Ben Proctor

"Comprehensively Failed": Capita's AI Pension Promise Exposed as Empty 🚨 the "most AI-enabled pensions service" promised to government simply never existed. www.computerweekly.com/news/3666527...

If you're looking for a job, thinking of recruiting or just curious, the latest edition of nonprofit data jobs is for you. And there are cool and interesting links. buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...

I know this is niche but this new feature in RStudio is something I didn't realise I wanted until it appeared

Had this idea in lockdown, half-built it, forgot about it, remembered it again, though might as well finish it.

It’s a thumbs-up for #MapioCymru @likeaword.data-folks.masto.host.ap.brid.gy

Chat is it good when CDS stories are on the homepage? www.ft.com/content/6dd3...

I’m off to Cardiff for a conference. Just like in the old days

Here's the lastest list of nonprofit data jobs that caught my eye in the week ending 2026-10-18 buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...

Unusual senses: the secret superpowers of amphibians and reptiles theconversation.com/unusual-sens...

Fourteen data vacancies with nonprofits and four with public bodies caught my eye this week buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...

The LGA has two performance and data training sessions. Councillors session: 3 November - 10.00am-12.30pm lgaevents.local.gov.uk/lga/frontend... 15 December - 5.00-7.30pm lgaevents.local.gov.uk/lga/frontend... Leaders session: 18 November 10:00am-12:00pm lgaevents.local.gov.uk/lga/frontend...

Liberal Democrat run Somerset Council’s Libraries service is relaunching its Winter Coat Exchange scheme, designed to support the community by providing access to warm coats for anyone in need. www.somerset.gov.uk/news/success...

Anthropic is out with new nonsense about Claude (or the collection of models called Claude) deserving moral consideration and/or be able to feel distress, so my inbox is filling up with journos asking me to comment. I've also got a day job, so here is a brief set of public comments on this: >>

It's #CycleToSchoolWeek 🚴 There are so many benefits for families who choose to swap the school run in the car for pedal power - saving money, boosting health and confidence, and helping the environment to name just a few 💚 Discover more 👇 cycletoschoolweek.com

The Local Government Association is holding a virtual panel session "Powering up active travel: the role of e-bikes in local transport policy next Wednesday (14 October) between 10:30am-12:00pm lgaevents.local.gov.uk/lga/frontend...

Wanted: children to rear harvest mice at home for wild release in Devon

The latest edition of Nonprofit data jobs has hit the (virtual) streets buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...

Fancy a (virtual) coffee with some fellow nonprofit data folk? Nonprofit Datafolk Club: Randomised coffee trial - 12 Nov. We've been trialling this event format, to encourage networking and connection amongst this fabulous community. FINAL trial event Thu 12 Nov, 1-2pm (GMT) FREE buff.ly/qjYqg4K

Tickets for our expert led talks and tastings are available to reserve on our website, for FREE! Join David Lindgren from Bushel + Peck Cider + Perry for 'In Search of Perry Pears' at 12 noon on Sat 3rd October🍐 @3ccpa.bsky.social

Featuring The Riverside Inn at Ross

The fungal networks under our feet. Very cool intrinsically and as dataviz. HT @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com a-hidden-infrastructure.spun.earth/story

Homeless people can now get free flu jabs – but will this initiative actually reach them? theconversation.com/homeless-peo...

Are you a manager in a data role in a nonprofit? How does your salary compare to the sector as a whole? Find out in my latest analysis of four years of job adverts benproctor.co.uk/blog/if-you-...

Are you a manager in a data role in a nonprofit? How does your salary compare to the sector as a whole? Find out in my latest analysis of four years of job adverts benproctor.co.uk/blog/if-you-...

The latest edition of Nonprofit data jobs hit inboxes on 2026-09-11. If you don't subscribe you can read it here buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...

Getting that small joy when something you built really is used by people and quickly I built a tracker for our main road in and out of our village It’s closed on and off due to major works, with a lack of clear information from various public bodies. People started using it immediately

“The vast majority of cases we find are people who are entitled to claim for something, claiming for that thing,” he told TechCrunch… techcrunch.com/2026/09/10/a...

It seems like there's a new round of "stochastic parrots has been proven wrong" discourse going on, so I'm going to re-up this: medium.com/@emilymenonb... >>

Being a councillor is still a difficult career for women – why this matters for democracy theconversation.com/being-a-coun...

Farage has always behaved as though the rules apply to everyone but him. These allegations against Reform look like the latest example. Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson @lisasmartmp.bsky.social has written to the police and the electoral commission asking them to investigate.

To the layperson aerodynamics might as well be witchcraft. And these tubes here, designed to set Matthew Hopkins running to the nearest haberdashery, are the peculiar abuse of physics known as the Flettner rotor.

Football clubs’ race for data creates bright spot in Britain labour market [£]

I work in education and with the new academic year about to begin it was good to be reminded that these battles can and will be won at a time when a government is once again trying to erase a minority and ban mention of them in the classroom

General state of British infrastructure still going well. I play bingo at Piccadilly now to see which moving walkways are broken (currently two escalators and two travelators) and the Transport for Wales train I’m on is standing room only because, and I quote the conductor, “it is half a train”

This sign is a great example for helping to explain why chatbots present such a potent illusion. A probably not short thread 🧵>>

These are two superb analogies, which I will definitely be borrowing/stealing to use in the future.

So, we found a live bat in our galleries. 🦇 a thread🦇

A big Liberal Democrat welcome to Tewkesbury Councillor Heather McLain who has joined the Liberal Democrats 🔶 Heather has joined the Liberal Democrats from the Conservatives. www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/glouces...

LinkedIn CringeBot 3000 - finally a useful implementation of GenAI

The Archive of Incorrect AI Predictions is very satisfactory

YASSS it's happening! BAN THE PERVERT GLASSES next stop: public transport. women should be able to catch the bus without getting perved on by perverts wearing pervert glasses. it's bad enough when they're not wearing pervert glasses

with times being what they are, it seems like you basically can't have a public open source repo without receiving LLM-written PRs. thus, after a great deal of thought, i have adopted the somewhat idiosyncratic Mycelium AI Policy in my personal projects: github.com/hawkw/myceli...

Fingers crossed.

nathan.rs/posts/gzip-lm/ Very nerdy but fun HT @puntofisso.bsky.social

Even after the government's announcement, high street hospitality businesses will still be in serious trouble. Andy Burnham should take up our plan to Save our High Streets, with a proper overhaul of business rates, a crackdown on ‘ghost landlords’ and rejuvenating town centres.

A call for devolution to local government in the FT which, unsurprisingly as a local councillor, I agree with www.ft.com/content/aba1... [£]

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say they don’t…