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Julia Cushion

@juliacushion.bsky.social

4.2K followers 680 following 310 posts

Policy & Advocacy Manager @ mySociety Clumsy, enthusiastic, interested in exciting things like parliament and cryptic crosswords (she/they)

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · Nov 7

So encouraging to see lots of new people here - hi! 👋

Make sure you're following all of my brilliant @mysociety.org colleagues on here too:
go.bsky.app/JZpyiof

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 40m

New registers of interests are up on TWFY - this update includes a bunch of donations to Labour deputy leadership candidates, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

You can see just new entries (and download as csv etc) here: data.mysociety.org/datasette/?m...

Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 1d

this short and sweet blog from @dracos.co.uk is worth two mins of your time, it's important to us to be able to support other good bits of the internet, and it's important to me that everyone is reminded of this classic @xkcd.com

A cartoon from XKCD which is a stack of different sized boxes, all labelled 'all modern digital infrastructure'. One of the bottom tiny boxes holding up the whole pile is labelled 'a project some random person in nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003'

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Reposted by Julia Cushion

sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 2d

Tbf some of us have been on this story for years

www.opendemocracy.net/en/asylum-ho...

www.opendemocracy.net/en/home-offi...

Great to see conditions & profits getting more coverage and more awareness across the board 💪

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 1d

We've been working on some cool stuff and we want to tell you about it!

mySociety @mysociety.org · 2d

New stuff on TheyWorkForYou ahoy! Join us at lunchtime on Thursday, October 23, when our own @alexparsons.bsky.social and @juliacushion.bsky.social will be talking through what's new.

For full details and to book your free spot: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theyworkfo...

TheyWorkForYou update: a richer view of Parliament

We want to improve the quality of UK democracy by making more and better information available - join us to hear about our latest updates.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 6d

a novel approach to y2k I think you'll agree

Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 6d

who wore it better??

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 7d

This should be a really interesting one...

How can we measure implementation of freedom of information laws when each country might have thousands of different public bodies? How far does assessing legislation get us?

Join us to find out!

mySociety @mysociety.org · 7d

There's still time - but only just - to sign up to today's #FOI event in which three experts will be looking at how FOI law works when it meets the real world. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/putting-tr...

Putting transparency to the test: evaluating FOI in practice

How can we tell if FOI laws are working in practice? Three expert speakers will help us assess whether legislation matches reality.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

Reposted by Julia Cushion

mySociety @mysociety.org · 7d

There's still time - but only just - to sign up to today's #FOI event in which three experts will be looking at how FOI law works when it meets the real world. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/putting-tr...

Putting transparency to the test: evaluating FOI in practice

How can we tell if FOI laws are working in practice? Three expert speakers will help us assess whether legislation matches reality.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 12d

there's nothing like a packed 3.5 hour crosscountry journey with no catering and only 1 working toilet to make you miss the sweet embrace of the LNER azuma

Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 14d

I was more of a peter rabbit kid ngl

Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 14d

anyway have a good evening everyone, gonna try to have a normal night's sleep while the faded ghost of the "colourful original pirate" watches over me!!

Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 14d

ok, yes that's strange you think, but what if I told you it was ON THE CEILING DIRECTLY ABOVE THE BED

image showing that the previous graphic is mounted on the ceiling

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 14d

Staying in an very strange hotel in Cardiff with extremely dodgy decor celebrating colonisers

"defending British interests"?? "a wealthy sugar plantation owner"??

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Reposted by Julia Cushion

Gavin Freeguard @gavinfreeguard.bsky.social · 14d

🤨

Screenshot from the linked New Statesman piece:

'Documents also show Blair personally intervened to urge Kyle to embrace AI, telling him in a private meeting that there was “no other solution to productivity, no other route to growth”, and that AI was “the UK’s economic future”. Blair also encouraged Kyle to meet with the Ellison Institute of Technology, a for-profit research institute that works via a group of internal companies based in Oxford funded by the Oracle chief – and “emphasised the importance of the national data library”, according to a response to an FoI. In May, Kyle told his officials to work with TBI on the nascent national data library (NDL) project. “Attaching the initial scoping work from TBI here,” he wrote in an email to his team.

'A UK government spokesperson said it engaged with a “wide range of stakeholders” in the development of policy, adding: “The government publishes quarterly details of ministers’ and certain senior officials’ meetings with all external individuals and organisations.”'

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 19d

Just been published, deadline 22 Oct so just under 6 weeks to respond yourviews.parliament.scot/sppa/freedom...

Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill - Scottish Parliament - Citizen Space

Find and participate in consultations run by the Scottish Parliament

yourviews.parliament.scot

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 19d

It's up! Deadline 22 Oct yourviews.parliament.scot/sppa/freedom...

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 19d

have emailed the committee, will share what I get back!

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 19d

As noted in @clairemiller.bsky.social's brill #FOIFriday round-up, the Scottish government have announced they're seeking views on the new FOI bill, deadline Monday. Hopefully not, as committee website says they're "not currently seeking views" on anything...

clairemiller.net/2025/09/free...

Screenshot from press briefing says:
PA Media
8 hours ago
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Proposed changes to the public’s right to information and transparency among public authorities are set to be scrutinised in Holyrood.

The Scottish Parliament’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments (SPPA) Committee has launched a call for views on the Scottish Government’s Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill.

The Bill would look to update the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 by making the public’s right to information explicit.

Under new proposals, the only information that would not be disclosed would be if it was classified as absolute exemption.

The proposals would also bring more bodies under freedom of information rules, such as third sector organisations and housing associations.

Martin Whitfield MSP, convener of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, said: “With the original Act now 20 years old, it’s timely to look at how the law might be updated.

“Any new legislation must be clearly defined and workable. The committee is keen to hear views on the Bill’s proposals, and whether its aims to increase transparency, extend coverage and strengthen existing processes are likely to achieve their intended impact.”

The call for views is open and will close to responses on September 22 2025. The Committee plans to hold evidence sessions with stakeholders in November.

Screenshot from the Bill website says "The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee is not currently seeking views on any of its current inquiries"

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Reposted by Julia Cushion

Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 22d

Flying pass through the new register today:

TheyWorkForYou @theyworkforyou.com · 22d

A new House of Commons register of interests has been released and uploaded to TheyWorkForYou https://www.theyworkforyou.com/interests

Making it easy to keep an eye on the UK’s parliaments. Discover who represents you, how they’ve voted and what they’ve said in debates.

www.theyworkforyou.com

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Reposted by Julia Cushion

Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 23d

To disagree with this: A climate emergency declaration is a political signal in favour of taking action. It's good for councils to do this, because it helps (if not guarantees) further action.

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Reposted by Julia Cushion

Rebecca McKee @rebeccamckee.bsky.social · 23d

For any ministers twitchers out there Rushanara Ali's previous briefs of elections/democracy and fire safety (response to Grenfell) have been reunited under Samantha Dixon PUSS in MHCLG who also takes on resilience & emergencies

*insert your own jokes here

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · 24d

There's a great job going with my lovely colleagues at @societyworks.org (the commercial arm of the @mysociety.org charity). Please share!

apply.workable.com/mysociety/j/...

Business Development Manager, SocietyWorks - Remote - mySociety and SocietyWorks

Are you looking for a business development role where you can use your sales skills to help make a real difference in society? A role where you’re not just selling for the sake of it, but selling to i...

apply.workable.com

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Reposted by Julia Cushion

Alexandra Meakin @ameakin.bsky.social · Sep 5

Departure of Powell means we'll be onto the 11th Leader of the Commons since the Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster programme programme started (Oct 2012) and with no actual decision on when the work will start and how it should be done #WestminsterRR

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · Sep 5

Reshuffle has started

Lucy Powell out as Leader of the Commons

Ian Murray out as Scottish Secretary

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Julia Cushion @juliacushion.bsky.social · Sep 3

our wonderful CEO @itscrowbot.bsky.social suggests that in 2050 we'll be very glad we had FOI to assess and scrutinise growing AI use by government. There are discrepancies in power and resources between big tech companies and govt and FOI provides a flexible and powerful tool to assess these

Reposted by Julia Cushion

Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · Sep 3

(foi is good!) www.mysociety.org/2022/02/10/f...

Freedom of Information is good, and stops bad things happening

ARIA's exclusion from FOI is part of a broader attack on government transparency.

www.mysociety.org

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