Richard Pope

The Nuffield Family Observatory email a ‘Chart of The Month’, which I think is a nice, slow, passive way to consume data visualisations. This month’s chat shows that kids entering the care system are increasingly likely to ... https://richardpope.org/2026/09/29/the-nuffield-family-observatory-email/

This looks like it should be a poster in the backdrop of a scuzzy sci-fi dystopia. (from Canary Wharf).

I hope this quote from Professor Peter Fonagy in the trail to his independent review into mental health, ADHD and autism cuts through to people designing digital services (particularly the coaching, relational and behaviour change types) ... https://richardpope.org/2026/09/21/i-hope-this-quote-from/

Nationalise Parent Pay?: https://richardpope.org/2026/09/15/nationalise-parent-pay/

Many of you guys probably are too young to remember the late 1990s and early 2000s when the newspapers and media were full of conversations saying the internet wasn't really going to have any impact. Many of us who were actually engaged at the time knew how nuts that was.

My book The Measure of Progress is out soon in paperback - available for pre-order! press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

I always suspected a UK government would eventually reverse course on "coding in public". So I've been backing up all government code. For six years. Today I finally generated a report on what has been deleted. Its much worse than I realised. github.com/uk-gov-mirro...

Can there be more than one deputy prime minister?

On waiting, digital and where the state chooses to operate - an extended version of the preface to Platformland: https://richardpope.org/2026/07/20/on-waiting-digital-and-where/

An extended version of the preface to Platformland - on waiting, digital, and the surfaces the state presents to the world -: https://richardpope.org/2026/07/20/an-extended-version-of-the/

Platformlanding with DEFRA and e-synergy today

The BBC, and particularly its news, is critical to our democracy - and to stopping our society from fracturing. Saving small amounts by cutting key news programmes is a disaster, with no upside.

Your morning's good read for Public Sector Reformers from @richardpope.org @jamestplunkett.bsky.social and Abigail Bentley (don't know if she has a BlueSky, but if she does...) operatingpatterns.org/files/operat...

As someone who failed GCSE English (and got a full grant) this is mildly triggering: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jun/17/students-pass-gcse-english-university-loans-proposals

Published today with @kinship.works NHS Operating Patterns - Ways to do good work together, in a decentralised system

What have drawings of peas got to do with prototyping digital services? www.platformland.xyz/ways-of-d…

This is probably the strongest piece of advice I've seen for a while, and feels very pointed... "Departments should treat privacy as an exception control for specific, credible routes to harm, and not as a compensating control for inadequate capability."

Why it’s important to thinking of public sector super apps from the viewpoint of ‘the system’, not just ‘the citizen’ https://www.platformland.xyz/ways-of-doing/public-sector-super-apps-are-system-facing-products-not-just-citizen-facing-ones/

Lobster pots, complexity and starting small in the right way Or the case against use-cases https://www.platformland.xyz/ways-of-doing/lobster-pots-complexity-and-starting-small-in-the-right-way/

As Owen says DSIT senior leaders/politicians should be furious at the wasted money and wasted opportunity for economic growth / better services underlying this mess

In 2018 (ish) at Harvard Kennedy School I saw a talk about cyber (my poor filing system means I can’t find the notes) that included the proposition: how you think about cyber depends if you believe vulnerabilities in software are commo... https://richardpope.org/2026/05/06/in-ish-at-harvard-kennedy/

If ally thought I had found a decent combined read it later and rss combo today in form of www.libspace.io, only to see a message appear the same day saying it's being shut down.

Weeknotes for last week celebrate a blog post being dropped and share a discussion we had about ‘reuse’ at an away day. frankieroberto.github.io/nhsnotes/pos...

Keep coming back to this video in the context of AI-based public services: [www.youtube.com/watch If mentalizing / epistemic trust is the key to learning some things, is it ever OK for machines to fake it, or should machines only be in a supporting role to human relationships.

Struggling with work-life balance at the moment. April nearly done and only managed 3 days paid work despite not having stopped for breath.

New, from me: Take the Palantir manifesto seriously, if not literally. It reveals that our tech philosopher kings want public money, but without public accountability. This creates a dilemma for governments unaligned with its techno-fascist vision. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/palantir-w...

Mini manifesto. Mini budget. Big things pretending to be small.

The Palintir mini manifesto at least makes it clear that if you buy their software you are buying it to a transnational political, military and economic project. The problem is public procurement officers are not exactly best placed to make that sort of decision. Software is politics!

This is beginning to feel like an inevitability: Davey says war bonds would help to speed up UK defence spending

Stop searching for AI ‘use-cases’. Design AI into services… https://www.rpp.works/ways-of-doing/stop-searching-for-ai-use-cases-design-ai-into-services/

Donald Trump has critcised Keir Starmer as another Neville Chamberlain. But…who does Trump think he is in that scenario? inews.co.uk/opinion/trum...

At the British Academy for a day long policy lab Noted on the way in: the dedicated Champaign cork recycling box

Some noodling on positioning AI in services https://www.rpp.works/ways-of-doing/positioning-ai/

"Ministers have likely already left it too late to shake Palantir loose from government entirely. They have invited the viper into their nest, and they’re even paying it to be there. "The choice now is whether to ignore the problem entirely, and just play nice, or whether to face reality."

More of this ministers showing prototypes please https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62d1ql5w0vo

In the search for calm things to play while kids are having breakfast, I stumbled across David Bowie doing Peter and the Wolf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie_Narrates_Prokofiev%27s_Peter_and_the_Wolf It’s mostly very Jackanory,... https://richardpope.org/2026/03/10/in-the-search-for-calm/

6.27% of appointments (PSCs and LLP members) verified between 2025-11-18 and 2025-12-31. Assuming linear growth, they’ll hit ~53% by 2026-11-18, which is when they want 100% of appointments verified.