Journalist, editor, analyst and trainer on computing, government, climate and data
I have been visiting a lot of NHS hospitals recently, as part of research for EHI Intelligence’s forthcoming ‘Routes to EPR’ report. The results of that are due next month, although there are a few tasters in this EHI news article. But I can offer some conclusions – on NHS hospitals as places. Continue reading “A rough guide to NHS hospitals”
The north of France is a lot like the north of England. It’s a bit colder, metropolitan types think it has funny accents and food and it has suffered from a decline in industry, particularly mining. Lille should get itself twinned with Manchester – both cities have great histories and great ambitions for the future (and both are now major student and cultural centres). Continue reading “Art galleries in northern France: La Piscine Roubaix beats Louvre Lens”
Whatever happened to the great British government IT scandal?
In the 2000s, such events kept many journalists gainfully employed. Careers were built around the likes of the NHS National Programme for IT and identity cards. But their numbers have fallen away – both the scandals and the journalists – as this government’s programme of austerity reaches even this area of spending.
In seriousness, despite the fact that there are fewer juicy stories, the apparent decline in the number of government IT scandals is clearly a good thing for Britain. But why has it come about; and is it real, or are there problems below the surface? Continue reading “The decline of the great British government IT scandal”
The Register covered ID cards as thoroughly as anyone over the years – partly through running stories from Guardian Government Computing (and sometimes we just tipped them off), as well as dozens of its own articles.
I’m proud to say it is serialising my book on the subject, Card declined, to mark three years since the election which brought the scheme to an end. (You can tell it’s election day today – the BBC is leading on interest-only mortgages. Election day is a great day to get attention for non-political news, given politicians are off the airwaves until 10pm.) Continue reading “Remembering ID cards on election day with The Register”
Chippy has recently been profiled by two of the world’s most prestigious newspapers. One even got most of its facts right. The Times, rating Chipping Norton as the fifth-best town in Britain, was not that paper. [Log-in required to read full Times articles.] ‘This town is sometimes described as Britain’s answer to Beverley Hills because of its high-profile residents,’ it started, comparing us to an area in the middle of a city of many millions of people. Changing tack, it added that ‘the town is peaceful and picturesque,’ A44 HGVs presumably notwithstanding. It went on to claim the population is a mix of locals, weekending Londoners and wealthy international buyers, blessed with ‘London-standard pubs and restaurants’. The paper also put Kingham at number 20 in its separate list of best villages, with the inevitable picture of Alex James and mention of the ‘Chipping Norton set’. Continue reading “Can ewe recognise Chipping Norton in the news?”