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COVID: our big test is what happens next
Can you imagine it? The cold beer brought to you in a tall glass so chilled there is condensation thick on the outside, obscuring the golden, frothy, elixir you’ve been waiting for. A hot sunny day, you are sticky but relaxed and it is the waiting staff that buzz around toiling. And the sound of people laughing…
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The DRCF: Priorities for UK Digital Regulation
Last July the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) formed the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) which last month outlined its priorities in a Workplan for 2021/22. The creation of the DRCF is a significant move by these regulators in the coordination of regulation across…
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Fire your rockstars
This week, the Free (Libre) and Open Source Software community are attempting to remove an activist (known for their repugnant and bigoted views) from the board of the Free Software Foundation, an important institution in the FLOSS community. The activist – Richard Stallman – founded the organisation and is widely considered to be the founder of the Free Software movement. He is…
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Sustainability Services: Why is “making sustainability native” critical to businesses and governments?
Successful trends follow similar paths: first, they’re a competitive advantage for early-adopters—then they become native to everyone who stays in the game. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a forced shift to digital; companies and individuals are learning what digital transformation really means and what “making digital native” looks like. The same…
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ARIA watching closely?
The government has recently confirmed that its ‘high risk, high reward’ research agency, the Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA), will go ahead. This was initially the pet project of Dominic Cummings (alarm bells!) but seems to have survived his departure from Whitehall. The buzz has all been about the potential to cut red-tape and bureaucracy in order…
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Don’t shoot the data scientist, please Labour
Government incompetence and u-turns over high school results have perhaps dominated this summer’s news cycle, which is no mean feat given the global pandemic, record-busting recession and looming Brexit crisis. The story has hinged upon an ‘algorithm’ or, to quote the Prime Minister, a ‘mutant algorithm.’ Sadly, our cousins over at Scientists for Labour have…
