Pretend Cato
@pretendcato.bsky.social
Democracy things as COO/Director at Delib. She/her. Not all work. Rhymes with potato.
Back to the colder months so, once again, I bravely try to bake despite all the evidence that I should give up. And why not bite off more than you can chew? So today, I attempt two breads I’ve never made before: panettone and ciabatta. Italians, mi dispiace
This is made using my nanny’s apple cake recipe. She grew up in Hertfordshire in an adoptive family. Nanny was born with a disability which - among other things - meant her grip wasn’t very strong, but meant her cakes were amazing, never overworked. She was a formidable 4ft 11 with big person energy
This is such, SUCH a good essay. That feeling of a veil being pulled between who we really are and how we want to communicate vs what is acceptable to the algorithms and corporations
Anil Dash@anildash.com · 4d agoOur language has been completely warped by Big Tech's algorithms, from a generation that's grown up saying "unalive", to the way everyone's censored themselves talking about the Cornell rapists. It's time to fight back against billionaire control of free speech. www.anildash.com/2026/10/06/k...
[car dealership waiting room] Me: [chanting] knobs, knobs- Other car buyers: knobs, KNOBS Car salesman: [pounding desk] KNOBS, KNOBS, KNOBS!
Knobs Returning To Some Automakers’ Vehicles, To The Relief Of Many
Auto companies are listening to the complaints of consumers, who want their knobs and buttons back.
forbes.com
The vocabulary of vulnerability – 10 words from around the world for complex and difficult emotions, from "abhiman" (Sanskrit for the pain and anger we feel when someone we trust hurts us) to "żal" (Polish for the melancholy felt at an irretrievable loss) www.themarginalian.org/2026/08/24/b...
The Vocabulary of Vulnerability: 10 Words from Around the World for Complex and Difficult Emotions
Language is the chalice we lift to our lips to taste our own experience — a vessel that constrains what it contains by giving it its own shape. The more complex our experience, the more muddl…
themarginalian.org
Tomorrow at 9am PT join @jukes.ie and myself for the very first How People Work, Live! where we'll be talking about how the tricky thing about making software isn't really the code, it's people. It's always just people. July 10, 0900, free on Zoom! calendly.com/verylittlegr...
Growing potatoes is the closest I’ll ever get to magic. A wizened old nugget goes in the ground and then a couple of months later it’s made about 5 legit-looking potatoes #POTATOES
Amazing deployment of the corporate myself and yourself on the train: “I’m afraid the trolley service to yourselves will be slower today due to myself working by myself”
This beautiful Citroën had a cassette tape of Grace Jones inside, all it was missing was a pack of Gitanes and a passing whiff of Serge Gainsbourg’s trousers and we’d be all set
I'm sorry what? As part of its 1987 rebrand British Rail's sectorised freight business Railfreight had its own branded After Eight mints and called them AFTER FREIGHT!?
I’ve spent the train ride back from #Interesting2026 looking up Bertolt Brecht, subscribing to Stack magazines, and finding other weird time signatures in Radiohead songs. The magic potion worked!
The Product for the People meet-up series is returning to Bristol on the 3rd September in some shape or form to be decided so save the date...or don't...I'm relaxed either way. Product for the People is for people interested in public service product management - but not just product managers!
Been extremely successful at growing things again. What a harvest. (coin for scale)
The Bond Lotus Esprit on our Christmas tree (next to a traditional christmas angler fish) And today, at Bicester Scramble, the real life one!
Few people are aware of how much progress has been made against cancers. Leukemia is probably the most striking example. Before the 1970s, most children affected by leukemia would soon die from it. Now, most children in rich countries survive. ourworldindata.org/childhood-le...
Mike Black@mikeblack114.bsky.social · 6mo agoCancer wasn't quite a literal death sentence like HIV was, but you had a barely coin flip chance of making it across the board 5 years, and a whole lot of different kinds that were close to a death sentence in 1980 that are extremely treatable today
The results have exceeded even our most whimsical expectations. Meet our rats!
New challenge just dropped: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... …but I haven’t finished the South West Coast Path yet 🫠
World's longest coastal path opens in England to the public
The King Charles coastal path will allow walkers right of access to the entire coast for the first time.
bbc.co.uk
Do you know how much is in your pension? When was the last time time you checked? Do you know your own contribution levels? Or your employers? New SMF research out today finds far too many of us are not on top of our pensions -
Social Market Foundation@smfthinktank.bsky.social · 9mo ago🚨 OUT NOW: Two-fifths of workers don’t know how much their employer contributes to their pension pot With government warning that only 9% are on track to retire comfortably, SMF is calling for a pensions health check
Measles vaccination, human rights, international peace, European unity. The far right have never met a 20th century achievement that they don't want to destroy, and all in the name of the most fragile and pathetic men on the planet.
Morning folks - for all the people at Govcamp who were asking me about the National Data Library here is an actual, official update with some specifics...for the first time I think 🎉 www.gov.uk/government/p...
National Data Library: progress update, January 2026
gov.uk
A lovely @themarginalian.org.web.brid.gy newsletter today. Got to love a bit of George Saunders on a Sunday morning: “You’re not permanent. You’re not the most important thing. You’re not separate.” www.themarginalian.org/2026/01/20/g...
How to Be an Instrument of Kindness in a Harsh World: George Saunders on Unthinking the Mind, Unstorying the Self, and the 3 Antidotes to Your Suffering
Here is the mathematical logic of the spirit: If love is the quality of attention we pay something other than ourselves and hate is the veil of not understanding ourselves, then loving the world mo…
themarginalian.org
Sending love and good wishes for inspiring conversations, effective planning and important mutual support to everyone headed to #ukgc26. I’m sad I can’t be with you this year, but my thoughts go with you! @ukgovcamp.com
Have you ever wondered what a review of the year would be like if it was written by a halfwit who spends too much time on here? WELL... Historian John Julius Norwich used to publish a ‘Christmas Cracker’ of stuff he collected each year from history and literature. I do the same, but stupider
Christopher’s Christmas Cracker 2025
An explanation of what follows
mulberryhall.medium.com
In 2026 we are reinstating the regular One Team Gov breakfast club in London and also running a virtual one for anybody who doesn't have a meetup near them. If you're interested you can sign up for both using the link (and please retweet/skeet!) www.linkedin.com/posts/onetea...
Between 2017 and 2021 One Team Gov held space weekly for people working across government to come together, connect, reflect and support each others work. Some local meetups like in Manchester have… |...
Between 2017 and 2021 One Team Gov held space weekly for people working across government to come together, connect, reflect and support each others work. Some local meetups like in Manchester have be...
linkedin.com
