I call this a diary rather than a blog. It's the page where I add or link to new
stuff with content arranged in date order, rather than where I regularly write short
pieces on what I'm doing … although some of this does read rather like a blog.
Book Log with pictures complete!
Just a quick entry here to note that over the Christmas and New Year holiday I have managed to complete the time-consuming and many would say pointless exercise of adding cover images to all the books listed in by book log. This means that for each book I read from January 2006 onwards (at least, the ones I remembered to record) there is an image of the book's cover as well as a record of what I thought. This is almost always the specific edition I read but it hasn't been possible to achieve that for all of the books listed, especially the older ones. With that done, it's easy to maintain. It was going back looking for cover art from previous years that took the time.
And so 2025 comes to an end. Globally, so much oxygen has been consumed by the hideous figure of Donald Trump. The scale of his corruption, his ignorance and his bigotry is doing huge damage to his country and the world. Because of him, the US has switched sides. He has consistently applied pressure on Ukraine and none on his friend and soulmate in the Kremlin. He has emboldened Netanyahu to commit war crimes in Gaza. I can only hope that America will neuter and reject him in the way that T-Cells deal with diseases. My guess is that the US mid-term elections in November will not be free and fair but we'll see. Democrat wins in 2025 offer at least some glimmer of hope.
On the plus side, there are signs that the persistent, damaging effects of Brexit are being recognised and talked about. We're generating ever more of our energy from renewables, especially wind. There are breakfast clubs for all school children, renters' rights are improved. There are reasons to be cheerful about the Labour government. If only they weren't swamped by the the consistent hits to the economy. Tragically, the Labour brand is being trashed just as surely as Truss did to the Tories. It's indefensible and deeply disappointing. Meanwhile the new leader of the Greens, Zack Polanski, is as much a promoter of simplistic and wholly unworkable solutions to the country's complex problems as Britian's racist in chief. It's not a happy prospect.
Work continues much as ever. The Verifiable Credentials work is progressing and is now embedded in our strategic plans - that wasn't true a year ago. Being apppointed as co-chair of the W3C VCWG was well-timed in that regard.
I don't talk about my family in public although I do endlessly in private. All I'll say here is that our 5 year old granddaughter is a source of nothing but joy.
My resolution a year ago was to write my will. Well, I drafted it but it's far from finalised and fully legal. Maybe I'll get that done in 2026.
Brexit supporters were right?
To the surprise of precisely no one with even a tenuous grip on the way the world works, the impact of Brexit has been firmly negative. But could one of the most mocked and clearly ridiculous arguments made in favour of Brexit actually have some merit?
What does a million looks like? Obviously, it depends what it's a million of. People? bank notes? Whales? And how about a billion of them? Humans are very, very bad at this. So here's an attempt to provide a handy guide.
My radio days are long behind me but what you did in your youth has a habit of never quite going away. Today I've been taking part in events to mark the 50th anniversary of the radio station I worked for longer than any other, Radio Orwell in Ipswich. I can't imagine my time there will ever be relevant again so it may well have been the absolute last gasp of my radio career.
One of the best things I have ever done in my life was to contribute to the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. My part was tiny, but I am immensely proud that I was able to make a contribution. Sadly, today I am in despair.
It's 17 years since I worked in online safety but the experience I gained then - experience that got me in to the whole Web standards field in the first place - remains relevant, if only as a warning of how not to do it. The topic is not directly relevant to my work at GS1 so I've written a short paper as an individual for consideration at the IAB/W3C Workshop on Age-Based Restrictions on Content Access that takes place in October.
Well this is slightly embarassing. Here I am on 29 December and realise that this year I have failed to add any posts. Why is that?
Well, the main reason is that my online profile is so intimately linked to my work at GS1 that anything I post here might be construed as a statement by my employer. The idea that "all views are my own" only gets you so far. I need to be careful. I sort of made an announcement on behalf of GS1 just before Christmas when I said in various social media channels that "Verifiable Credentials at GS1 will happen". The detail of that has yet to play out but several other stakeholders will be interested in that, I know. All the more reason to proceed with caution. And there's a lot I could say about the publication last month of ISO/IEC 18975. The document doesn't tell you this but I was its author ("Project Editor" in ISO-speak). I'll have a lot more to say about the ISO process after I've retired.
The UK continues to limp along in its Brexit-hobbled way. The election held on 4 July seems along time ago now and even a natural Labour support like me finds it hard to be positive about much of what they have done so far. It's unarguable that they have added a significant burden on business, especially small businesses. This comes from the straight-jacket they put themselves in of promising no rises in income tax, National Insurance or VAT. So they've put up other taxes, like employers' National Insuarance. Right wingers are moaning about the imposition of VAT on school fees (diddums) and farmers are whingeing about large land holdings being subject to 20% inheritance tax - half the rate paid on other assets (again, diddums). I do think farmers have cause for genuine grievance about the fact that they get paid so little for their work and produce - that needs addressing. It's tempting to say "well you shouldn't have voted for Brexit then should you" but the Brexit-supporting majority among farmers wasn't as large as one might think. And, as James O'Brien always says, compassion for the conned, contempt for the conmen of Brexit. The rise of the populist hard/far right continues to be a major concern. President Musk and his orange sidekick take over the White House in three weeks. Nothing good will come of that of course and the people who will be most hurt are those that voted for them.
One definite positive note from 2024: I've read more books this year than ever. And the TBR pile for 2025 is already looking very exciting. I think fiction is going to be necessary escape from reality.
A first for me
Why is this boittle of wine special for me? Is it because I first heard of Barolo at a favourite local restaurant (Tito's)? Nope … it's all about that QR code.
Why did one of the most senior women in the country feel the need to apologise for asking a pertinent question of her subordinate? It happens all the time
I began listing the books I had read in January 2006, just before a friend and I started a new book club. After almost 13 years, I've finally got around to putting the list online.
