subject to checks.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 12d

And even without that, I remember from work we did 25 years ago (sigh) that the patterns of address change differ dramatically between different socio economic groups, the concept of 'address' being a single stable data point is not the norm for many people.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 12d

No experience to share, but this is an excellent source of soup recipes

Soup Broth Bread

Rachel Allen's timeless collection of soups, breads, garnishes, stocks and more *SHORTLISTED FOR IRISH COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR* 'Warm, nourishing dishes with a twist' SUNDAY TIMES 'Proof that soups ar...

www.penguin.co.uk

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 13d

Thick mist last night, clear blue skies this morning. Autumn beyond doubt.

A street at night, there are cones of light from lampposts picking up thick mist, visibility fades quickly into the middle distance

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 13d

Evergreen

Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 19d

In any ranking of numbers of completely bizarre claims to fame, I have a strong feeling that @paulclarke.com would emerge a winner.

Pleasingly, that would itself be a bizarre claim to fame and so cement the victory.

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Reposted by Stefan Czerniawski

Paul Clarke @paulclarke.com · 13d

Much of what is written about "digital identity" veers (often wildly) across two broad lanes: 1) the concept of your 'identity' and 2) means by which you prove a claim in relation to that (usually that you are either The Person, or that some fact is true - without necessarily revealing who you are).

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 13d

The new cathedrals are built differently

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 15d

This is even more than usually heart stopping. My cousin was on that same transport from Tarnów. He died in Auschwitz in 1941 - and I suddenly wonder, if he had survived a longer, might he too have been released. And how much would have been different if he had.

Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · 15d

27 September 1921 | A Pole, Jerzy Bogusz, was born in Nowy Sącz.

He was deported to #Auschwitz from Tarnów on 14 June 1940 in the first transport of Poles to #Auschwitz.
No. 61
In 1942 he was released from the camp. He survived the war. He passed away in 2016.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 15d

ID cards aren't about the cards. @paulclarke.com has been thinking longer and harder about this than most of us, and this thread is an excellent place to start

Paul Clarke @paulclarke.com · 16d

I'm seeing so many takes around parts of the "ID card" melange, I have to add a few.

It's not about cards. It's about registers. A register is a definitive 'true source' of data, about people, places, buildings, whatever.

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Stefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 15d

And separate again from the degree of rigour employed in establishing the connection between the individual and the address - different bits of government care about different addresses for different reasons, so an association that is good enough for one purpose may not be good enough for another.

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