They need to pass a law to stop people eating boiled eggs on the train. Straight to jail, do not pass go.

I'm babysitting my brother's dog, Rupert. He might be the most photogenic animal ever. Couldn't resist taking my camera out on our walk today, and he was more than happy to pose for me.

I’m babysitting this big lovable space invader this week. He’s the biggest, cuddliest spaniel I’ve ever seen. He nearly falls over when he wags his tail, such a happy boy. Meet Barney!

Feeling pretty overwhelmed this week, to say the least.

Three whole years! There was a time I couldn’t go a few days without drinking. It was just too hard. I never thought I’d get this far. It’s the hardest most rewarding thing I ever did, and worth every second of suffering in the early days. I’m unbelievably proud of myself. What an achievement!

If you want to get an idea of the elite line manager I am, I was reminded today of my time at HMRC when I threw a quiz, raised loads of money for an amazing gift and generally made loads of fuss for one of my team's 60th birthdays. I was super proud of myself, until she told me it wasn't her 60th 🤣

Join our Services Week talk about how we're scaling UCD impact on GOV.UK One Login. It's an hour-and-a-half session with mini talks, including our work on accessibility, passkeys, triage service patterns, Open Banking, and understanding users at risk of exclusion www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/services-w...

Services Week 2026: Scaling UCD impact on GOV.UK One Login

In this session of talks, we'll cover some of the brilliant work we're doing on to scale our UCD impact on GOV.UK One Login at GDS.

eventbrite.co.uk

Just finished 14 interviews over 2 weeks, which, alongside regular meetings, have meant I've spent pretty much all of my time for 2 straight weeks in back-to-back meetings. Then throw in the heat. It's a lot. I will be doing zero this weekend to hopefully avoid burnout. Social capacity is near zero.

The images didn't load in an email I opened. They all had similarly useless alt text. Yay for AI...

Four year old to my wife: Mam, I forgot all my moves at martial arts last night. My wife: (genuinely concerned) oh no, how come?! Four year old: Well, I’ll be five in 33 days. I’m getting old now, so I’m starting to forget everything. Hilarious some of the things that go through their minds

The Dutch are living in the future. Double decker trains! How cool?!

Are you even in Amsterdam if you don’t eat an apple pie the size of your head?

Currently sifting through a lot of applications. Lots of AI-written stuff. One person even left the AI prompt in. Don't do that.

I was on a senior leaders panel today at the Document Accessibility in the Public Sector conference. Had a pretty surreal moment when I was talking about mandatory training. Two other panel members who are much more senior than me walked away from the panel verbally committing to doing the same.

I’m up so early for my train that people are still out drinking in Newcastle city centre. Don’t miss those days!

Heading to London on Wednesday to speak at a thing. Just checked the weather and it's 34 degrees there today. It needs to settle down by Wed, or I might not actually survive the heat. It's been 25 in Newcastle today, and I can't cope.

I've managed to bring on some of the most intense imposter syndrome I've ever experienced. It's Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday, and usually I’d be hyped up, hosting events, posting tips, or helping others. But honestly? I just don't have it in me this year.

Found the spark for one of my first special interests as a kid. Magic. My daughter was blown away by a magician on Britain's Got Talent. I told her I used to be obsessed as a kid. Anyway, one thing led to another, and I am in deep. I'm so happy, though, because she's loving learning with me.

Yay! I'm hiring two Senior Accessibility Specialists to join my team on GOV.UK One Login. You'll be working with great people, solving complex problems for tens of millions of users. Salary of £70,834 - £74,317 (London) / £63,240 - £66,610 (National). Please share!

My 8-year-old has discovered Gala - Freed from desire. Absolute classic, but ruined forever by her interpretation of the lyrics. "My lover's got no money, he's got a trampoline", and I can't unhear it.

I'm going to be speaking at Identity Week Europe next month in Amsterdam. I'll have some downtime after the conference, and it'd be cool to hang with any folks based in Amsterdam and interested in accessibility and inclusion? Hit me up!

My Rosemary has got no chill this year. For years it hasn’t flowered at all, and this year they are covered. Apparently, it’s still edible.

1000 days alcohol free. I’m so unbelievably proud of myself. Today, I won’t drink. Powerful!

We've had no TV or internet for two days, and my 8-year-old nearly induced a panic attack when she asked me "Dad, is this how it used to be in the olden days?" Olden days.

Yikes, Claude's source code was leaked in it's entireity. Pretty interesting to see how much of it is hard-coded, and how much effort they put in to make it "behave". www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBHR...

Tragic mistake... Anthropic leaks Claude’s source code

YouTube video by Fireship

youtube.com

My daughter just got her 800m swimming badge. Literally blows my mind that she can swim 32 lengths of a swimming pool. I got my 200m when I was like 14. She's only 8!

The WebAIM Million 2026 report is out, it reports on overall accessibility across the web: 1. The number of failures increased 10.1% YOY 2. The average number of page elements increased 22.5%YOY Meaning accessibility progress is backsliding. Personally, I am quite certain this is related to AI.

This is absolutely wild, btw. If wait lists were bad then, I can't imagine how bad they are now!

Shaun@sconner.net · 4mo ago

NHS England monitoring data show that the number of children and young people waiting for an ADHD assessment rose from around 21,000 in April 2019 to around 270,000 by December 2025.

I've been reading the interim report on the independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and autism published yesterday. Some really fascinating stuff in here. I'll post some of the findings in this thread if you're interested. Here's a link to the full report. www.gov.uk/government/p...

Independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and autism: interim report

Interim report outlining progress on the independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.

gov.uk

When I was a developer, I'd always fix issues while doing other tickets. A lot of the issues found in audits are really easy to resolve. It's why I get so wound up when I see tickets for accessibility issues that are 21 pointers but actually take someone less than a minute to fix.

Geri Reid@gerireid.com · 4mo ago

Excellent read. Sad having to smuggle accessibility in through stealthy means but aligning to a business goal makes it easier to get permission: piccalil.li/blog/applyin... #a11y