Category: Miscellany (Page 1 of 2)

A Movember reflection on the US Presidential election

November 6, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 2 Comments

Every November since 2007 I have taken part in the annual facial hair fest that is Movember. I do this because men’s health matters – on average we die 4.5 years earlier than women, and for largely preventable reasons. If you enjoy this and want to support my efforts this year then I, and the causes Movember supports, would be very grateful. You can donate using this link.

In the aftermath of the US elections plenty of talking heads are providing razor-sharp analysis about the reasons Trump won and Harris didn’t. But I doubt anyone is giving you analysis about the sharpness of razors and their role in the race. So, let me plug that gap.

In becoming Donald Trump‘s Vice President, J. D. Vance becomes the first successfully bearded Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate to win over the American public in almost 100 years.

What I wrote in August

September 1, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 0 Comments

This is the monthly round up of the things I’ve written. A quieter month of writing than July because it’s been the school summer holidays and it’s a wonderful dividend from not yet being back in full time work to continue being fully available for them.

As well as writing these posts I was also asked for my opinions by PublicTechnology.net following on from my blog post in July about the move of CDDO, GDS and i.AI.

Notes from our holidays

We actually have a dedicated, but very irregular, blog for writing about our travels. The summer began with the intention of retelling the story of last year’s excellent trip to Scandinavia. We got five days into it (covering Copenhagen and our first day in Gothenburg) before we ran out of steam. We’ll get there eventually.

The first piece of the month was a grumble about Historic Royal Palaces and the mismatch between a family’s experience in person compared to their experience online. I’ve updated the post to include some of the response I received from HRP’s Commercial Director. It hasn’t mollified me.

Part way through the month the restart of the football season meant a long drive up the M1 gave me the chance to reminisce about Numberplate Cricket. Though it’s quite likely it’s now less playable with every new registration from now until next March being a wicket-taking 74 plate.

And finally, also tapping into nostalgia, we had some fun with ChatGPT trying to place a catchphrase belonging to two Lancastrians who recently announced a reunion tour (no, not those brothers). Which led to me channeling Jane Austen and declaring that: “It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a person in possession of a question must be in want of a chatbot. Yet, one must also remember, that a chatbot, no matter how clever, is not always in possession of the truth.”

Updating ULEZ (for the last time…for a while)

The only other thing I managed to publish last month was a further update to my series of posts measuring the number of cars actually impacted by ULEZ. This is probably going to be the last time I do this until a) the goalposts for ULEZ move or b) we hit the next milestone.

This month the total number of ULEZ non-compliant vehicles in London dropped below 300,000 for the first time. By way of a reminder, there were 552,198 of them when I first did this in March 2022.

The pace of ULEZ compliance is slowing but still trending up

No Neeeeed to trust ChatGPT, especially for your nostalgia

August 28, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 2 Comments

A familiar catchphrase, an unexpected blank stare

Our family has just spent a lovely bank holiday weekend with friends enjoying the National Coal Mining Museum, a tremendous 3-1 victory for Bradford City, a delicious curry at The Sweet Centre, some good church at St Peter’s Bury, and the splendid surroundings of the National Trust’s Shugborough Estate.

As we were driving to our first rendezvous in Wakefield, our friends, who live near Bolton, sent a message apologising that they would arrive after us. I reacted on our end with a loud “No neeeeed”, a catchphrase remembered from my childhood, delivered in an attempted Lancastrian accent. Christine, ever quick to capture a moment, got me to repeat the impression and sent it back as a voice note.

They replied with their own note, which we couldn’t decipher. So when we met up we asked them what was going on. To our surprise, they had misunderstood our message – they thought we were saying “Welbeeeees” as a greeting and had responded with a cry of their own family name.

I was puzzled. I was sure “No neeeeed” was a common cultural touchpoint but instead it was met with blank stares. Confidently, I told them it was a catchphrase from Mark and Lard, the iconic radio duo of the 90s.

However, when I tried to back up my claim with a quick Google, I hit a brick wall.

Historic Royal Palaces membership: A cautionary tale from our family’s visit

August 14, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 1 Comment

We recently joined some friends for a day at the Historic Royal Palace of Hampton Court, a place we hadn’t visited since 2018. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision but although we didn’t plan our day we did check the website. And the website encouraged us to pre-book our tickets in advance. So we did.

The kids were buzzing with excitement, the weather was perfect, and we were looking forward to our day in the splendour of the palace and its gardens. And the day lived up to our expectations, filled with exploration, fun, and a lot of history.

A wide view of the main entrance to Hampton Court Palace, a Tudor-era structure, set on expansive grounds. The building features a mix of stone and brick architecture with many towers and ornate facades. The foreground shows a grassy area shaded by a large tree, with sunlight casting dappled shadows on the ground. In the background, the castle’s massive walls stretch out, with a clear blue sky above dotted with a few fluffy clouds. The setting appears calm and serene, suitable for sightseeing or exploration.

The image captures a picturesque garden scene under a clear blue sky. In the foreground, a vibrant cluster of white roses blooms surrounded by lush green foliage. The garden is neatly arranged, showcasing various plants, including a border of neatly trimmed hedges that adds to the serene aesthetic. In the background, there is a hill dotted with trees, and an old stone wall can be seen, suggesting the remnants of a historical structure. The overall atmosphere is tranquil and inviting, reflecting a well-maintained public or private garden space.

A detailed view of a grand ceiling fresco depicting various celestial figures, including angels and mythical creatures, in an ornate Baroque style. The fresco features vivid colors and intricate details, with gold accents framing the artwork. The walls below are richly decorated with sculptural reliefs and classical columns, creating a sense of depth and opulence. Soft light illuminates the scene, enhancing the ethereal quality of the painting. The setting is within Hampton Court Palace.

So as we were preparing to leave, the option to upgrade our tickets to an annual membership was a no-brainer. Not only would this make it possible to come back to Hampton Court over the next twelve months, including for the upcoming food festival (which was the reason we had come six years ago) but it covers the Tower of London, which we’d also had a half-formed plan to visit.

We were excited to think that for just a little bit extra on top of what we’d already paid, we could unlock a year of unlimited visits. However, this excitement quickly faded when we discovered the fine print of the upgrade policy—a detail that unfairly targets families.

What I wrote in July

August 1, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 0 Comments

I got back into the groove of writing on my blog at the end of June. And decided that rather than use Medium or anything else I’d come back to my self-hosted blog.

I’m hoping to keep up with my writing in the months to come (subscribe here if you want to be alerted whenever I do) but I may not stay as prolific as the 12 posts I shared this month. It was a somewhat eclectic selection.

Transforming Fiveways Croydon (or the bridge in my back yard)

February 12, 2015 / Benjamin Welby / 3 Comments

The trouble with the A23

If you were designing London for 21st century traffic you probably wouldn’t build the A23. It’s only 53 miles long but because it starts at Waterloo Bridge and finishes in Brighton it’s got five different owners. In the 17 miles from Waterloo Bridge to the M25 it snakes through Kennington, Brixton, Streatham, Norbury, Thornton Heath, Croydon, Purley and Coulsdon.

So it’s hemmed in by residential property but it’s also the main artery for the ‘out of town’ shopping along the Purley Way and it’s the route to and from Gatwick. When Christine and I moved from Brixton we inched along it from A to B and back to A again (more than once). There were several pinch points in that journey but one of the ones we didn’t have to deal with is just to our south at Fiveways. Continue reading

Mo number 5

November 1, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 0 Comments

It’s November 1st and the last day I’ll be clean shaven until December because I’m one of four people at GDS who will be growing a Schnurrbart (the German is surely the best word for moustache) for Movember.

Movember began with a focus on prostate cancer, a cancer that’s affected people close to us. It’s the 4th most common cancer in the UK and the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst men: 1 in 9 of us are likely to face prostate cancer in our lifetimes (this is comparable to incidence of breast cancer).

Movember is no longer about a single cancer, it’s about getting us men to face up to our mortality and talk about our health by introducing comedy facial hair. Being serious is always better when there’s laughter. And laughter punctures pride and gets us talking and maybe prompts someone to see a doctor instead of thinking “I’ll be alright”.

Laughter also raises money (if you’d like to send some our way you can donate on the Movember website).

I enjoy this time of year but you can’t blame Christine if she doesn’t. Look at what she’s had to put up with over the last few years:

Nehemiah on Project Management

May 18, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 3 Comments

Different bits of the Bible get different profile within church, let alone in the public consciousness, so I reckon Nehemiah could be an unknown quantity to most people but its 13 chapters are really worth exploring. It provided the backdrop for a powerful and relevant series at Conversations last year.

This morning I saw Emma Langman tweeting the talk that was being given at from a Business Breakfast in Bristol about the example modelled by Nehemiah from a project management point of view. I really liked that angle so captured it using Storify.

Blog on blog

May 8, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 3 Comments

I first blogged in April 2009 on Blogspot and this is my 81st post. My blog doesn’t have a particular focus, this is a place where I write about the things that interest me. It isn’t therefore a ‘public sector’ blog, it’s not a work blog and it’s not official but I don’t hide who I am or where I work and sometimes I do write about it.

A couple of weeks ago #lgovsm (a weekly hour long, hosted and themed, discussion about the use of social media within local government) looked at blogging. 610 tweets have been captured on SearchHash but my follow up from it was to think about four questions – Why should we blog? Why don’t we? How can we get past those hurdles? What more could be done with blogs?

Blogging Research Wordle by Kristina B on Flickr

I like QR

April 17, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 2 Comments

QR codes are prolific but it doesn’t seem as though people are actually using them, or convinced by their value. I like them but I can understand that agnosticism because they seem to be added for the sake of it rather than because they add any value for the person doing the scanning.

The code on this post is just like that but it was two things I saw today that prompted me to write this. Firstly, via the quite excellent WTFQRcodes.com Continue reading

Notes from our holidays

Updating ULEZ (for the last time…for a while)

A familiar catchphrase, an unexpected blank stare

The trouble with the A23

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