Here’s a collection of blog posts that I’ve written over the years that I’m pleased with. They’re grouped by subject, usually with the latest post first.
Album Club
- The best night of the month — A background and primer on what we do at Album Club, which started in 2011 and has been running every month since. I’ve since formed two other Album Clubs that are always held online, and they all follow the same format.
- Album Club on Sharp tech — Mentioned by Ben Thompson and Andrew Sharp after I wrote in to one of my favourite podcasts. They had been discussing ways to ‘touch grass’ with friends, and I thought that Album Club was a perfect example.
Technology
- 20 years of blogging
- Artificial intelligence
- When good is the enemy of the perfect — As generative AI’s accuracy gets closer to perfect, using it gets increasingly problematic.
- In a world of AI, PSTN is dead — How do you really know who’s on the other end of the phone?
- Increasingly obscured future — Written after watching The AI Dilemma from the Center for Humane Technology and being profoundly moved by wondering where this is all going.
- My friction-filled information workflow — Trying to get a handle on the inputs and outputs in my life.
- Internal blogs — an organisational hack — Echoing Simon Willison’s thoughts on getting people to write about their work, at work.
- The uncomfortable mirror of the Star Wars Kid — Reflections on a film that caught up with the life someone who became an online meme in the early 2000’s.
- BadSAM — Navigating a UI nightmare of an app that is meant to help save lives.
- Getting my head around ‘My first impressions of web3’ — Moxie Marlinspike’s article was an eye-opener for me on the topics of crypto, NFTs etc. I wrote this post to try and structure my own thoughts off the back of reading it.
- Using a LeanKit board to manage risks — Documenting how we use a Kanban board to manage our operational risks at work. This was also published on the LeanKit (now called AgilePlace) blog.
- The loveliest place on the Internet — The wonderful community that is micro.blog.
- The magical Internet, making connections and asking the right questions — The basic connections that the Internet makes possible is still amazing to me.
Work
- Reflections on resilience.
- Getting back to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic
- 534 days later — Reflections on my first day back in the office after working from home for over a year.
- The remote or office spectrum — Thoughts after having been back in the office for a few weeks.
- Returning to the office, redux — Further thoughts following the conversations I had after I posted ‘the remote or office spectrum’.
- Creating a trans-inclusive workplace — An incredible webinar that opened my eyes to the lived experiences of trans people in the workplace.
- Wins! (Or, never again having to remember what you did all year…) — A weekly ceremony that has had a big impact in our team.
Books
When I finish a book, I try to jot down a few notes about it on my blog. Sometimes these thoughts morph into longer posts as I use my writing to work out what I really think. My entire reading list since about 2010 is here, but these are some of the books that led to longer posts:
- Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma — What do we do with great art by bad people?
- The McCartney Legacy Volume 1: 1969-73 — A wonderful book about Paul McCartney’s early solo years.
- How Civil Wars Start — Felt like relevant reading as we approached the end of 2024.
- Everything You Need To Know About The Menopause — My wife and I were in our mid-40s when I read this; I figured it would be useful to know more about what’s coming down the road.
- Hitman — One of my favourite posts. I picked up Brett ‘The Hitman’ Hart’s biography as some light holiday reading and had no idea it would be so good.
- Violent Borders — A book that puts forward the notion that the very concept of a political or physical border is a violent act. Compelling.
- Why Workplace — Thoughts about the future of work in a post-pandemic era.
- A Seat At The Table — What it means for a Chief Information Officer to take their place alongside other executive leaders.
- The Year Without Pants — The experience of working at Automattic, the fully-remote company behind WordPress, back in 2011–2012.
Music
- Mix from May 2006 — Rediscovering a compilation I put together 18 years previously.
- Cover song grab bag — Some of my favourite cover versions.
- The Beatles: Get Back — Notes I made as I watched this wonderful film.
- Wait…where’s the single? — Albums that disappoint by not including the track you bought them for.
- Die Da!?! Memories of MTV Europe
- A baker’s dozen of the moment — 13 songs that I’d been listening to recently.
- Vinyl explorations — Adventures in buying a turntable and getting into vinyl records.
- Behind The Mask — Eric Clapton, Greg Phillinganes, Michael Jackson and the Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Cycling
- In May 2015, I took part in a charity bike ride, cycling from London to Milan. We covered around 900 miles through nine countries in nine days. I captured the experience here.
- Getting started with indoor bike training — Written at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when we were all trapped in our houses. My indoor bike trainer became an addiction for me at this time.
School governance
I was a governor at a primary school for just over a decade, between 2014 and 2024. It was a privilege to volunteer and help out, but also eye-opening in terms of the challenges that schools face. I’d love to return to the role again someday.
- Fearing Ofsted — I wrote this as I felt as though people didn’t understand just how perversely high-pressured the role of the Headteacher is and how the Ofsted inspection regime was so brutal, with tragic consequences.
- I’ve also written some tips on recruiting and then on-boarding new school governors.
Travel
Typically photo-heavy posts, documenting trips and holidays.
- Christmas in Playa del Carmen, Mexico in 2024
- Zakynthos, Greece in summer 2024
- Berlin, Germany in autumn 2023
- Montenegro, summer 2023
- The United Nations building in New York, October 2022
- Turkey, summer 2022
- Malaga, Spain in Easter 2022
- California, USA in summer 2019
- Geneva, Switzerland and Châtel, France in summer 2018
- Turkey, late summer 2005
Miscellaneous stuff
- Democracy theatre — The post on this site with the most views. Written after attending a meeting of Berkhamsted Town Council in 2016 where they discussed and approved the proposal for a multi-storey car park in our town.
- A little respect — How to set up an FA Respect barrier at your kid’s football match so that everyone can see the action.
- Surviving 9/11 — My memories of 9/11, twenty years on.